We will begin with examination of the differences in social capital’s effects for Hispanics who enroll in college versus Hispanics who do not enroll. Regression results found in Table 4.
Hypothesis 4: Among Hispanics, high school faculty, peer and family social networks predict college attendance.
Hypothesis 5: Among Hispanics, high school extracurricular activities predict college attendance.
Background Characteristics
There are a limited number of background characteristics which predict Hispanic college
attendance (Table 4). Socioeconomic status is not a significant predictor of college attendance.4
Income does not predict social college attendance in the model, and parent education is significant except when controlling for social networks. Significant differences may exist in parent education by nativity, which is not examined here but may account for some of the variance in the sample. The important finding here is that social networks are valuable for Hispanics who attend college net of socio-economic status.
When all networks are included in the model, having married parents significantly decreases the likelihood of college attendance (Model 8). This is an unusual finding which is supported by existing research which found that females were more likely to attend college if they had an absent father (Buchmann and DiPrete, 2006). Researchers concluded that females were more likely to view higher education as a path to financial independence for themselves when the father was absent (or low-income). A family network might mitigate the strength of that desire by providing additional support.
There is a relationship between AP courses and extracurricular activities related to college attendance. AP courses are not significant predictors of college attendance until extracurricular activities are considered. Taking an AP course reduces the likelihood of college attendance for Hispanics when extracurricular activities are engaged. This may have to do with the relationship between college attendance, varsity sports, and college preparation coursework at the high school level. If being an athlete significantly increases the likelihood of college attendance, and it is less
4 In the unweighted model, parent education is not significant but total income has moderate significance at .05.
This flip suggests an interrelationship between SES variables but no change in predictive power of college attendance.
likely that varsity athletes are enrolled in AP coursework (conjecture), then the high rate of athletes in the model is skewing the results for AP courses. Given the small percentage of respondents, this may be the case.
Education expectations increases the likelihood of college attendance by 141% when social networks are included in the model (Model 8). The greatest single effect appears to come from faculty encouragement, which increases the odds of educational expectations by .22 when introduced in model 3 (from 1.71 in Model 2 to 1.93 in Model 3). It makes sense that having faculty who encourage you to attend college might increase your self-expectations of how much education you will achieve.
Attending a high school with a positive climate increases the odds of college attendance by 48% net of social networks (Model 8). This is only significant once all networks are factored in. I suspect that the existence of positive relationships with faculty and peer networks which exist in a positive school environment are the cause. Hispanics who have connections to faculty and school-focused peers may be more likely to perceive the high school environment as a positive one, which in turn influences the likelihood of continuing education after high school. Hispanics living in rural locations are less likely to attend college when also considering family networks in the model (Models 5, 6, 8). Hispanics living in the Northeast or Midwest are less likely to attend college once all networks are considered (Models 6, 8).
Economic factors and the importance of living at home had no significant effect on predicting college attendance for Hispanics in any of the models. This is surprising, as past research has found relationships between financial aid concerns, parent savings and living at home as predictors of college enrollment (Desmond and Turley, 2009; Cerna, Perez & Saenz, 2009; O’Connor, Hammack and Scott, 2010; Song and Elliott, 2012).
Elements of Social Capital
Teacher information is a significant predictor of Hispanic college attendance, net of all other factors. Getting college info from a teacher reduces the likelihood of college attendance by 74% when background characteristics and other social network/activities are controlled for (Model 8). Similarly, Hispanics who received college information from peers were about 74% less likely to enroll in college when other networks are included in the models (Model 6, 8). This will be discussed more in considering the final model.
Hispanics with a peer network who value school are 72% more likely to attend college (Model 8). The predictive value of this variable increases by about .5 when all networks are accounted for in the models (from 1.23 in Model 4 to 1.72 in Model 8) suggesting peer influence grows when other parties (family, faculty) in the student’s network are heard from. Participating in sports (specifically varsity sports) increases the likelihood of college attendance for Hispanics by over 234% net of social networks and background.
Family networks on their own were not significant predictors of Hispanic college attendance in any of the models. This suggests that families play a lesser role than faculty or peers in influencing college attendance.
Full Model: Does social capital predict college attendance for Hispanics?
Which Hispanics attend college? Those who attend differ slightly by background (Model 8). Attending a high school with a positive climate and having higher educational expectations increases the likelihood of Hispanic college enrollment, net of socioeconomic factors and academic preparation.
What effect does social capital have on Hispanic college enrollment? Peer networks play a positive influential role. Having friends who think school is important increases the likelihood
of college enrollment by 72%. Participating in sports activities, specifically varsity sports (intramural sports were not significant in the follow-up model), has a very strong effect on predicting Hispanic college attendance. Varsity athletes are more likely to be recruited for college athletics, be provided funding for college enrollment, and participate in a structured support network which guides college applications (through coaches or assigned team counselors).
Receiving college information from peers or teachers decreased the likelihood of college attendance. Peer information is a logical finding, as peers can spread misinformation gathered from unlikely sources (e.g., an older neighbor who attended). But teacher information is surprising—one would expect teachers providing college information would increase, not decrease, the likelihood of enrollment over those Hispanics who did not enroll. It is possible that Hispanic students who receive college information may be discouraged or confused by the content of those messages. For example, a teacher may attempt to guide Hispanic students towards local two year colleges rather than four year universities without a clear explanation on the path to a bachelor’s degree. Based on research that shares that Hispanics are over-tracked into lower academic courses in high school, the messages they receive from teachers may be more discouraging that those who receive no messages at all (Arbona and Nora,2007; Davis, 2010 ).