De rol van sociaal kapitaal op de schoolmotivatie onder autochtone en allochtone leerlingen

Abstract

This thesis examines the research question: To what extent do parents and school peers, as social capital, affect the school motivation of secondary school students and what differences exist hereby between native and non-western immigrant students? Resulting hypotheses are based on the social capital theory from Coleman (1988). The used dataset is “Networks and Actor Attributes in Early Adolescence [2003/04]” (Knecht, 2006). The hypotheses were tested with linear regression analysis and a Sobel test. Results indicate that norms and expectations from parents and the school motivation from peers have a significant, positive effect. This provides support for the Coleman’s social capital theory. The education from parents did not have a significant effect. In contrast to what we expected, immigrant students appear to be more school motivated than native students, although these results were contradictory. At last, only norms and expectations from parents functions as a mediator between the immigrant-status and the school motivation from students.