Which is More Relevant for Perceived Happiness,Individual-Level or Area-Level Social Capital? A Multilevel Mediation Analysis

A growing number of studies have addressed how social capital is closely related to an individual’s perceived happiness. However, most happiness studies have focused on individual-level social capital, which is based on an individual’s subjective assessment of social capital gathered from social surveys. Considering that social capital was originally a collective concept, this study distinguished individual- and area-level aspects of social capital and their relationships in terms of their associations with perceived happiness. To this end, we employed multilevel mediation analysis using cross-sectional microdata from a nationwide Internet survey conducted in Japan (N = 9523). We focused on four types of social capital: trust in neighbors, contacts with neighbors, bonding, and bridging. Based on the estimation results, we first confirmed that social capital at both the individual and area levels had a positive association with perceived happiness when using them separately as an independent variable. Second, we found that a substantial portion of the effect of area-level social capital on perceived happiness was mediated by individual-level social capital. This suggests that an individual’s commitment to area-level social capital is required if a large portion of its potential benefits on perceived happiness are to materialize. Furthermore, we observed that the effects of area-level bonding and bridging on their individual-level measures were affected by several individual-level attributes, including personality traits. Overall, the results underscore the need for further investigation into the association between perceived happiness and social capital at different levels.     

A longitudinal study of the moderating effects of social capital on the relationships between changes in human capital and ikigai among Japanese older adults

Ikigai, one of the indices of well‐being, tends to decline with age because resources relating to ikigai decline. However, there are individual differences in this decline. This study tested for maintenance of ikigai among Japanese elderly, using a longitudinal study investigating the moderating role of social capital on the effects of changes in human capital on ikigai. We conducted a panel survey targeting 1,068 people (M age = 73.01 years) in 2013, and 686 people in 2017. The variables were ikigai, changes in human capital (self‐rated financial status, physical health) and social capital (social networks, trust in others), educational level, and control variables. Multiple regression analyses revealed the interaction effects of changes in physical health and changes in social networks (strong ties, weak ties) on follow‐up ikigai. Post hoc analyses indicated that declines in physical health predicted declines in ikigai among those whose social networks (strong ties and weak ties) had declined in the 4‐year study, but these relationships were not significant among those whose social networks had increased. The results suggest that older adults can weaken the adverse effect of a decline in human capital on ikigai by maintaining or increasing social networks.     

The how and the when of the social cure: A conceptual model of group- and individual-level mechanisms linking social identity to health and well-being

In this article, we aim at theoretical specification and integration of mechanisms proposed within the Social Identity Approach to Health and Well-being. We differentiate group-level and individual-level effects of shared social identity by distinguishing three different aspects: individual identification, group identification, and individually perceived group identification. We discuss specific group-level mechanisms (i.e., mutual social support and collective self-efficacy) and individual level-mechanisms (i.e., attribution and appraisal processes regarding stressors and resources) for each of the three aspects. A core conclusion is that the positive effects of shared social identity on health and well-being crucially depend on its close relationship with social support, and that although social support is an interindividual phenomenon, it is intraindividual mechanisms—attribution and appraisal—that shape the psychological partnership between social identity and social support. Therefore, we put special emphasis on cross-level interactions between group- and individual-level mechanisms, which have been widely neglected in earlier research.     

数字生态系统中创业机会的形成与发展：基于社会资本理论的探究

数字创业浪潮方兴未艾, 机会属性变化引起的数字创业机会形成与变化规律尚未被揭示。本研究以数字生态系统作为研究情境, 分析创业者利用数字生态系统可供性积累的社会资本, 如何影响创业机会形成与发展。从机会的合意性维度和内容维度两方面解释创业机会的变化规律, 考察创业者认知监控与新创企业数字化程度对这一路径的调节作用。本研究拓展社会资本理论在数字创业背景下的应用, 深化数字生态系统中的创业机会研究, 有助于指导创业者利用数字平台开展“破坏性创造”, 提升机会识别质量和效率, 促进创业生态系统建设。     

Social support: Its structure and impact on marital disruption

Availability of social support has been hypothesized to play a role in influencing adjustment to marital disruption either directly or by moderating the debilitating effects of stress. Yet previous research has not adequately conceptualized or measured the nature and availability of social support. In an effort to learn more about the structure and impact of social support as it relates to marital disruption, 50 newly separated men and women were interviewed at 2 months and again at 8 months after their separations. The structure of social support was found to include (a) several important sources of support, including family, friends, and the larger community; (b) an index of social activity; and (c) a sense of satisfaction with present marital status. Although the stress associated with separation was positively related to poorer adjustment, certain aspects of social support were found to moderate this relationship. This report is based, in part, on work supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant No. MH 26373 (Preventive Intervention for Newly Separated Persons), Bernard L. Bloom and William F. Hodges, co-principal investigators. We are pleased to acknowledge this support.     

员工社会资本跨层次契合的动态演化过程及双向作用机制

员工社会资本向企业社会资本的转化是拓展员工价值、获取外部资源的有效途径, 为阐释这一多层次主体互动现象, 提出社会资本跨层次契合的构念, 运用跨层次追踪研究设计, 对其动态演化过程和双向作用机制进行剖析。首先, 探索员工社会资本跨层次契合的维度结构, 并基于此开发跨层次契合量表; 其次, 对社会资本跨层次契合进行过程解构, 探讨员工心理与行为、企业能力与情境在动态演化过程中的作用; 再次, 构建自上而下和自下而上的嵌入与涌现机制理论模型, 将影响员工社会资本跨层次契合的多层次因素整合到同一个理论框架, 并以纵向追踪数据进行实证检验, 厘清作用路径和作用边界。在此基础上, 运用追踪跨案例研究方法, 探讨社会资本跨层次契合的战略选择, 研究结论能为激发员工角色外行为, 有效利用社会资本的管理实践提供启示。     

Bridging Social Capital in Online Communities: Heterogeneity and Social Tolerance of Online Game Players in Japan

This article examines the democratic potential of online communities by investigating the influence of network heterogeneity on social tolerance in an online gaming environment. Online game communities are potential sources of bridging social capital because they tend to be relatively heterogeneous. Causal analyses are conducted using structural equation modeling with survey data collected in a three‐wave panel of online game players in Japan. Results show that the heterogeneous composition of online community causally enhances social tolerance toward community members within the online gaming setting. Furthermore, results show that enhanced social tolerance toward online community members is generalized to offline settings. This causal process suggests that online communities provide access to bridging social capital by gathering heterogeneous populations around shared contexts.     

Religion as a resource for positive youth development: religion, social capital, and moral outcomes

Although existing literature demonstrates that developmental benefits are associated with religion for adolescents, little is understood about the dynamics of this relationship. Drawing on social capital theory, this study tested a conceptual model exploring socially embedded religious influences on moral outcomes. A three-dimensional model of social capital demonstrated how social interaction, trust, and shared vision enable social ties associated with religiousness to influence moral behavior. Structural equation modeling was used with data gathered from 735 urban youths to test a proposed model of the effects of religiousness on moral outcomes. Results suggested that religiously active youths report higher levels of social capital resources and that the influence of adolescent religiousness on moral outcomes was mediated through social capital resources. Suggestions for further research and implications for faith-based youth development organizations are considered.     

The preventive and therapeutic effects of two school mental health programs

In 30 classrooms randomly assigned to experimental conditions, effects on mothers' reports of behavior symptoms were compared for (a) a parent education program; (b) an in-school program of consultation, counseling, training, and referral; and (c) control classrooms. A sample of 426 families were followed for 30 months from the child's entry into third grade. A simple unweighted count of the number of symptoms reported in a home interview had adequate validity, good reliability, low reactivity, and intrinsic significance. Both programs had significant preventive and therapeutic effects on boys but not on girls. Effects were immediate in the upper middle class families, delayed in the lower class families.The larger study on which this article is based was initiated some years ago by Professor Glidewell and his colleagues, and represents a pioneering research effort in the field of community psychology. The present article was prepared by the authors in response to an invitation from the Editor to report important and still timely aspects of the original study that were not previously published in archival sources. We are grateful to Professor Glidewell and his colleagues for giving us this opportunity to make their findings more generally available to community psychology researchers.This work was supported by research grant M-592 from the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Public Health Service, and the St. Louis County Health Department.     

Unpacking psychological inequalities in organisations: Psychological capital reconsidered

In this paper, we argue that psychological capital is unequally distributed among people from different social classes, ethnic backgrounds and genders. Confronting the limitations of the current, individualistic perspective on psychological capital, we offer a re-conceptualisation of the construct from a critical, interdisciplinary perspective, placing it at the intersection of sociology and psychology. We discuss the various mechanisms through which social inequalities may cause differential access to psychological capital for members of low- and high-status social groups and show how this differential access to psychological capital results in and exacerbates social inequalities. By doing this, we postulate a recursive theory on psychological capital that both recognises the formative effect of socio-organisational structures on one's psychology and vice versa.     

Interactive effects of emotional dissonance and self-control demands on burnout, anxiety, and absenteeism

Two specific sources of stress at work have recently received increasing attention in organizational stress research: emotional dissonance (ED) and self-control demands (SCDs). Both theoretical arguments and experimental findings in basic research strongly suggest that ED and different SCDs draw on a common limited regulatory resource. Consequently, both kinds of stressors should exert interactive effects on indicators of job strain and well-being. Drawing on two German samples (total N = 586), we tested this prediction by examining the interaction effects of ED and different dimensions of SCDs on burnout, anxiety, and absence behavior. Latent moderated structural equation modeling provided support for the hypothesized interactive effects of ED and dimensions of SCDs in predicting burnout, anxiety, and absence behavior. More specifically, with each pair of stressors the effects of one stressor were found to be amplified by the other. Finally, we discuss theoretical and practical implications of our results.     

Beyond the Lynn White Thesis: Congregational Effects on Environmental Concern

An extensive literature has explored the effects of religion on opinions about environmental protection and action on environmental issues, but has largely concerned itself with the effects of theology as inspired by the Lynn White thesis. However, religion is multifaceted and any complete study should also incorporate the social dimensions of religious experience. In this article, we employ a unique data set to demonstrate the varied informational effects of church membership on environmental attitudes. We find that social sources of information in the church shape the dimensions of religious belief and exert much stronger effects on attitudes on the environment than do doctrinal or religiosity measures.     

Testing Hypotheses Distilled from Four Models of the Effects of Health-Related Social Control

This study distilled and tested hypotheses derived from four models of the effects of social control on affect and health behavior among 401 college students involved in heterosexual dating relationships. Each model received at least some support. Consistent with the dual effects model, social control strategies predicted both health behavior change and negative affect. In accord with the domain-specific model, positive social control was related to positive affect and negative social control was related to negative affect. In partial support of the mediational model, positive social control exerted both a direct and an indirect effect via positive affect on health behavior change and negative social control exerted both a direct and an indirect effect via negative affect on hiding unhealthy behavior. As predicted by the contextual model, quality of dating relationship moderated the influence of positive and negative social control on hiding unhealthy behavior.     

Does Approach Crafting Always Benefit? The Moderating Role of Job Insecurity

Abstract

By integrating job demands-resources theory with social information processing theory, we examined how and when seeking challenges and seeking resources influence employees’ turnover intention and helping behavior. We propose that seeking challenges and seeking resources increase employees’ psychological capital. We furthermore suggest that the effects of seeking challenges and seeking resources on psychological capital are moderated by job insecurity, such that employees with high job insecurity will gain more psychological capital through seeking challenges and less psychological capital through seeking resources. Results from a multiwave, multisource study using a sample of 245 supervisor-subordinate dyads provided support for our hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Social Support,Loyalty to Delinquent Peers,and Offending: An Elaboration and Test of the Differential Social Support Hypothesis

While most research focuses on the positive effects of social support on adolescent development, Cullen hypothesizes that social support may promote crime and delinquency under certain conditions. Specifically, when social support is derived from deviant sources, it may promote offending behavior. In this study, we test an elaborated version of this “differential social support” hypothesis. The results indicate that, among adolescents who associate with delinquent peers, peer social support is associated with an increase in delinquent behavior. These findings highlight the potential “dark side” of social support. Implications for criminological theory and crime control policy are discussed.     

Exploring social capital in rural settlements of an islander region in Greece

This paper reports on a large scale cross‐sectional study examining subjective perceptions of community social life held by a randomly selected sample of residents (n = 428) in all small rural settings (n = 89) of the region of North Aegean Sea. The notion of social capital was used as a conceptual tool in order to explore different aspects of the relational life of contemporary rural communities. This study has two aims: First to provide an account of rural residents' perceptions of village life in terms of interpersonal support, mutual aid, trust, social cohesion and community competence, and second to examine the suitability of the social capital notion within the specific cultural context. A combination of data collection procedures and a range of sources were employed, such as key informants, rural residents and researchers' field observations. The findings indicate that small farming communities of high devotion with deep roots and strong sense of belonging face severe demographic imbalance and experience low civic power given the limited links with external agents. The mainstream notion of social capital as an unconditionally beneficial factor is thus questioned. The findings call for revisiting its relevance across communities with varying capacities and needs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高校教师职业心理资本与工作绩效:社会支持的中介效应

用"高校教师职业心理资本量表"、"工作绩效量表"及"社会支持问卷"对来自全国8所高校的718名高校教师进行问卷调查。通过描述性分析、回归及结构方程模型等实证统计方法,深入分析了社会支持、职业心理资本与工作绩效关系模型的理论架构,探究了社会支持在职业心理资本对工作绩效影响的中介模型效应的内在作用机制。研究发现,社会支持、职业心理资本、工作绩效及其各维度之间均存在显著的相关;职业心理资本及其各维度对工作绩效的主效应非常显著;社会支持在职业心理资本及其各维度与工作绩效间的中介效应也均显著。这表明高校教师职业心理资本及各维度对工作绩效不但起着直接的影响作用,而且通过社会支持工作绩效产生了间接的影响。因此,提升高校教师的职业心理资本,建立良好的内、外社会支持系统对提升工作绩效都会形成良好的激励效果,从而实现教师和高校的共同发展。     

The Social Capital of Blacks and Whites: Differing Effects of the Mass Media in the United States

This study relied on telephone survey interviews of adults in two U.S. metropolitan areas to examine whether the relationship between mass media use and social capital varies according to ethnicity. A multigroup approach taken with structural equation modeling validates a four‐factor model of social capital for Blacks and Whites and then, with the implementation of a comprehensive model that also includes mass media inputs, tests for structural variance between the ethnic groups. A well‐fitting comprehensive model is achieved, with significant differences between Blacks and Whites in terms of the mass media use structures. In support of the two hypotheses, the relationship between news use and social capital is less positive for Blacks than for Whites and the relationship between entertainment TV viewing and social capital is more negative for Blacks than for Whites. These findings are discussed in terms of literature involving mass media effects on social capital, news coverage of ethnic groups, and ethnic differences in self‐conceptualization and media responses.     

The Cross‐Level Mediating Effect of Psychological Capital on the Organizational Innovation Climate–Employee Innovative Behavior Relationship

Organizational innovation climates have been found to be effective predictors of employee creativity and organizational innovation. As such, climate assessments provide a basis for useful organizational interventions in enhancing creativity and innovation. Researchers now call for better articulation of the motivational mechanisms that link social context to employee innovation. In responding to the above call, this study found that employee positive psychological capital (PsyCap) is more influential than organizational innovation climate on employee innovative behavior. With a large sample (N  = 781) from 16 organizations and a cross‐level analysis, we examined the relationship between organizational innovation climate and employee innovative behavior with employee PsyCap as mediator. The results showed that both organizational innovation climate and employee PsyCap significantly affect employee innovative behavior, and more importantly, employee PsyCap fully mediates this relationship. The innovation journey is a challenging and risky one with many frustrations and discouraging moments from idea generation to idea implementation. The research results presented here imply that to be innovatively effective, organizations are advised to manage both social (organizational innovation climate) and psychological (PsyCap) resources of employees in enhancing employee innovative behavior. Other theoretic and practical implications are discussed.     

A functional analysis of objects used in stereotyped behavior: The relationship between social and non-social stimuli

This study examined the effects of objects, with and without social stimulus properties, on the behavior of children who are severely retarded, and compared such effects with behavior under conditions of minimal stimulation. It was found that these children approach, contact, grasp and interact significantly less often with objects which possess social stimulus properties than with objects which possess no social qualities. These results are discussed in relation to the ongoing debate on the importance of relationships in the reduction of challenging behavior. It is concluded that while having access to close-bonded relationships may be necessary for the reduction of challenging behavior, in some cases at least, it may not be sufficient.