During the transition to adulthood, youth often rely on the people in their life for support. However, for transition-aged foster youth, these supports may not be available or may look different than supports available to youth in the general population. Relationships with supportive adults have been found to help former foster youth transition to adulthood, but little is known about the adults youth have in their network. Foster youth who report increased levels of social capital have been shown to experience higher levels of success in young adulthood. However, as former foster youth transition to adulthood, a lack of in-depth understanding of supportive adults and social networks creates difficulties identifying—and addressing—potential gaps in their social network. This study aims to gain a better understanding of how social networks influence social support and access to and mobilization of social capital as youth leave the foster care system. A social network assessment based on two existing measures was created to attain a better understanding of the social networks of transition-aged foster youth. The new social network tool was piloted with a group of young adults prior to use in this study. This social network tool allowed for an in-depth understanding of social networks, social support, and social capital as three distinct constructs. The social network characteristics included: on whom the youth relies for support, how the relationship developed, and the closeness of the relationship. Social support included: questions on the type of support available to youth (resources, emotional, advice, or constructive criticism), as well as the social support domains (housing, education, employment, relationships, and transportation). Social capital was examined based on questions about network members’ occupation(s) and frequency of communication between the youth and each network member. Univariate, Bivariate, and Multivariate analyses were utilized to examine social network characteristics, foster care history, social support, and social capital. The mean network size of sample participants was 7.1 and the range was 0–36. A relationship between placement type and social network members was found; indicating that youth in congregate care were more likely to have formal (social service related) networks than youth not in congregate care. A relationship between having more informal network members and housing stability was found; indicating that different network members may help youth with different young adult outcomes. A relationship between both access to, and mobilization of, social capital was found based on the type of social network members (formal, informal, familial-biological, familial-foster). Based on the findings of the current study, research and practice implications are discussed. These include the utility of social network analysis with transition-aged foster youth, future lines of inquiry, and suggested practice/policy shifts.

Oral health disparities in children is an important public health issue in the United States. A growing body of evidence exists supporting the social determinants of oral health, moving beyond individual predictors of disease to family- and community-level influences. The goal of this study is to examine one such social determinant, social capital, at the family and neighborhood levels and their relationships with oral health in Iowa children. A statewide representative data source, the 2010 Iowa Child and Family Household Health Survey, was analyzed cross-sectionally for child oral health status as the outcome, a four-item index of neighborhood social capital and four separate indicators for family social capital as the main predictors, and seven covariates. Soda consumption was checked as a potential mediator between the social capital variables and oral health status. A significant association was found between oral health status and the neighborhood social capital index (p=0.005) and family frequency of eating meals together (p=0.02) after adjusting for covariates. Neighborhood social capital and family function, a component of family social capital, may independently influence child oral health outcomes.

This dissertation presents three empirical studies on the distribution and role of social capital among immigrants in the United States. Using data from two national datasets – the New Immigrant Survey (NIS 2003, 2007) and the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (SCCBS 2000) – it examines the implications of social capital for immigrants’ social and economic integration. In doing so, it addresses several key limitations within migration research. The first limitation it addresses is the focus of prior research on migrants’ co-ethnic (bonding) social capital and the limited research on immigrants’ “bridging” social capital and distributional inequities across immigrant groups. Second, while most research has focused on role of social capital in economic integration, relatively little is known about the short-run and long-term implications of immigrants’ social capital for their health and well-being. Third, prior research has generally focused on specific immigrant groups, particularly Hispanic and Asian immigrants, and it is unclear if prior findings are generalizable to immigrants overall or if they are simply capturing group and/or context-specific effects of social capital. This dissertation includes three studies that provide pieces of evidence that address these limitations and contribute to the migration literature. In the first study, I explore the link between race, immigration status and social network diversity. Using data on personal network characteristics from the SCCBS (2000), I examine the role of race and immigration status in the distribution of ethnicity and status-bridging social capital. Findings confirm the double disadvantage of minority and outsider status for minority immigrants when it comes to access to network diversity, which is to say group (i.e. race) differences in native-immigrant gaps in access to ethnicity-bridging social capital. The findings also show that this double disadvantage is explained away by group differences in network ethnic diversity, and that race and immigrant status are a factor in determining the return from network ethnic diversity in terms of network quality, which is reflective of the extant socioeconomic stratification system in the United States. In the second study, I use a nationally representative data of immigrants from the NIS (2003), to examine the link between reliance of new immigrants on “bonding” social capital for job search and two indicators of labor market performance: earnings and occupational prestige. I find that while using a “relative” to find a job generally has a negative effect on both earnings and occupational prestige, this effect is not shared across all immigrants, which explains inconsistent findings in prior studies of the role of co-ethnic social capital in the labor market outcomes of Hispanic and Asian immigrants. In the third study, I turn my attention to the immigrant health literature, which has largely focused on the acculturation-health relationship and largely ignored the significance of network processes, particularly the interethnic integration of new immigrants, for the short-term and long-term health outcomes of immigrants. I use longitudinal data from the NIS (2003, 2007), which includes various measures of health status and behaviors, and examine the contemporaneous and longitudinal associations between interethnic social capital and health. I find positive cross-sectional associations with negative health behaviors (smoking, drinking and dietary change), on the one hand, and positive long-term (lagged) effects on health status (self-rated health and the incidence of chronic diseases), on the other. These results find evidence for the time-dependent health implications of interethnic network integration for the health status of immigrants in the United States.

In this thesis, I discuss the Tampa Heights Greenprinting Initiative, an initiative to build community in a gentrifying neighborhood. I was primarily hired to find out what changes residents of Tampa Heights desired in their chosen park, observe the Greenprinting process, and write a report that could be used in future initiatives. Due to my Anthropological training, I paid attention to the wider context associated with this project. I paid as much attention to who was not there as I did to who was there. The applied nature of my program enabled me to not only document the socio-economic factors that affected the project, but to say something at the time of the project, so that change could be implemented. Research questions involved trying to figure out how residents envision their neighborhood park, as well as the broader question of how the socioeconomic situation in Tampa Heights affects the Tampa Heights Greenprinting Initiative. I asked whether a park revitalization could lead to residents uniting across various boundaries, and if so, how. I discovered that the Tampa Heights Greenprinting process highlighted some of the socioeconomic tensions in Tampa Heights. These tensions are related to the current status of the neighborhood as a gentrifying area. Perhaps, as a result of the Greenprinting process, residents will recognize that to truly build a cohesive community, they must address the implications of gentrification, outside investment (instead of community-rooted investment), the possible demolition of Robles Park Housing Village, and the lack of youth programs in their community.

Ce travail s'inscrit dans une veine de recherche en intelligence économique. Un mot clé est souvent associé à l'activité d'intelligence économique au quotidien: c'est celui de réseau. Le réseau est présent à toutes les étapes du cycle du renseignement. Dans ce travail, le concept de réseau va nous intéresser dans une perspective interculturelle. Nous allons plus précisément nous attacher au concept chinois de Guanxi, orientation de l'esprit qui conduit à mobiliser les réseaux de relations dès lors qu'on se trouve face à un problème décisionnel et ce à tous les niveaux de la vie sociale.Pour comprendre les mécanismes du Guanxi, il est nécessaire d'en décrire les mécanismes en utilisant des concepts nécessaires à sa compréhension. La complexité du travail vient du fait que les concepts sous-jacents ne sont pas traduisibles en français autrement que par des périphrases et qu'ils se définissent de façon emboitée. Impossible de comprendre la notion de Guanxi sans s'immerger dans le système social chinois. Afin d'éclairer le lecteur, il nous a paru également utile de mettre en parallèle le concept de Guanxi de concepts voisins qui ont pu être utilisés dans d'autres sociétés. Le Guanxi joue sans doute un rôle de facilitateur dans le développement de l'entreprise chinoise. Il aide les entrepreneurs chinois à réussir. Quel rôle le Guanxi joue-t-il dans la réussite de l'entrepreneur français en Chine? Le Guanxi est-il aussi un élément favorable au développement des entreprises à capitaux étrangers (français) en Chine?Pour répondre à ces questions, nous sommes partis en Chine rencontrer des entrepreneurs français, écouter leur expérience personnelle ainsi que leur pratique professionnelle.La seconde partie rend compte de ce travail de terrain et montre toute la difficulté d'une compréhension fine du concept de Guanxi par ces chefs d'entreprise alors même qu'ils évoluent dans un environnement asiatique. / This work is part of a vein of research intelligence. A keyword is often associated with the activity of intelligence in everyday life: this is the réseau. The network is present at all stages of the intelligence cycle. In this work, the network concept will interest us in an intercultural perspective. We will specifically bind us to the Chinese concept of Guanxi orientation of the mind which leads to mobilize networks of relations as soon as we are faced with a decision problem and at all levels of social life.To understand the mechanisms of Guanxi, it is necessary to describe mechanisms using concepts needed to understand. Complexity of the work is that the underlying concepts are not translatable in French except by circumlocution and how they define nested. Impossible to understand the concept of Guanxi without immerse themselves in the Chinese social system. To inform the reader, we thought it useful to also parallel the concept of Guanxi of related concepts that could be used in other companies.Guanxi undoubtedly plays a facilitating role in the development of the Chinese company. It helps Chinese entrepreneurs to succeed. Guanxi plays what role he in the success of the French entrepreneur in China? Guanxi is it also a favorable factor for the development of foreign-invested enterprises (French) China? To answer these questions, we went to China to meet French entrepreneurs, listen to their personal experience and their professional practice.The second part gives an account of this fieldwork and demonstrates the difficulty of a thorough understanding of the concept of Guanxi by these business leaders even though they operate in an Asian environment

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Alongside informal networks of friends and family, formal social groupings such as voluntary associations are valued by older people as opportunities for engagement. In Australia, one such grouping is the licensed social (or ‘registered’) club. Approximately 20 per cent of all older Australians, and 80 per cent of older residents of the state of New South Wales, actively participate in such clubs. Despite this, older people’s registered club participation has received little scholarly attention. This ethnographic study of one particular registered club aimed to discover the nature, meaning and role of club participation for its older members. Social capital existing in club-based networks emerged as a further investigative focus, and its mechanisms and outcomes were examined. Participant observation and in-depth interviewing were the main data collection methods used. Data analysis procedures included thematic analysis (based loosely on grounded theory methodology), as well as the more contextsensitive narrative analysis and key-words-in-context analysis. The study found that club participation enabled older members to maintain valued social networks, self-reliance and a sense of autonomy. Social networks were characterised by social capital of the bonding type, being largely homogeneous with respect to age, gender, (working) class and cultural background. Strong cohesive bonds were characterised by intimacy and reciprocity, and possessed norms including equality and the norm of tolerance and inclusiveness. These helped to minimise conflict and build cohesiveness, while protecting older club-goers from increasing marginalisation within the club. Peer grouping within this mainstream setting may have shielded the older club-goers from stigma associated with participation in old-age specific groups. The nature and scale of registered club participation amongst older Australians points to their unique and important role. The findings of this research indicate that – for at least this group of older men and women - club use is a major contributor to maintaining social connectedness and a sense of self as self-reliant, autonomous and capable. In the context of an ageing population, Australia’s registered clubs feature in the mosaic of resources available to older people, and their communities, for the creation of social capital.

In this era emphasizing the knowledge economy, corporate survival has been paid special attention following the financial depression. For the corporate under the era of knowledge economy, competitive advantages are from knowledge sharing and organizational innovation. More recently, literature has emerged that offers findings about social capital as a complete concept to explore its influences and functions. In this study, we seek to address the three dimensions, namely relationship, trust, and norms of the internal social capital in the context of Chinese culture and further explore the interactive relationships and influences among them. Using the structure equation model, we use data collected 385 knowledge workers from the high-tech, financial and medical industries of Taiwan. The findings show that (1) relationship has positive influences on norms and trust; (2) the relationship, norms, and trust have positive influences on knowledge sharing; (3) the internal social capital has positive influences on organizational innovation; (4) knowledge sharing has a positive influence on organizational innovation; (5) knowledge sharing has partial mediating effects on social capital and organizational innovation. Furthermore, we proposed a theoretical model of relationship, norms, and trust for future research. These findings could be useful in academic field and practical applications.

Due to the progressive development of science and technology, globalization has become the main trend in the 21st century and, consequently, teamwork cooperation has been the key for achieving successful enterprise organization. However, the individual background and profession as well as other factors will bring out different emotional attitudes and behaviors; conflict within a team will then arise. How a team can be flexible and efficient at low cost, is the critical focus of its existence. Empiricism is employed to analyze the correlation between team performance and the team¡¦s EI, conflict, as well as social capital expenditure on the part of the organization. The results of questionnaires revealed the following: I.Establishing a positive environment and team evaluation system has a significant influence on team performance when the social capital of an organization is involved. II. Conflict has an interference effect on a team¡¦s EI and performance. (a)Task conflict: when multiple performance management is involved in the conflict there¡¦s a significant moderating effect on team performance. (b)Relationship conflict: when feedback is involved in the conflict there¡¦s an insignificant moderating effect on team performance. III. Team conflict has an interference effect on the EI social capital of an organization. A. Task conflict (a)When multiple performance management is involved in moderating conflict there¡¦s a significant influence on the social capital of an organization. (b)When team evaluation is involved in moderating conflict there¡¦s an insignificant influence on the social capital of an organization B. Relationship conflict (a) Establishing a positive environment involved in moderating relationship conflict has a significant influence on the social capital of an organization. (b) Conducting team evaluation involved in moderating relationship conflict has a significant influence on the social capital of an organization.

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This thesis explores the structure and delivery of education programs to justice-involved adults in Canadian federal prisons and in the community. A series of semi-structured interviews as well as three volumes of the Journal for Prisoners on Prisons were analyzed using a qualitative approach to determine whether or not principles of adult education and components of performative space are present in current correctional education strategies. The findings suggest that while there are occurrences of both elements in the education that is provided to prisoners, the programs in the community are much more reflective of these adult learning standards. This project highlights the need for research into the area of adult correctional education, increased collaboration between the fields of criminology and education, and provides a framework from which future research can continue.