<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate youth’s experiences of what meaning the nonprofit youth project Husby Marathon had on their social capital and self-identity. In order to answer the purpose a qualitative methodology was used based on interviews with four of the participant youths. Two teories were used, Social capital by Robert D. Putnam and Selfidentity by Anthony Giddens. The result indicates that the project has had a significant impact on the creation of social capital, in particular bridging social capital which was strengthened by an extended social network that the participants were offered. A strong social bond developed within the project, which also helped to strengthen the bonding social capital. Civic awareness was raised among the participants which also established a trust towards strangers and the society. Different parts of the project has given the participants opportunity to reflect on their identity. The participants have gained self-efficacy by learning goaloriented methods which has generated new and evolved self-identity. This has shown to increased the youths ability to make decisions and lifestyle choices. The results generated a development of three new concepts that are important for the integration of youth in suburbs. The two first concepts are "social self-identity" and "commitment-building social capital" and these two led to the final concept "social self-resource capital".</p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate youth’s experiences of what meaning the nonprofit youth project Husby Marathon had on their social capital and self-identity. In order to answer the purpose a qualitative methodology was used based on interviews with four of the participant youths. Two teories were used, Social capital by Robert D. Putnam and Selfidentity by Anthony Giddens. The result indicates that the project has had a significant impact on the creation of social capital, in particular bridging social capital which was strengthened by an extended social network that the participants were offered. A strong social bond developed within the project, which also helped to strengthen the bonding social capital. Civic awareness was raised among the participants which also established a trust towards strangers and the society. Different parts of the project has given the participants opportunity to reflect on their identity. The participants have gained self-efficacy by learning goaloriented methods which has generated new and evolved self-identity. This has shown to increased the youths ability to make decisions and lifestyle choices. The results generated a development of three new concepts that are important for the integration of youth in suburbs. The two first concepts are "social self-identity" and "commitment-building social capital" and these two led to the final concept "social self-resource capital".