An Exploratory Study on Family Social Capital and its Relations with Other Forms of Social Capital in Spain

Abstract

The paper outlines the validation of a family social capital (FSC) scale designed using the paradigm of relational sociology, and its application to explore the relations between FSC and other forms of social capital (SC).

An exploratory factor analysis employing a principal component analysis method yielded three components, which accounted for the “support”, “unity” and “ambivalence” dimensions of FSC. A structural equation model was constructed to explore the relation between FSC and generalised SC and civic SC. The findings indicated that a satisfactory validation of the FSC scale was achieved, and that ambivalence is an intrinsic element of FSC, as studies on intergenerational family solidarity have demonstrated. Moreover, the support and unity dimensions of FSC were negatively related to ambivalence, and positively (and only partially) related to generalised SC.