The Youth Social Capital Transformation Process (YSCTP): Moving from Awareness to Activation to Advance Education and Career Goals

Background and Purpose: Social capital refers to “the resources that arise from a web of relationships, which people can access and mobilize to help them improve their lives and achieve their goals". Although social capital has been widely studied, there is limited research on how youth understand, develop, and activate their webs of support to advance academic and career goals. Our review of the extant literature found that most studies use adult-defined indicators rather than youth-centered perspectives and measures. To address this gap, we used youth participatory research methods to examine the question: How do young people understand, build, and access their social capital to advance academic and career pathways?

Methods: We employed participatory research methods to center youth voices throughout the research process and to enhance the validity and practical application of the findings. We partnered with five U.S.-based youth-serving organizations that integrate social capital into their programming. Building on the Web of Support framework (Varga & Zaff, 2018), we worked with 36 youth aged 16-21 from partner organizations to understand how they define social capital, identify people they turn to for support, navigate those relationships when they need help, and activate support for educational and vocational achievement. Youth participated in 15 design sessions featuring interactive activities such as eco-mapping, photo elicitation, and peer learning. A sub-sample (n = 10) completed semi-structured individual interviews to capture personal narratives of social capital development. All design sessions and interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. We used reflexive thematic analysis to analyze transcripts and, through an iterative process, presented emerging themes to youth for further definition and refinement.

Results: From the analysis of interviews and design sessions, and in partnership with youth, we co-developed the Youth Social Capital Transformation Process (YSCTP): a four-stage assessment process (Define, Visualize, Experience, Integrate) that moves youth from awareness to activation of social capital. The YSCTP embeds assessment within activities, focusing on measures that are personally meaningful and relevant to youth to improve academic and career readiness and success. We identified key youth-centered components of social capital development, including building relationships that are grounded in relational mutuality and authenticity. Youth expressed a clear preference for transformative, long-term connections based on reciprocity rather than transactional ties.

Conclusions and Implications: The YSCTP provides a practical roadmap for helping youth increase awareness and understanding of their social capital, identify gaps in their networks, and activate supports as they pursue academic and vocational goals. The use of participatory research methods offered youth authentic opportunities to engage in the research process, share individual and collective experiences, and co-develop a youth-centered social capital assessment tool. This study was the first phase of a larger research project. Future research will employ youth and community engaged approaches to implement and evaluate the YSCTP within youth-serving organizations to further examine the mechanisms through which youth activate their social capital to achieve academic and career goals.