Investing and Vesting International Students' Expressive Resources in Social Capital at Portland State University.

摘要

The study expands the conceptual and methodological precepts of social capital by examining how international students receive social capital from their friends and how students provide social capital to their friends in a North American university setting. The author examines the degree of emotional support that the participants provide ("Investing" social capital) and the support they receive from their friends ("Vesting" social capital), and the relationships between the two social capital variables. In addition, the study examines the influence of demographics and social interaction on social capital, and the influence of social capital on satisfaction. The study suggests that vesting and investing in social capital are correlated, and that giving and receiving social capital are influenced by social interactions with friends. However, social capital offered no significant contribution to satisfaction.