Forming social capital: Adolescents' attitudes towards social responsibility, social activities, and political participation in the Czech Republic

There is a consensus across various disciplines that social capital positively impacts developmental outcomes. This study, conducted in the Czech Republic, empirically assesses adolescents' attitudes towards several aspects of social capital. It derives data from surveys of about one thousand secondary school adolescents from a nationally representative sample. A comprehensive measurement of social capital is applied in this study: it covers several key aspects of social capital that are pertinent to adolescent populations within this societal context: political participation, trust, tolerance, and aspects of social engagement and activities such as giving money to charities, willingness to help different groups, and ability to influence one's environment. The main findings show that social capital formation among an adolescent population (ages 15 to 19) is determined by higher educational attainments (measured by the type of school attended) and by gender. Counter to the hypotheses, age and socio-economic and family background factors are not significantly associated with social capital attitudes among this age cohort. The findings also reveal that the level of trust is relatively low; especially, trust in political leaders is dismal and negatively impacts attitudes towards political involvement. Cognizant of the Communist past and a lack of empirical research assessing social capital formation among the adolescent populations in the Czech Republic, this study aims to guide future research in this key development area and provides recommendations for policy initiatives.