After eading the articles for this week’s topic, please discuss the following regarding the two articles you selected:
• 3 key points from the article
• 2 quotes that speak to you with an analysis of why they are significant to development
• 1 Question (with an answer to your own question): You may question the findings, analyses, method, and conclusions. You may offer ideas for future research or how to build on the study. Superficial questions such as definition clarifications will not qualify for credit.
article is attached below
educationhuman development children
Journal of Early Adolescence
2014, Vol. 34(6) 816 –836
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/0272431613511329
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Article
Cool Girls, Inc. and
Self-Concept: The Role
of Social Capital
Jessica D. Thomason1 and Gabriel Kuperminc1
Abstract
Social capital was examined as a mediator of the association between
youth development program participation and gains in self-concept in a
sample of 86 primarily African American female adolescents in the Cool
Girls, program, and 89 comparisons. Two dimensions of social capital (the
diversity of girls’ social networks and the number of life domains in which
girls were able to access help) were examined. It was hypothesized that
participation in Cool Girls would be associated with increases in social
capital and that this would mediate the relationship between participation in
Cool Girls and increases in self-concept. Social capital was associated with
gains in two dimensions of self-concept regardless of program participation:
social acceptance and behavioral conduct. Finally, there was a significant
indirect effect of participation on social acceptance and behavioral conduct,
mediated through social capital. Implications are discussed
.
Keywords
social capital, youth development, self-concept, adolescents
The neighborhood and school conditions in which youth are raised can create
barriers or opportunities for their development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).
Many inner-city neighborhoods are isolated from social resources
1Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
Corresponding Author:
Jessica D. Thomason, Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, 140 Decatur St.,
11th floor, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.
Email: jthomason4@gsu.edu
511329 JEAXXX10.1177/0272431613511329Journal of Early AdolescenceThomason and Kuperminc
research-article2013
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Thomason and Kuperminc 817
that provide opportunities for social mobility and psychological or emotional
support (Fitzpatrick, Wright, Bettina, & LaGory, 2005; Stanton-Salazar,
1997, 2001, 2005). Researchers have found a link between increased social
support and certain dimensions of adolescent self-concept (Demaray,
Malecki, Rueger, Brown, & Summers, 2009), suggesting the importance of
having access to supportive social networks. As a result, some programs
attempt to provide youth with access to resources that might not otherwise be
available to them. One example of this is Cool Girls, Inc., which notes in its
mission statement that the program will empower girls and increase their
self-esteem by increasing access to social resources and teaching girls how to
access resources when in need. Thus, increasing social resources is seen as a
mechanism through which youth eventually achieve desired youth develop-
ment outcomes, including positive self-concepts.
Accessing Social Resources
Theories of social capital offer a useful framework for conceptualizing how
youth programs, like Cool Girls, can help increase young peoples’ social net-
works in ways that might increase opportunities for social mobility.
Researchers use the term social capital to describe the extent of an individu-
al’s access to people with diverse resources and view it as a resource that can
provide opportunities and provide psychological and emotional support. One
way to increase youth’s social capital is through participation in Youth
Development Programs (YDPs). Drawing on research showing that the tran-
sition to adolescence often poses risks for the development of girls’ self-con-
cepts, some YDPs work exclusively with girls (LeCroy, 2004). Such programs
often focus on increasing self-esteem (Royse, 1998) by challenging gender
role stereotypes and encouraging self-determination (Kuperminc, Thomason,
DiMeo, & Broomfield-Massey, 2011; LeCroy, 2004). In addition, due to the
underrepresentation of women in positions of political power and in the fields
of mathematics, science, technology, and engineering (Else-Quest, Hyde, &
Linn, 2010), as well as persistent gender stereotypes, young girls may not see
these opportunities as available to them. A common strategy of YDPs is to
expand young peoples’ exposure to adult role models who can provide
encouragement and practical guidance (Eccles & Gootman, 2002). It has
been argued that developmental relationships (Li & Julian, 2012) or youth–
adult partnerships (Zeldin, Christens, & Powers, 2013) that form between
youth and these adult role models can serve as the active ingredients that
promote positive youth development because they engage youth in reciprocal
(e.g., shared interests) rather than prescriptive (e.g., skill training) interac-
tions that can grow to increasingly draw on the youth’s contribution over
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818 Journal of Early Adolescence 34(6)
time. Thus, increasing the network of these types of relationships in the lives
of young people (i.e., their social capital) has the potential to be a key media-
tor in the link between program participation and desired youth outcomes. In
the present study, we examined youth’s perceptions of the acquisition of
social capital as a mediator of the link between participation in Cool Girls and
increases in self-concept.
Self-Concept in Adolescence
Self-concept is defined by how individuals assess their strengths and weak-
nesses in multiple life domains (e.g., scholastic competence, behavioral con-
duct; Harter, 1999), and is differentiated from self-esteem, as defined by a
general sense of self-worth, or how one feels about oneself. Research has
shown that the development of a positive self-concept during adolescence
assists in negotiating new roles and relationships with others (Harter &
Monsour, 1992, 1999). For example, perceived social acceptance has been
related to several youth outcomes such as peer-reported hostile and aggres-
sive behavior, peer-reported companionship, and teacher-reported adjust-
ment on internalizing and externalizing behaviors and social problems
(McElhaney, Antonishak, & Allen, 2008; Waldrip, Malcom, & Jensen-
Campbell, 2008).
Research has also found significant gender differences in dimensions of
self-concept, including body image (Nishina, Ammon, Bellmomre, &
Graham, 2006; Peterson et al., 2007) and self-esteem (Zimmerman et al.,
1997). Whereas both genders struggle with body image issues (Bearman &
Stice, 2008; Jones, 2004; McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2003), girls’ concerns
about their bodies are more likely to contribute to depression (Bearman &
Stice, 2008; Cambron, Acitelli, & Pettit, 2009). In addition, girls faced with
negotiating traditional gender roles as females while maintaining academic
achievement (Skelton, Francis, & Read, 2010) often develop poorer math
attitudes and stress related to stereotype threat (Else-Quest et al., 2010;
Huguet & Régner, 2009). These challenges can spill over to other aspects of
the self-concept as well, contributing to concerns about relationships and
declines in overall self-worth (Miller & White, 2003).
Youth Development Programs
YDPs emerged in the 1990s as a response to single-issue prevention pro-
grams that had become prevalent at that time. For example, many programs
were implemented in schools and communities to prevent teenage pregnancy,
or drug and alcohol abuse, or to reduce school drop-out rates. Researchers
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Thomason and Kuperminc 819
and practitioners began to recognize that focusing on the positive develop-
ment of the “whole child,” rather than single-issue risk-behaviors, could pre-
vent a wide-range of negative outcomes and prepare youth for the future. In
order to help youth develop positively in terms of their physical and psycho-
logical health, it is necessary to focus on building up youth’s internal and
external resources (Eccles & Gootman, 2002). Internally, YDPs seek to pro-
mote positive self-concept, self-determination, and positive future orienta-
tion, among others. Externally, YDPs often seek to promote and expand
youth’s access to positive adult role models. Such programs encourage the
integration of family, school, and community efforts in helping to support
and empower youth, broaden their horizons, and promote skill building
(Eccles & Gootman, 2002; Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003). In essence, many
YDPs seek to expand the social capital networks of youth by putting them in
contact with people in their communities with various knowledge and skills.
What Is Social Capital and Why Is It Important?
According to Bourdieu (1983), social capital refers to membership in a net-
work of people that contribute to an individual’s access to material, practical,
symbolic, or socially instituted resources (such as a family name). The
amount of social capital depends on the size of a person’s network, as well as
the amount held by the other members. The connections one has with indi-
viduals who have capital themselves can lead to increased social and eco-
nomic status via further connections, advice, and financial loans or other
resources (Bourdieu, 1983; Coleman, 1988a; Ferguson, 2006; Wall, Ferrazzi,
& Schryer, 1998).
Stanton-Salazar (1997) measured social networks in terms of the help
domains (e.g., nonfamily, school-based, friendships) and whether ties to fam-
ily and institutions were weak or strong in their ability to provide youth with
“institutional knowledge” that could aid in social mobility. Later, using quan-
titative and qualitative methods to explore youth’s social networks, Stanton-
Salazar (2001) identified several categories of adults as providing social
support among the most resilient participants. He also expanded this work to
explore the importance of peer social networks, including platonic relation-
ships between males and females, on the positive development of Mexican-
origin youth (Stanton-Salazar, 2005). These studies on the social networks of
resilient youth highlight the importance of having a large, diverse social net-
work comprised of family members and individuals in institutions such as
churches or schools. With a diverse social network, youth are more likely
able to find someone to support them in multiple areas of their lives. Parents
cannot always help with schoolwork, and teachers may not always be
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820 Journal of Early Adolescence 34(6)
available to help each student solve a life problem. Therefore, studies that go
beyond a measurement of network size to include a range of life domains
with helping resources and the diversity of networks may provide more use-
ful descriptions of social capital and its role in development.
Youth Development Programs and Social Capital
Despite being one of the “active ingredients” in the success of YDPs,
researchers rarely have directly studied social capital and its role in promot-
ing youth development. However, Jarrett, Sullivan, and Watkins’s (2005)
qualitative study of three urban youth programs found that youth had
increased access to supportive adults who provided them with information,
assistance, exposure to adult worlds, and support and encouragement. In
addition, in Sullivan and Larson’s (2010) qualitative study of seven primarily
urban youth programs, youth described receiving information, skills, and
access to adult worlds, even if these relationships were brief or superficial.
These studies highlight the potential for YDPs to play a critical role in
increasing youth’s access to adults who provide valuable resources. The
research on natural or informal mentoring provides some insight into these
processes as well. For example, Hurd and Sellers (2013) found that Black
youth who described having “connected” relationships with a natural mentor
did better academically through the psychological and social benefits of these
relationships. Furthermore, Mekinda and Hirsch (in press) describe the char-
acteristics of informal mentoring relationships that occur in after-school pro-
grams as an important ingredient to developing positive psychological
outcomes for youth. These studies suggest that there are benefits of natural
mentoring relationships, and that these relationships can be built through par-
ticipation in after-school programs similar to Cool Girls.
Youth Self-Concept and Social Capital
Social capital is related to several youth outcomes such as academic achieve-
ment (Kao & Rutherford, 2007), extracurricular participation (Glanville,
Sikkink, & Hernandez, 2008), substance use (Curran, 2007), drop-out rates
(Groninger & Lee, 2001), and indicators of health and well-being (Rosenfeld,
Richman, & Bowen, 1998). Research on the association between social sup-
port and self-concept is also relevant, given conceptual overlap of social sup-
port with social capital. For example, Rosenfeld et al. (1998) examined the
social support of African American and White youth involved in a drop-out
prevention program. The authors found that youth who reported low social
support had significantly lower self-esteem than others.
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Thomason and Kuperminc 821
In the present study, we examined the role of social capital in the develop-
ment of self-concept for youth attending an Atlanta-based YDP. Because the
program seeks not only to provide access to social resources directly, but also
to teach girls how to seek out the support they need, we hypothesized that
girls who participate will report significantly more social capital than those
who do not. We also hypothesized that social capital would be associated
with increases in self-concept and that social capital would mediate the rela-
tion between participation and increases in self-concept.
Method
Program Description
Cool Girls, Inc. is an Atlanta, Georgia–based YDP with the primary focus of
empowering low-income girls to “. . . become self-assured and to break
cycles of poverty, teen pregnancy, racism, and sexism” (Cool Girls, Inc.,
2008; Kuperminc et al., 2011). This multi-component program includes an
after-school club (Cool Girls Club) for life skills development, several pro-
grams for academic support, a technology program, business program, and a
one-on-one mentoring program in which girls are matched with female vol-
unteers to provide personal support, friendship, and role modeling (Cool
Girls, Inc., 2008). The Cool Girls, Inc. theory of change asserts that increas-
ing access to social resources and teaching girls how to seek out help when in
need will aid their positive development. The Cool Girls Club seeks to help
each girl be “. . . able to identify when she needs resources and support and
knows how to access them” (Cool Girls, Inc., 2008). All girls enrolled in the
program are expected to attend Cool Girls Club every week. Additional pro-
gram components, including technology workshops and summer camps that
focus on entrepreneurship, money management, career choices and leader-
ship skills further provide girls with exposure to women in several fields such
as business, health care, and “non-traditional” fields such as players from the
Atlanta Dream Women’s Basketball team. The present study focuses on the
“social resources” aspect of the Cool Girls, Inc. theory of change and evalu-
ates whether participation in the program is related to increased access to
social resources and whether these resources are associated with increases in
self-concept.
Participants
We used data from a 2005-2006 evaluation of Cool Girls, Inc. that used a
quasi-experimental demographically matched comparison group design.
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822 Journal of Early Adolescence 34(6)
Pre-test data were collected from 175 girls (86 Cool Girls, 89 comparisons)
at four elementary schools (Grades K-5), two middle schools (Grades 6-8),
and two schools that served elementary and middle school–aged students
(Grades K-8). Eighty participants were in elementary school, and 95 were in
middle school, with ages ranging from 9 to 15. Eighty-eight percent identi-
fied as African American, 4% as Latina/Hispanic, 2% as Asian/Vietnamese,
1% as Caucasian, and 4% as “Other.” Ethnicity data were missing for 2 girls.
Post-test data were available for 150 of the girls. Cool girls and comparisons
shared similar demographic characteristics with respect to age and ethnicity;
however, Cool Girls were significantly less likely to be from a two-parent
family, χ2(3, N = 175) = 4.89, p < .05. Independent-samples t-tests computed
for all study variables at pre-test found no significant differences between
Cool Girls and comparisons. These findings suggest that the groups were
demographically similar and were relatively well matched with regard to
social capital and self-concept at pre-test.
Procedure
All Cool Girls participants in Grades 5 through 8 who attended Cool Girls
Club were eligible for the study. Comparisons were identified in two ways:
through school guidance counselor nominations and by asking program par-
ticipants to name two to three friends who were not in Cool Girls but whom
they thought would answer questions the same way they did. The research
team sent letters to Cool Girls participants and nominated comparison girls
explaining the study to families. The Georgia State University Institutional
Review Board approved these procedures; signed parental consent was
obtained for both groups, as well as youth’s assent to participate.
The research team collected pre-test data in the beginning of the 2005 fall
semester (September-October) and post-test data at the end of the 2006 spring
semester (April-May). Participants completed paper-and-pencil surveys at
the pre- and post-test in-group sessions that lasted approximately 30 minutes.
An evaluator read each question aloud to account for variations in reading
level. Cool Girls, Inc. participants and comparisons completed identical
questionnaires. The evaluator reminded participants that their answers were
confidential and that they could withdraw their participation at any time.
Measures
Participation in Cool Girls, Inc. Program participation was dummy coded, with
Cool Girls, Inc. coded “1” and comparisons coded “0.”
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Thomason and Kuperminc 823
Involvement in extracurricular activities. Cool Girls and comparisons reported
their level of participation in sports or games, taking lessons or attending
classes outside of school, and going to meetings outside of school for a club
or youth group (other than Cool Girls). Response options were on a 4-point
scale ranging from 0 = never to 3 = almost every day. To assess the number
of activities in which youth were actively involved, we created an index vari-
able measuring the number of activities in which youth reported participating
at least “once or twice per week” (range = 0-3).
Social capital. We assessed social capital eliciting information about helping
resources in the domains of schoolwork, support and guidance, problem-
solving, and goal-setting. Participants provided information about whether
they had someone to help them when they experienced difficulty in each
domain (e.g., “Everyone needs help with schoolwork some times. I have
someone to go to for help with schoolwork.”). If they responded “yes,” they
provided a name and their relationship to the person. We then used responses
to construct measures of two aspects of social capital: the number of domains
in which the participant reported having help and the diversity of her net-
work. We calculated number of help domains by counting the total number of
domains in which the participant reported having help (range = 0-4). We
coded relationships of helping resources to the participant into five catego-
ries: immediate family (1), extended family (2), nonfamilial adult (3), friend/
peer (4), and other (5), and calculated diversity of network as a count of the
total number of different relationship types represented among each partici-
pant’s social capital resources (range = 0-4). We averaged the z-scores of
these two dimensions to create an overall social capital score (network diver-
sity and number of help domains were significantly correlated at pre-test and
post-test, rs = .44 and .42, respectively, ps = .00).
Self-concept. Self-concept was measured using an adaptation of the Self-Per-
ception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985). The adapted scale used a 4-point
Likert-type scale ranging from 1 = not true to 4 = always true. This measure
has shown evidence of reliability and validity in past research with ethnically
diverse children and adolescents (Kuperminc et al., 2011). Like the original,
this adapted measure assesses self-concept in five domains (Harter, 1982;
1990), including social acceptance (α = .71; for example, “It is hard for me to
make friends” [reverse scored]), behavioral conduct (α = .63; for example, “I
act the way I am supposed to”), scholastic competence (α = .67; for example,
“I am good at my schoolwork”), and body image (α = .69; for example, “I
wish my body was different”). The scale also includes a separate measure of
global self-worth (α = .77; for example, “I am happy with myself”).
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824 Journal of Early Adolescence 34(6)
Results
Preliminary Analyses
Attrition analysis. Pre- and post-test assessments were completed by 85.7% (n =
150) of the participants. To examine potential contributors to attrition, indi-
viduals who dropped out were compared with those who completed the post-
test using t-tests or chi-squares on all study variables. Individuals who remained
in the study had higher global self-worth, t(173) = 1.99, p < .05, and were more
likely to be from a two-parent home, χ2(1, N = 175) = 8.45, p < .01. There were
no significant differences between the groups on any other self-concept mea-
sures, social capital measures, age, grade, or living with extended family.
Missing data. The percentage of missing data in the study variables ranged
from 0.6% to 14.9%. We used Little’s MCAR test to determine whether miss-
ing values were missing completely at random. The test was not significant
χ2(14, N = 175) = 19.30, p = .15, suggesting that all missing values were miss-
ing completely at random; thus, we imputed them using the expectation max-
imization (EM) algorithm as suggested by Widaman (2006).
Examination of potential covariates. We examined seven variables as potential
covariates: ethnicity, age, grade level, family composition, living with
extended family, length of time in Cool Girls, and participation in extracur-
ricular activities. Due to the small groups in the breakdown of ethnicity, we
did not examine specific ethnic differences. However, ethnicity was dummy
coded in order to differentiate participants who identified as African Ameri-
can (coded “1”; n = 155), and the rest of the sample (coded “0”; n = 20). This
variable was included as a covariate in all analyses. A dummy code differen-
tiating participants who lived with two parents (1) or in a single parent home
(0) was entered in all analyses due to its importance in contributing to social
capital, and because family composition was related to program participa-
tion and attrition. Furthermore, during early adolescence, family composi-
tion may be associated with perceptions of social support (Gayman, Turner,
Cislo, & Eliassen, 2011). Participation in extracurricular activities at pre-test
significantly predicted scholastic competence at post-test (β = .04, p = .03),
and was therefore included as a covariate in analyses of scholastic compe-
tence. No other variables predicted post-test levels of self-concept or social
capital and therefore were not entered as covariates (Jaccard, Guilamo-
Ramos, Johansson, & Bouris, 2006).
Mean differences in social capital by program participation. We calculated inde-
pendent-samples t-tests to examine mean differences in social capital by
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Thomason and Kuperminc 825
program participation. The t-tests were not significant for any of the pre-test
measures, but reached significance for post-test measures of number of help
domains, t(173) = −2.35, p = .02, network diversity t(173) = −2.37, p = .02,
and overall social capital, t(173) = −2.82, p = .00. At post-test, Cool Girls
(X
—
= 3.74, SD = .48) reported that they could access help in more domains
than comparisons (X
—
= 3.49, SD = .87). Similarly, Cool Girls (X
—
= 2.13, SD =
.66) reported greater network diversity than comparisons (X
—
= 1.89, SD =
.66) and reported more social capital (X
—
= 0.18, SD = .65) than comparisons
(X
—
= −0.17, SD = .97).
Correlations among variables. Correlations were obtained for all study vari-
ables (see Table 1). Correlations among pre-test and post-test social capital
variables were significant, suggesting moderate stability over time. Number
of help domains at pre-test was significantly correlated with all pre-test self-
concept variables except behavioral conduct and body image and with all
post-test self-concept variables except body image. Number of domains at
post-test was significantly correlated with all post-test self-concept
variables.
Primary Analyses
Participation in Cool Girls and social capital. We used hierarchical multiple
regression to examine the hypothesis that participation in Cool Girls contrib-
utes to increases in number of help domains, network diversity, and overall
social capital (Table 2). We entered pre-test social capital (number of
domains, diversity of network, or total social capital) in Step 1 of the equation
along with the covariates, followed by participation in Cool Girls, the pri-
mary independent variable, in Step 2. The models predicting number of help
domains and the diversity of participants’ network were not significant.
However, the overall model predicting total social capital was significant at
the trend level, suggesting that participation in Cool Girls was independently
associated with a slight increase in overall social capital.
Social capital and self-concept. We used hierarchical multiple regression to
examine whether reported access to social capital by post-test was associated
with increases in social acceptance, behavioral conduct, scholastic compe-
tence, body image, and global self-worth (see Table 3). For these analyses,
we focused on overall social capital. For each model, we entered pre-test
levels of self-concept, family composition, and ethnicity in Step 1, and post-
test levels of total social capital in Step 2. For the model predicting scholastic
competence, in extracurricular participation was also included in Step 1. As
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826
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Thomason and Kuperminc 827
shown in Table 3, social capital contributed to increases in two self-concept
domains: social acceptance and behavioral conduct.
Mediation analyses. We used Preacher and Hayes’s (2004) bootstrapping
method for testing indirect effects to assess the hypothesis that increases in
social capital related to participation in Cool Girls would be associated with
increases in self-concept. We examined mediation models only for social
acceptance and behavioral conduct, given that only these dimensions of self-
concept showed associations with social capital. We included pre-test levels
of self-concept, family composition, and ethnicity as covariates. There was a
significant indirect effect of participation on changes in social acceptance and
behavioral conduct (see Table 4).
Table 2. Cool Girls Participation Predicting Increases in Social Capital From
Pre- to Post-test.
b SE β ΔR2
Number in domains
Step 1 .18***
Pre-test no. of domains .24 .06 .27***
Ethnicity .66 .16 .29***
Family composition .04 .10 .09
Step 2 .01
Participation in Cool Girls .13 .10 .09
Total R2 .19
Diversity of network
Step 1 .13***
Pre-test diversity .23 .06 .26***
Ethnicity .32 .16 .15*
Family composition −.13 .10 −.09
Step 2 .01
Participation in Cool Girls .15 .10 .12
Total R2 .14
Total social capital
Step 1 .20***
Pre-test social capital .26 .06 .30***
Ethnicity .70 .19 .26***
Family composition −.06 .12 −.04
Step 2 .01†
Participation in Cool Girls .20 .12 .12†
Total R2 .21
†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
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828
T
a
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3
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Ex
tr
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.
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Thomason and Kuperminc 829
Discussion
In the present study, we examined the process by which participation in Cool
Girls contributed to the development of self-concept via a focus on increasing
participants’ access to social capital. As hypothesized, we found (a) that pro-
gram participation was associated with increases in access to social capital
(though only at a trend level when family composition and ethnicity were
controlled), (b) that program-related increases in social capital would con-
tribute to increases in self-concept, and (c) that social capital would mediate
associations between program participation and indices of self-concept.
The finding that, regardless of participation in Cool Girls, girls who had
increases in social capital from pre-test to post-test would experience increases
in self-concept, points to the importance of social capital for promoting the
development of self-concept especially in the areas of social acceptance and
behavioral conduct. This is consistent with prior research documenting a link
between social support and self-concept (Arslan, 2009; Johnson, 1996).
Mediation analyses focused on examining whether social capital–mediated
associations between participation in Cool Girls and increases in self-concept.
These results are particularly relevant for Cool Girls because they reveal a pro-
cess by which the program may contribute to potential increases in participants’
self-concept. The results indicate that support and guidance, help with school-
work, problem-solving, and goal-setting are critical areas in which having a
person to go to may make a significant difference in self-concept.
Interestingly, the only two types of self-concept that were related to pro-
gram participation and social capital were social acceptance and behavioral
Table 4. Indirect Effects of Participation on Self-Concept.
b(SE) CI
Social acceptance
Total social capital .03(.02) [.00, .09]
Behavioral conduct
Total social capital .02(.02) [.00, .07]
Scholastic competence
Total social capital .01(.01) [−.01, .03]
Body image
Total social capital .00(.01) [−.02, .03]
Global self-worth
Total social capital .01(.01) [−.00, .04]
Note. Confidence intervals (CIs) that do not cross zero are considered to be significantly
different from zero.
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830 Journal of Early Adolescence 34(6)
conduct. The finding that having a diverse network of people to go to for help
in multiple areas of one’s life contributed to increased feelings of social
acceptance is consistent with past findings that perceived support buffers the
psychological stress associated with rejection from peers (Beeri & Lev-
Weisel, 2012). The finding that social capital was related to perceived behav-
ioral conduct is consistent with theorizing that social capital can reinforce
social norms among youth about appropriate behavior (Coleman, 1988b).
Social capital was not associated with any of the other domains of self-
concept, including global self-worth, scholastic competence, or body image. It
could be that certain aspects of social capital that we did not measure in this
study would have been more relevant to these domains. For example, feelings
of self-worth and body image are closely tied, and may be more related to the
quality of relationships within one’s network. Programmatic activities
designed to engage young people with peers and adults to raise awareness
about issues like unrealistic body ideals that can negatively affect youth’s
body image and overall self-esteem (Steiner-Adair et al., 2002) may be one
way that programs can help enrich social capital networks and use those net-
works to empower youth. Furthermore, ethnic identity is closely tied to feel-
ings of self-worth for ethnic minority populations, including African American
females, who made up the majority of the sample. For example, Gaylord-
Harden, Ragsdale, Mandara, Richards, and Petersen (2007) found an indirect
effect of perceived social support on a reduction in depression through posi-
tive racial identity. When studying self-esteem or self-concept in this popula-
tion, future research should include measures of ethnic identity. Scholastic
competence may be more related to social capital specifically designed to aid
in social mobility and achievement, such as tutors and school personnel who
can teach youth how to apply for college and expose youth to career paths.
Although participants in our study were asked about having someone to go to
for help with schoolwork, we did not specifically focus on this domain and its
contribution to feelings of academic competence.
Finally, there is some debate in the literature about the cultural validity of
the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) and with other similar
measures. Some studies have failed to find support for validity of the measure
when utilized in a sample of African American female adolescents (Stewart,
Roberts, & Kim, 2010). Others have found similar factor structures across eth-
nic groups (including the ones in this study), although not strict levels of mea-
surement equivalence (Michaels, Barr, Roosa, & Knight, 2007), suggesting
that while such measures may assess self-concept in similar ways, the absolute
scores may not be comparable across groups. Thus, while not ideal, the mea-
sures of self-concept used in this study appear to demonstrate sufficient validity
given that cross-ethnic comparisons were not the focus of the current study.
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Thomason and Kuperminc 831
Limitations and Future Directions
Our ability to measure long-term programmatic effects was limited by the
study’s pre-test, post-test design. According to Cole and Maxwell (2003),
measuring mediation over time with only two time points can lead to mis-
leading results due to an inability to accurately measure the stationarity of the
variables. The addition of a follow-up assessment 6 months or a year beyond
the post-test would have strengthened the study and allowed for better assess-
ment of trajectories of change over time and longer term program effects.
In addition, the measurement of social capital was limited in several ways.
In keeping with the program’s theory of change, survey items were devel-
oped to assess the extent to which girls were able to access needed help in
domains directly addressed by Cool Girls programs: problem-solving, help
with schoolwork, and goal-setting. The fourth domain, general support and
guidance, was worded slightly differently, in order to assess whether partici-
pants had an adult natural mentor. For that item, the possible responses were
limited to adults, whereas respondents were free to report friends or peers for
the other three domains.
Furthermore, two important aspects of social capital were not measured in
this study: the quality or helpfulness of social resource (Ferguson, 2006) and
intergenerational closure or the extent to which members of an individual’s
network know one another (Coleman, 1988b; Glanville et al., 2008; Kao &
Rutherford, 2007). It could be argued that being able to report someone you
can go to for help is meaningless unless that person actually is able to deliver
the help you need. Intergenerational closure may be an important aspect of
social capital that can address specific dimensions of self-concept such as
behavioral conduct. The measures developed for this study offered some
insight into how participation in a YDP might contribute to expanded
resources for accessing help in solving everyday problems; however, more
refined measures that reliably capture additional aspects of social capital
from youth’s point of view are clearly needed. Other methods, such as quali-
tative interviews with parents and youth participants might also provide valu-
able information about the structure of social networks that exist between
parents and other adults in the girls’ lives, such as teachers, program staff, and
volunteers. The use of social network analysis (e.g., Blakeslee, 2012) can
also provide richer information about how programs such as Cool Girls can
influence youngsters’ access to social resources.
This study is also limited in its ability to account for the extent to which
individual girls were exposed to the full Cool Girls program (e.g., “dosage”),
as attendance data were not available. In addition to obtaining program
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832 Journal of Early Adolescence 34(6)
records of participant attendance, subsequent evaluation surveys have
included a self-report question asking each girl how often she attends Cool
Girls Club. However, a strength of this study is that we were able to measure
the extent to which girls participants were involved in a range of extracur-
ricular activities and control for this potential confound, isolating the contri-
butions of Cool Girls participation.
Implications
The results of this study have several implications for YDPs for girls in urban
settings. YDPs like Cool Girls, Inc. seek to empower youth by promoting inter-
nal and external resources. The present study found evidence that Cool Girls is
promoting external resources, as program participation was linked to modest
increases in social capital. Cool Girls, Inc. brings girls together, attracts com-
munity volunteers to help support their program, and teaches participants how
to seek out social support when needed. Programs that seek to increase the
available social capital of their participants may look to the techniques of Cool
Girls as an example. In addition, regardless of participation in Cool Girls, girls
who experienced increases in social capital also experienced increases in their
sense of social acceptance from peers and their behavioral conduct. Although
self-concept was not directly linked to participation in Cool Girls, Inc., the
findings suggest that a programmatic focus on helping youth develop and
expand their social capital resources may offer an important pathway toward
achieving valued youth development outcomes such as positive self-concepts.
Youth who experience positive self-concept, in turn, are more likely to achieve
academically, have hope for the future, and avoid risk-behaviors (Cedeno,
Elias, Kelly, & Chu, 2010; Huang, 2011; Peterson, Buser, & Westburg, 2010).
The study of social capital networks in the context of YDPs is an important
direction in understanding how such programs play a role in promoting posi-
tive developmental outcomes, particularly for adolescent girls growing up in
socially and economically disadvantaged communities.
Acknowledgment
Thanks to Lawanda Cummings, Duane House, and Natalie McCoy Wilkins for their
feedback on previous versions of this manuscript.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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Thomason and Kuperminc 833
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publi-
cation of this article.
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Author Biographies
Jessica D. Thomason is a doctoral candidate in the community psychology program
at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on positive youth development,
specifically community initiatives to promote adolescent well-being and sexual
health.
Gabriel Kuperminc, professor of psychology at Georgia State University, directs the
doctoral program in community psychology and serves on the faculty of the develop-
mental psychology program. His research focuses on resilience and positive youth
development, particularly among culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged
youth.
at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on May 8, 2016jea.sagepub.comDownloaded from
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