Sociological Explanation of the Relationship between Family\\\'s Social Capital and Children\\\'s Educational Achievement

Introduction Type of family relationship in terms of both quality and quantity is important. It is believed that family's social relationships can influence children's educational performance. In fact, in the literature of the sociology of the family, this is knows as social capital , which is undoubtedly effective on the education of children. It is important to acknowledge that the achievement or failure of educational goals among children cannot reduced to the institution of education alone. Family characteristics , such as social capital should be considered , too. Therefore, to know the full extent of the role of families in the educational achievement of children it is very important to consider all aspects. The present research tries to study the relationship between family social capital and achievement motivation among female students.   Materials & Methods The statistical population of this research includes all female students who are in grade 3 in Sari in Mazandaran province in governmental schools and in the fields of (1) mathematics and physics (2) experimental sciences, (3) and the humanities. By using Cochran formula, the sample size was calculated (326) and collected by means of multistage cluster sampling method. In this research, two kinds questionnaire have been used: family social capital questionnaire and Herman's achievement motivation questionnaire. To perform the analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, regression analysis and path analysis have been used.   Discussion of Results & Conclusions The results show that there are meaningful relationships between the variables of social capital within the family, social capital outside of the family, and mixed variables of family social capital with achievement motivation and educational achievement. Based on the results of multiple regression analysis, it is clear that the variables of social capital in family (0.43), social capital outside of the family (0.31), and achievement motivation (0.28) have the strongest relationship with dependent variable, which is educational achievement. So, based on correlation results, there is a strong statistical relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. The results and findings of path analysis also show that social capital in family (with 0.43 direct effect coefficient and 0.26 indirect effect coefficient), and social capital outside the family (with 0.31 direct effect coefficient and 0.11 indirect effect coefficient), have meaningful impacts, both directly and indirectly, on dependent variable. Also, the finding of path analysis shows that achievement motivation is an intermediate variable. The results of this research imply that the majority of students with high educational achievement also have a high level of family social capital ( social capital within the family and social capital outside of the family ). There seems to be a direct correlation between educational achievement and social capital . Results show that , ever - increasing levels of social capital within the family leads to more achievement in children's education , and vice versa. Overall, the findings show a relatively strong relationship between social capital 's effects on educational achievement in children. These results confirm the findings of Lichter and colleague (1994 ) and Teachman and colleagues (1996 ), as well as the study of Hung (2009 ) and some studies in other countries. Likewise, some result are consistent with previous studies in Iran, including the study of Mehri (2005 ), Salarzadeh and Mahbobi ( 2009), Noghni and colleagues (2012 ).   &nbsp