The relationships of social capital, institutional support, and emotional and behavioral adjustment of vulnerable children in Addis Ababa

Abstract

Child vulnerability has been a very serious problem in Africa, including Ethiopia, despite rich stock of social capital resources and efforts from child-affiliated institutions to handle the problem. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the role of social capital variables and institutional support on vulnerable children’s emotional and behavioral adjustment (E/BA) in Ethiopia. A correlational research design was employed to investigate the relationships among variables. A total of 250 vulnerable children were randomly selected and filled adapted scales/questionnaires of the study. Independent t-test, correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression were utilized to analyze the collected data through SPSS version 20. The findings show that social capital variables and institutional support have significant negative association with vulnerable children’s E/BA. All the variables jointly explained 31.7% of the variances of E/BA, where institutional support and peer social capital were significant unique contributors. These results suggest that children with high perceived social capital resources and institutional support reported lower emotional and behavioral problems, which led to better adjustment. Finally, children’s demographic variables have insignificant correlation and predictive roles on vulnerable children’s E/BA. Social capital variables and institutional support show significant negative association with, and predict a significant proportion of emotional and behavioral adjustment problems of vulnerable children. The result suggests that any child protection practices for vulnerable children need to consider these social capital resources and strengthen them through appropriate interventions in order to improve the wellbeing of such children and ensure the sustainability of their care.