Social Capital and Personal Control: Who Benefits from Diverse Social Networks?

Better understanding the social patterning of personal control beliefs is crucial for research on health and inequality. In this study, I argue for and explain an association between social capital and mastery in a national sample. How, for whom, and to what extent do people who report more occupationally diverse ties also report a stronger sense of control over life outcomes? Using a position generator approach to social capital, the 2008 Canadian General Social Survey, and regression models, I test three hypotheses about total and gendered social capitals across the categorical boundaries of respondent gender, visible minority, and foreign-born status. I conclude this approach to the classic question of who benefits from diverse social networks by suggesting directions for future research on the interplay between social networks, stress, and well-being.