Emotional capital, school climate, and educational attainment in the US

Using the data from the US Education Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002), this paper links students’ emotional capital and perceived school climate when they were in 10th grade to their eventual educational attainment a decade later. Conceptualizing motivation, grit, and self-efficacy as emotional capital, we incorporate the emotional dimension into the sociological framework on educational inequality. Higher motivation and grit in 10th grade were associated with a higher likelihood that a student attained BA or above, net of students’ and schools’ demographic characteristics and students’ previous math and reading scores. Perceived school safety and positive teacher–student relationships were associated with a higher likelihood that a student attained bachelor’s (BA) or above, however the association between teacher-student relationships and educational attainment lost significance once emotional capital measures were added to the model. The findings highlight the need for investing in students’ emotional capital alongside their cognitive skills for post-secondary transition.