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Kirk A. Foster, Carl D. Maas, An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Resource Generator-United States: A Social Capital Measure, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 46, Issue 1, January 2016, Pages 8–26, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu111
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Abstract
Social capital is gaining prominence in social work discourse given its role in social and economic mobility. Yet measuring social capital pragmatically in terms of policy, practice and research is challenging because it suffers from lack of definitional clarity, leading to measurement disputes. We define social capital as access to knowledge and opportunities through networks to enhance social and/or economic mobility. To facilitate the integration of social capital into social work practice, we present the Resource Generator (RG) adapted for an urban US context to measure specific network-embedded resources. This paper reports the results from exploratory factor analyses measuring the reliability of this tool. Analyses suggested that a three-factor model was robust (χ2(29) = 30.93, p = 0.37; CFI = 0.994; TLI = 0.996; RMSEA = 0.024; AIC = 1917.26; BIC = 1863.71), which is dissimilar to the RG results reported in the UK. These factors—Expert Access, Problem Solving and Personal Support—provide insight as to how social capital resources converge in the USA. These findings also present a potential list of social capital items salient for the US context and highlight the utility of a measure for mezzo and macro social work practice in urban US settings.