Social capital and career planning amongst first generation and non-first generation high school and college students in Germany: a social network analysis approach

Abstract An important factor for First Generation High School students (FGS) in higher education is social capital. To highlight differences in social capital between FGS and their Non-FGS peers (NFGS) by analysing the structure of their ego-centred social networks and its’ effect on their career planning, we conducted two cross-sectional studies: on high school students during their first career planning stage and on college students at the beginning of their first semester. FGS have significantly less social capital in their networks than NFGS during school and university. Having academic supporters is associated with career planning amongst high school students, having instrumental support for career planning amongst college students.