Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39250480›Full record

ArticlePloS one2024

Psychological capital and social class: A capital approach to understanding positive psychological states and their role in explaining social inequalities.

Deborah De Moortel, Mattias Vos, Bram Spruyt, Christophe Vanroelen, Joeri Hofmans, Edina Dóci

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Deborah De MoortelDepartment of Sociology, Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-8542-128X
Mattias VosDepartment of Sociology, Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Bram SpruytDepartment of Sociology, Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0003-0573-724X
Christophe VanroelenDepartment of Sociology, Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-8619-8553
Joeri HofmansDepartment of Psychology, Work and Organizational Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Edina DóciLouvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations, Louvain School of Management, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Psychological capital (PsyCap) is a multidimensional concept entailing hope, self-efficacy, optimism, and resilience. This paper argues that it can be considered a form of "capital" explaining social inequality. We test whether PsyCap can be integrated into the Bourdieusian capital framework by assessing its relationship with social, economic, and cultural capital. We also identify different types of social positions based on the volume and composition of psychological, economic, cultural, and social capital. We use cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey of 2012 (N = 35,313 respondents; 29 countries). To test the associations with the Bourdieusian capital types, we calculated multilevel spearman rank correlations and performed confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Latent Class Analysis identified different types of social positions. We found positive weak correlations between PsyCap and the indicators of cultural capital (r ≤ .14) and positive moderate correlations with the indicators of economic and social capital (r ≤ .24). The results of the CFA showed that the fit of the 4-capital model was superior to that of the 3-capital model. We identified six types of social positions: two deprived types (with overall low capital levels); two well-off types (with overall high capital levels) and two types with high psychological and social capital in combination with varying levels of cultural and economic capital. Including PsyCap in the Bourdieusian capital framework acknowledges the power of positive psychological states regarding processes of social mobility and social inequality on the one hand and calls for understanding PsyCap as a social and group-level phenomenon on the other hand. As such, integrating PsyCap into the Bourdieusian framework can help to address the longstanding issue of understanding the relationship between social and individual differences in the study of social inequalities.

Indexed as

Social CapitalSocial ClassAdultCross-Sectional StudiesEuropeFemaleHopeHumansMaleMiddle AgedOptimismResilience, PsychologicalSelf EfficacySocioeconomic FactorsYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID39250480
PMCPMC11383244

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.