Personality strength and social capital - The role of dispositional and informational variables in the production of civic participation

Many scholars have bemoaned declining levels of social trust and civic enga gement in our society. A decline in trust, some have argued, is linked to a decrease in civic engagement and vice versa. This study examines the proce sses through which this dynamic, termed social capital, is maintained. The authors differentiate three dimensions of social! capital: social trust, li fe satisfaction, and civic engagement. They also examine the influence of d emographic, personality strength, political interest, and informational var iables (hard news media use) on, these dimensions. The authors use data fro m DDB Needham's 1997 Life Style Study to test their hypothesized model. Res ults of structural equation modeling revealed that personality strength an amalgam of self-confidence and opinion leadership, has a relatively strong direct impact on, all dimensions of social capital, whereas informational v ariables have rather weak effects that are limited to civic engagement.