Human Capitals: Perceptions of Adolescents

Background/Purpose: In accordance with the Designed to Move and National Physical Activity Plan initiatives, human capital is a representation of assets that can be improved with regular engagement in physical activity. The purpose of this study was to measure human capital among adolescents and determine if gender and enrollment in physical education were contributors to the perceived human capitals of physical, emotional, individual, intellectual, financial, and social.

Method: A valid, reliable survey confirmed through face, content, and construct validity evidence (Bryant & Castelli, in press) was completed by 330 high school seniors (Mage = 18, SD ± 1.1, 50% female) from one high school in the southern United States, as a means of establishing baseline levels of perceived human capital among adolescents. Further, analysis would elucidate potential gender and physical education enrollment differences among the participants.

Analysis/Results: Summative survey responses ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree were calculated for each subscale and to identify a total perceived human capital. Using t-tests, financial (M=16.82±SD=2.5) and social (M=17.91±SD=3.44) capitals were significantly different from the physical (M=22.63±SD=4.48), emotional (M=23.87±SD=2.67), individual (M=22.48±SD=3.27), and intellectual (M=22.51±SD=2.52). ANOVA by gender concerning total capital found F(1,327)=4.328, p<.05 with males possessing significantly greater human capital than females.  Isolating physical capital found F(1,327)=18.551, p<.001 with males physical capital greater than females. Using physical education enrollment as the factor, total capital was F(2,326)=3.826, p<.05 significantly different from adolescents who were not enrolled in physical education classes at the time of the survey. 

Conclusions: When viewing total capital, males were found to have significantly more human capital than females.  Adolescents had the greatest perceived physical capital over the other capitals measured. Participants in physical education also showed significant perceptions in total capital in comparison with their non-physical education counterparts. These initial results are promising in that physical education students accumulated more human capital than non-PE participants, supporting the notion that physical education is an integral component in adolescent development of perceived abilities and capitals. Further research is warranted, but this study is believed to be the first known quantification of human capital among adolescents.