In modern society, child neglect is prevalent at home due to lack of knowledge and attitudes toward raising or other family factors. To solve this problem, parents' social capital is one of important components. For this reason, the study finds out how nurturers or parents' social capital and other family factors have a influence on child neglect and whether social capital can control family factors in child neglect.
The survey is carried out targeting 200 parents who have children going to kindergartens in Sacheon by measuring their general characteristics, family factors, child neglect, and socail capital. Data analysis is conducted by SPSS10.0 statistical program including frequency analysis, distribution analysis, regression analysis, and control regression analysis.
As a result, considering structural dimension as network, groups who have narrow network seem to have more possibility to commit physical, affective, educational, and medical neglect, compared with those who have large network. It implies that when there is no network or lack of it, social isolation may occur, and isolated parents hardly gain necessary knowledge and information on nurture in time, ultimately leading them to neglecting their children.
In terms of trust and social norms in relational dimension, network does not give rise to any difference. In other words, wide network parents have has a positive influence on child neglect regardless of the depth of inherent relationship in structure.
Regarding family factors differences according to social capital, groups having narrow network, structural dimension, have more difficulties in coping with problems of functional and economic factors, compared with those who have large network. It is also found that groups who are lack of trust and social norms go through difficulties in functional and medical factors rather than those who are not.
Based on the study, physical and affective neglect comes from functional factors including stressed parents who do not care children's health or nutrition and become indifferent to children' feeling and behaviors. Educational and medical neglect is affected by functional and economic factors. For example, parents' conflict from economic problems is one of factors causing physical child abuse or neglect.
Considering effects of network as structural dimension in social capital, network conducts a role of relieving neglect when functional and structural family factors cause physical and affective neglect, and when functional, structural, and economic family factors influence educational neglect.
In case functional, economic, and medical family factors affect medical neglect, network as structural dimension reduces medical neglect. When functional and structural family factors impact on physical and affective neglect, trust and norms are helpful to relieve them.
With regards to educational neglect affected by functional, structural, and economic family factors, trust and norms in relational dimension have the role in alleviating educational neglect. Trust and norms are also used to ease medical neglect when functional, economic, medical family factors result in medical neglect.
In conclusion, it is proved that social capital positively influences on child neglect, dealing with family factors. Thus, it is important to predict child neglect by encouraging parents to attain social capital, appropriate knowledge and attitudes to raising.