CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL AND RESILIENCE IN MIGRANT COMMUNITIES

Abstract

Grasping how social capital and resilience interact is crucial for tackling the multifaceted issues confronting migrant communities. This investigation employs Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to substantiate the latent structure of the two constructs and to gauge their significance within the urban migration setting. The data were collected from 524 respondents residing in three contrasting migrant neighbourhoods in Chennai, India. Social capital was defined through dimensions such as trust among acquaintances, participation in civic activities, and the density of neighbourhood ties, while resilience was conceived via adaptive capacity, emotional robustness, and perceived support from the wider community.CFA produced statistically reasonable factor loadings for each entity between 0.58 and 0.84 that indicate strong internal consistency and alignment with theoretical expectations for all the constructs assessed. Fit indices - CFI, TLI, RMSEA and SRMR - also exceeded accepted thresholds for fit indices allowing us to confidently determine the measurement models were both reliable and valid. Overall, the yielded results were consistent with previous research. However, it also revealed specific contexts where linking social capital and collective resilience are not necessarily as comparable. These results provide a validated methodological basis for assessing social capital and resilience within migrant groups and suggests the need for contextually-oriented instruments across the social sciences. This research extends understanding of migrants well-being and yields both theoretical and practical implications for program designs and policy to engage with social integration, resilience-building and inclusive growth in cities hosting large migrant populations.