Different ties, different returns? Bonding and bridging social capital across mental health and academic transitions

Abstract

Relationships are important higher-education resources, but different ties may have different longer-term returns. Using longitudinal data from the German National Educational Panel Study, we examine the functional specificity of bonding and bridging social capital. We test whether peer bonding in 2012 was associated with mentally unhealthy days in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2022 through loneliness in 2013. We also examine whether faculty relations were associated with entry into doctoral education and whether both relational forms were associated with distress after adjustment for 2019 levels. Across four mediation models, stronger bonding was associated with lower loneliness, which in turn predicted fewer mentally unhealthy days; every bootstrap confidence interval for the indirect association excluded zero. Faculty-based bridging showed a statistically uncertain association with doctoral entry (OR = 1.404, 95% CI [0.956, 2.063]). Neither relational form was robustly associated with baseline-adjusted distress. The findings show that relationships formed in higher education are not interchangeable resources. Peer bonding appears to operate through a socio-emotional pathway, whereas positive faculty relations do not by themselves demonstrate mobilisable information, advocacy or access to doctoral opportunities. Institutions therefore require distinct strategies for peer integration and transparent mentoring and sponsorship.