Ethnic differences in adolescent achievement. An ecological perspective.

Using data collected from a large sample of high school students, the authors challenge three widely held explanations for the superior school performance of Asian-American adolescents, and the inferior performance of African- and Hispanic-American adolescents: group differences in (a) parenting practices, (b) familial values about education, and (c) youngsters' beliefs about the occupational rewards of academic success. They found that White youngsters benefit from the combination of authoritative parenting and peer support for achievement, whereas Hispanic youngsters suffer from a combination of parental authoritarianism and low peer support. Among Asian-American students, peer support for academic excellence offsets the negative consequences of authoritarian parenting. Among African-American youngsters, the absence of peer support for achievement undermines the positive influence of authoritative parenting.

[1]  Robert Plomin,et al.  Associations between Cognitive Abilities and Scholastic Achievement: Genetic Overlap but Environmental Differences , 1991 .

[2]  L. Steinberg,et al.  Community Influences on the Relation of Family Statuses to Adolescent School Performance: Differences between African Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites , 1991, American Journal of Education.

[3]  R. Mickelson.  THE ATTITUDE-ACHIEVEMENT PARADOX AMONG BLACK ADOLESCENTS , 1990 .

[4]  B. B. Brown,et al.  Parenting Style and Peer Group Membership Among European-American Adolescents , 1993 .

[5]  R. Plomin.  The encyclopedia of adolescence , 1990 .

[6]  S. Dornbusch,et al.  Challenges in studying minority youth. , 1990 .

[7]  E. Maccoby,et al.  Socialization In The Context Of The Family: Parent-Child Interaction , 1983 .

[8]  E. Schaefer.  CHILDREN'S REPORTS OF PARENTAL BEHAVIOR: AN INVENTORY. , 1965, Child development.

[9]  L. Steinberg,et al.  Authoritative parenting, psychosocial maturity, and academic success among adolescents. , 1989, Child development.

[10]  L. Steinberg,et al.  Patterns of competence and adjustment among adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful families. , 1991, Child development.

[11]  E. M. Hetherington,et al.  Socialization, personality, and social development , 1983 .

[12]  George Farkas,et al.  CULTURAL RESOURCES AND SCHOOL SUCCESS: GENDER, ETHNICITY, AND POVERTY GROUPS WITHIN AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT* , 1990 .

[13]  Japan: Land of the rising IQ: A reply to Flynn. , 1987 .

[14]  G. Elliott,et al.  At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent , 1990 .

[15]  D. Baumrind.  Effective parenting during the early adolescent transition. , 1991 .

[16]  S. Sue,et al.  Asian-American educational achievements. A phenomenon in search of an explanation. , 1990, The American psychologist.

[17]  L. Steinberg,et al.  Authoritative parenting and adolescent adjustment across varied ecological niches. , 1990 .

[18]  William Damon,et al.  Child Development Today and Tomorrow , 1988 .

[19]  J. Ogbu.  Minority Education And Caste , 1978 .

[20]  Jerome Kagan,et al.  Constancy and Change in Human Development. , 1982 .

[21]  D. Baumrind.  An exploratory study of socialization effects on black children: some black-white comparisons. , 1972, Child development.

[22]  U. Bronfenbrenner.  Ecology of the family as a context for human development: research perspectives , 1986 .

[23]  Youth,et al.  American youth : a statistical snapshot , 1987 .

[24]  Herbert P. Ginsburg,et al.  Early Academic Socialization of Successful Asian-American College Students. , 1986 .

[25]  D. Baumrind,et al.  Rearing competent children. , 1989 .

[26]  J. P. Rushton,et al.  Differential K theory: The sociobiology of individual and group differences , 1985 .

[27]  Laurence Steinberg,et al.  Autonomy, conflict, and harmony in the family relationship. , 1990 .

[28]  D. F. Roberts,et al.  The relation of parenting style to adolescent school performance. , 1987, Child Development.

[29]  G R Patterson,et al.  Performance models for antisocial boys. , 1986, The American psychologist.

[30]  Clay V. Brittain,et al.  Adolescent choices and parent-peer cross pressures. , 1963 .

[31]  Herman Schwendinger,et al.  Adolescent subcultures and delinquency , 1987 .