- Email: [email protected]
Parent involvement in the academic adjustment of Latino middle and high school youth: Teacher expectations and school belonging as mediators
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Journal of Adolescence Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483 www.elsevier.com/locate/jado
Parent involvement in the academic adjustment of Latino middle and high school youth: Teacher expectations and school belonging as mediators Gabriel P. Kuperminc, Adam J. Darnell, Anabel Alvarez-Jimenez Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, 140 Decatur Street, 11th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
Abstract A path model based in a theory of social capital was tested with Latino middle school (n ¼ 195, 58% female, average 13.8 years of age) and high school students (n ¼ 129, 64% female, average 16.8 years of age). Most participants (77%) were immigrants (predominantly from Mexico). Questionnaires assessed student perceptions of parent involvement, school belonging, and academic competence. Teachers rated their expectations for student academic attainment and grades were obtained from school records. Perceived school belonging and teacher expectations mediated cross-sectional associations of parent involvement with academic adjustment. Links between parent involvement and academic adjustment were stronger for high school than middle school students. Middle school parent involvement was unrelated to teacher expectations and its indirect effect on school grades was non-significant. Future research should examine the link between middle school parent involvement and teacher expectations and its potential role in increasing Latino youths’ school success. r 2007 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Parent involvement; Latino youth; Academic adjustment; School belonging; Teacher expectations; Social capital
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 404 413 6281; fax: +1 404 413 6207.
E-mail address: [email protected] (G.P. Kuperminc). 0140-1971/$30.00 r 2007 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.09.003
ARTICLE IN PRESS 470
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Introduction The high rates of academic failure and school dropout among Latino youth in the United States are a significant source of concern for educators and policy makers (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Desimone, 1999; Marotta & Garcia, 2003; Mattingly, Prislin, McKenzie, Rodriguez, & Kayzar, 2002; National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). Efforts to raise the level of parent involvement in children’s education have been among the most popular interventions offered for reducing the achievement gap observed between White students and students from other racial ethnic minority groups, including Latinos. Such efforts are consistent with widely held beliefs that parents hold primary responsibility for children’s well-being, and because those efforts are viewed as relatively easy to implement, the potential payoffs are likely to outweigh their costs (Desimone, 1999; Mattingly et al., 2002). Research has documented consistent empirical evidence of a positive link between parent involvement and a range of achievement and motivational outcomes (Grolnick, Kurowski, Dunlap, & Hevey, 2000; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Keith & Lichtman, 1994; Steinberg Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Darling, 1992; Stevenson & Baker, 1987). However, most research has emphasized direct effects of parent involvement on children’s academic outcomes (Grolnick et al., 2000) and research is only beginning to examine cultural variations in patterns of parent involvement (Garcı´ a-Coll et al., 2002). Consequently, little is known about (a) proximal mediators that might help explain the link between parent involvement and students’ academic functioning through the critical middle and high school years in which many Latino youth become increasingly disengaged from school (Brewster & Bowen, 2004), (b) whether the academic processes affected by parent involvement differ for middle as compared to high school students and (c) whether those processes differ as a function of youths’ immigration status. The present study of middle and high school Latino students investigates factors that contribute to school success within a population that is at high risk of academic failure. Particular attention is given to school contextual variables that may mediate the association between parent involvement and achievement.
What is parent involvement and why is it important? Parent involvement has been described as the degree to which a parent dedicates resources of time and energy to his or her child in a given developmental or educational domain (Grolnick et al., 2000; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994). We focus on educational involvement in the present study and use the term parent involvement to refer to a range of parental activities at school (e.g., participation in meetings, activities, and events) and in the home (e.g., keeping abreast of children’s educational experiences). Parent involvement can be viewed as a form of social capital, contributing resources that support students’ academic motivation and affirm the importance placed by their families on education (Grolnick et al., 2000; Iban˜ez, Kuperminc, Jurkovic, & Perilla, 2004). McNeal (1999) defined social capital as including three elements: (1) social ties between various members of a network (parents, teachers, students), (2) norms of obligation and reciprocity, and (3) investment of resources. By focusing on how parents’ efforts increase children’s motivational resources, the
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
471
definition of parent involvement advanced by Grolnick et al. (2000) emphasizes the third part of McNeal’s definition. However, it is likely that parent involvement strategies in the home and at school also promote norms of obligation and reciprocity by conveying to the child the importance of education (Iban˜ez et al., 2004), which in turn might lead to a greater sense of belonging to and more responsible and independent behavior in school (Epstein, 1990). Also, forms of parent involvement that come to the attention of school personnel (e.g., direct communication with teachers) are likely to increase social connections by conveying to teachers that parents care about and support their children’s education (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001). Non-traditional forms of parent involvement, such as exposing children to the rigors of manual labor as a way of demonstrating for them the harsh consequences of not succeeding in school have also been studied (Lopez, 2001). Whereas such involvement may reinforce messages about the importance of education, it may fail to affect social ties between parents, teachers, and students (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Huss-Keeler, 1997; Lopez, 2001). While acknowledging the value of non-traditional forms of parent involvement, we focus in the present study on the more traditional home- and school-based involvement. Adopting a social capital perspective points to mechanisms through which parent involvement may contribute to students’ academic adjustment. We conceptualize academic adjustment broadly, encompassing perceived academic competence and achievement, and consider two mediated pathways—student perceptions of school belonging and teacher expectations for students’ academic attainment. Parent involvement in the families of Latino adolescents The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2003) reports that Hispanic parents are significantly less likely than White parents to attend general meetings and school events, act as a volunteer, or serve on school committees. Hispanic parents did not differ from Black parents on these indicators and no racial/ethnic group differences were found on participation in scheduled meetings with teachers. Similarly, Kao and Tienda (1998) found that immigrant parents were less likely than US born parents to attend meetings that directly affected their children’s education. These studies examined only school-based involvement. Studies using an expanded definition of parent involvement to include both school- and home-based activities have not documented consistent racial or ethnic group differences (Desimone, 1999). For example, Crosnoe (2001) used a brief measure of school- and home-based parent involvement to examine 3-year longitudinal trajectories of parent involvement in a multi-ethnic sample. Crosnoe found that Hispanic parents did not differ from White parents in their levels of involvement at the beginning of high school. In that study, being Hispanic was associated with declines in parent involvement over time, but only for students in a remedial track. These findings point to the importance of broadening the definition of parent involvement to include both home- and school-based involvement. Several investigators have documented that levels of parent involvement are related to socioeconomic status, beliefs about the role and place of parents in school, misunderstandings regarding school officials’ expectations, and level of comfort with the English language (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Garcı´ a-Coll et al., 2002; Huss-Keeler, 1997; Lopez, 2001; Trueba, 1988). For example, Garcı´ a-Coll et al. (2002) found that comfort with the English language was positively associated with both home- and school-based involvement for three immigrant groups (Dominicans, Portuguese, and
ARTICLE IN PRESS 472
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Cambodian). Comfort with the English language might not only contribute to higher levels of parent involvement, but might also be more effective in promoting students’ academic adjustment. For example, Iban˜ez et al. (2004) found that the association of parent involvement with student reports of importance of school was stronger for students who reported relatively high levels of English language use compared to students who reported low English language use. Teacher expectations Low rates of participation in school-based activities can restrict Latino parents’ opportunities to advocate for their children and may reinforce perceptions by school officials that the parents do not care about their children’s education (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001). Research has documented a link between parent involvement and teacher perceptions of students’ ability (Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Vondra, 2000). Several studies have documented low expectations of teachers toward low income, ethnic and linguistic minority students (Auerbach, 1989; Huss-Keeler, 1997), and such expectations have been linked to low levels of parental participation in school activities (e.g., volunteering in schools, attending school activities) (Huss-Keeler, 1997). Teacher expectations have been found to be lower and more inaccurate for ethnic minority as compared to non-minority youth (Dusek & Joseph, 1983; Gottfredson, Marciniak, Birdseye, & Gottfredson, 1995), and low expectations have been found to affect the achievement of minority youth more negatively than others (McKown & Weinstein, 2002; Smith et al., 1998). Perceptions of school belonging Research has found that motivations to achieve in school are closely intertwined with Mexican and Mexican American adolescents’ sense of obligation to contribute to the well-being of their families (Fuligni, 1997). Sua´rez-Orozco and Sua´rez-Orozco (1995, 2001) found that children of immigrants are keenly aware of the sacrifices their parents have made for them, and invest a great deal of energy into succeeding in educational and work activities that can help their families in both the short and long term. When parents demonstrate a high value on education through involvement in their children’s education, one likely way in which children will express their own investment is through a sense of belonging in school (Iban˜ez et al., 2004). The quality of social relationships young people experience in school has been documented as an important determinant of academic achievement throughout the elementary and secondary school years (Goodenow & Grady, 1993; Roeser & Eccles, 1998). Goodenow (1993) defined school belonging in terms of student perceptions of being liked, respected, and valued by teachers and fellow students. Several studies have found that a sense of school belonging contributes to academic motivation and achievement among Latino adolescents (Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997; Iban˜ez et al., 2004; Sanchez, Colo´n, & Esparza, 2005) and there is some evidence that it is more strongly associated with academic outcomes for Latinos than for youth from other ethnic groups (Goodenow, 1993). Academic adjustment The link between perceived academic competence and achievement has been well established. A meta-analysis by Valentine, DuBois, and Cooper (2004) synthesized findings from more than 200
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
473
longitudinal studies and found consistent, small to moderate associations of educational selfbeliefs with achievement. These effects were not moderated by ethnicity, suggesting similar patterns of association for White and non-white students. Considering both actual school performance and perceived academic competence together offers a comprehensive view of academic adjustment. Perceived academic competence is not equivalent to achievement, but the processes that support and maintain a sense of academic competence are likely to contribute to achievement. The present study The social capital framework suggests that parents’ involvement may contribute indirectly to the academic adjustment of Latino middle and high school students via influences on students’ sense of belonging in school and teacher expectations for students’ educational attainment. We expected that school belonging and teacher expectations would mediate the associations of parent involvement with both academic competence and academic performance. In addition, past research has documented decreasing levels of parent involvement from middle through high school (Entwisle, 1990), and that parent involvement may be more difficult for recent immigrants than others (Garcı´ a-Coll et al., 2002). Thus, we examined grade level and immigration status as potential moderators. We hypothesized that higher levels of parent involvement would be associated with more positive teacher expectations for youths’ academic attainment. Second, we hypothesized that higher levels of parent involvement would contribute to more positive youth perceptions of school belonging. Third, we hypothesized that positive teacher expectations and school belonging, in turn, would contribute to higher achievement and more positive perceptions of academic competence. Fig. 1 illustrates the expected pathways linking parent involvement to academic achievement. Participants Data were drawn from two metropolitan public school samples in the Southeastern United States, a middle school and a high school in the same school district. Both schools served large numbers of Latino youth from immigrant families. The middle school had a 2001–2002 enrollment of 1091 students in grades 6–8. Participants were 195 Latino youth; 58% were female and the average age was 13.8 years (SD ¼ .80). Seventynine percent had immigrated to the US; the rest were US born children of immigrants (21%). Most (n ¼ 119; 76%) of the immigrants were born in Mexico; 13% (n ¼ 20) were born in Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, or Costa Rica); 4% (n ¼ 7) were born in the Caribbean (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico), and 6% (n ¼ 10) were born in South America (Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, or Venezuela). Only seventh- and eighth-graders were sampled, and participants were evenly split between the seventh and eighth grades (51% and 49%, respectively). Approximately 90% of middle school participants received a federally subsidized school lunch. The high school had a 2001–2002 enrollment of 1093 students in grades 9–12. The sample included 129 Latino youth; 64% were female and the average age was 16.8 years (SD ¼ 1.2).
ARTICLE IN PRESS 474
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483 Teacher Expectations
0.12 (0.03)
MS: .02 (0.14), ns HS: .46 (0.14)
Academic Competence
0.41 (0.03) MS: 0.19 (0.04) HS: 0.08 (0.04) Parent School Involvement
MS: 0.04 (0.03), ns HS: 0.05 (0.03), ns 0.50 (0.07)
0.28 (0.04)
Grade Point Average
0.19 (0.08) School Belonging
Fig. 1. Path model of mediated associations of parent school involvement with academic competence and school grades showing non-standardized path coefficients. All paths are significantly different from 0, po.05, unless noted otherwise.
Nearly three-quarters of participants had immigrated to the US (74%); the rest were US born children of immigrants (26%). Most (n ¼ 65; 66%) of the immigrants were born in Mexico; 16% (n ¼ 16) were born in Central American (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Nicaragua); 10% (n ¼ 10) were born in the Caribbean (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico), and 6% (n ¼ 6) were born in South America (Colombia or Peru). Most students were in the lower grades (9th–10th ¼ 65%, 11th–12th ¼ 35%). Nearly 70% of participants in the high school sample received either reduced or free lunch. Procedures The procedures were approved by Institutional Review Boards at the authors’ institution and the school district serving both schools. All students who identified as Latino or Hispanic were invited to participate. Recruitment strategies included having bilingual researchers make brief classroom presentations in English and Spanish and staffing an information table in the cafeteria during meal times. Interested students were given parental consent forms in English and Spanish. Participating students were required to bring a signed parental consent form and to sign an assent form before participating. High school participants were paid $10 and middle school participants received a free movie pass. Questionnaires were administered in small group settings of 5–15 students grouped by language preference. All of the sessions in the high school were administered in Spanish (one was administered in both English and Spanish) and approximately half of the sessions in the middle school were administered in Spanish. An interviewer introduced each questionnaire to the students and read each item aloud to control for reading ability. Sessions lasted approximately 1.5 h (about 2 class periods).
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
475
Participants in the two samples completed a similar battery of measures assessing family and school processes affecting educational, social, and psychological adjustment. Measures were pretested in small groups of Latino students who completed an earlier version of the instrument used in the present study and then participated in focus group discussions about the relevance and understandability of questions. Pre-testing procedures resulted in minor modifications of the instrument (described below). Spanish versions of all measures used with both samples were generated through translation, back-translation, and de-centering (Brislin, Lonner, & Thorndike, 1973). Youth completed questionnaires that included both the English and Spanish versions of each item side by side. Measures Academic achievement Academic achievement, was assessed by student’s cumulative grade point average gathered from end of year school records for 5 core courses: Reading, Language Arts (or English), Math, Science, and History. Perceived academic competence Academic competence was assessed with a 5-item scale adapted from Harter’s (1988) Self Perception Profile for Adolescents, which measures students’ perceptions of their scholastic abilities (e.g., ‘‘I feel I am just as smart as others my age,’’ and, ‘‘I do very well at my classwork.’’). The original instrument presents two statements side by side, one positive and one negative. Participants are asked to select one of the statements as more true for them and rate whether the statement is ‘‘sort of true’’ or ‘‘really true.’’ This format proved difficult to administer during pretesting. Consequently, the items were altered to a response format with a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Not At All True) to 4 (Very True). Internal consistency was .75 for the high school sample and .62 for the middle school sample. Parent involvement The Parental Involvement in Schooling scale (Steinberg et al., 1992) assesses the degree to which parents assist their child with homework, attend extracurricular activities, and help with class selection. The scale consists of 6 items on a 4-point Likert type scale (1 ¼ not at all true, 4 ¼ very true). Based on feedback from pre-testing of this measure, we added one item to the original 5-item measure that read, ‘‘I talk with adults in my family about problems I am having in school.’’ Cronbach’s alpha was .74 for high school students and .63 for middle school students. Teacher expectations Teachers completed two items assessing their views of the likelihood that the student would (1) graduate high school and (2) go on to college. Responses to both items were made on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (Not at all Likely) to 5 (Very Likely). Scores for the two items were averaged for each student (r ¼ .74 for high school students and .84 for middle school students).
ARTICLE IN PRESS 476
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
School belonging The Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (Goodenow & Grady, 1993) was used to assess school belonging. The scale consists of 18 items tapping perceptions of liking school, personal acceptance, inclusion, respect and encouragement for participation (e.g., ‘‘I feel like a part of my school’’ and ‘‘I am treated with as much respect as other students’’). Responses were made on a four-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (Not at all true) to 4 (Very true). Internal consistency was .79 for high school students and .82 for middle school students. Demographic variables Two demographic variables were examined as moderators of the strength of association for pathways linking parent involvement with academic adjustment: school level (high vs. middle school) and immigrant/generation status. For analyses focused on immigrant/generation status, we differentiated (1) recent immigrants (those who arrived in the US after age 5) from (2) US reared youth (US born youth and those who arrived in the US prior to their 5th birthday). It is important to note that nearly all of the US reared youth in both samples were children of immigrants. It was reasoned that the latter group differed from the former in that all of their formal education was likely received in the US. Plan of analysis Given the diversity of the samples, we first conducted preliminary analyses to examine mean differences between Mexican and non-Mexican students on the dependent, independent, and mediator variables. To do this, we estimated two multivariate analyses of variance examining effects of Mexican origin on (1) academic adjustment (grade point average and perceived academic competence) and (2) the independent variable and mediators (parent involvement, school belonging, and teacher expectations). We estimated these models separately for the middle school and high school samples. The high school sample did not include reliable data on country of origin for US born students; thus, the high school analyses were limited to immigrant youth (n ¼ 94). We also examined interactions of Mexican origin with each independent and mediator variable in regression models explaining perceived academic competence and school grades. Interaction terms were computed by multiplying a dummy variable delineating Mexican vs. nonMexican students with scores for each independent and mediator variable that were centered about their means. We next examined bivariate correlations among all study variables. For the major analyses, we tested path models using the multi-group analysis feature of the EQS 6.0 program (Bentler, 2006). Covariance matrices were evaluated for the high school and middle school samples separately, with cross-group equality constraints placed on the paths from parent involvement to each mediator and from each mediator to the measures of academic adjustment. The EQS program provides a ‘‘decomposition of effects’’ summarizing estimates of direct and indirect effects of an independent variable on one or more dependent variables. Collins, Graham, and Flaherty (1998) have argued that a significant indirect effect is sufficient for establishing mediation given an adequate theoretical rationale. We first tested a model assuming complete mediation (Shrout & Bolger, 2002) of the associations of parent involvement with the measures of academic adjustment, and then inspected modification indices (called Lagrangian Multiplier or LM tests in EQS) to examine the possibility that those associations were only
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
477
partially mediated (i.e., examining whether adding direct paths from parent involvement to school grades or perceived academic competence would significantly improve model fit). We also examined LM tests to examine moderating effects of grade level and immigration/generation status.
Results Preliminary analyses Differences between Mexican-origin and non-Mexican students In the middle, but not the high school sample, there was a multivariate effect of Mexican origin on academic adjustment, F(2, 192) ¼ 3.61, p ¼ .03, such that Mexican students (M ¼ 2.22, SD ¼ .85) earned lower grades than non-Mexicans (M ¼ 2.53, SD ¼ .87). Mexican students (M ¼ 2.67, SD ¼ .63) also reported lower perceived academic competence than non-Mexicans (M ¼ 2.88, SD ¼ .56). Mean differences on parent involvement, teacher expectations, and perceived school belonging were not significant. Regressions of perceived academic competence and school grades revealed no significant interactions of Mexican origin with parent involvement, perceived school belonging, or teacher expectations. These findings suggest that despite lower academic adjustment among middle school Mexican-origin students, the associations of academic adjustment measures with independent and mediator variables were similar for Latino students of diverse national origins. Bivariate correlations Table 1 presents zero-order correlations for the study variables in the two samples. Parent involvement was positively correlated with school belonging and academic competence for middle and high school students. Surprisingly, parent involvement was uncorrelated with middle school grades and teacher expectations of middle school students’ academic attainment. The correlation between school belonging and teacher expectations was positive and significant, and both of these mediators had significant correlations with school grades and academic competence. Modeling mediating effects of school belonging and teacher expectations Path analysis was used to test the model shown in Fig. 1. The model fit the data well [X2(10, N ¼ 324) ¼ 17.100, p ¼ .072; CFI ¼ .978; SRMR ¼ .071; RMSEA ¼ .047 (90% CI ¼ .000, .084)]. LM tests for adding direct paths from parent involvement to the two measures of academic adjustment did not reach significance, indicating that the associations of parent involvement with academic adjustment was adequately accounted for with only indirect paths. Differential effects for middle vs. high school samples Interaction effects were tested by examining LM tests for the equality constraints to identify paths that differed significantly for the middle as compared to high school samples. One LM test reached significance, suggesting differences for middle vs. high school students in the path from parent involvement to teacher expectations [X2(1, N ¼ 324) ¼ 4.913, p ¼ .027]. After releasing the
ARTICLE IN PRESS 478
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Table 1 Descriptive statistics for and correlations among criterion, predictor, and mediator variables for the middle (n ¼ 195) and high school (n ¼ 129) samples
Parent involvement School belonging Teacher expectations Academic competence Grade point average Middle school mean (SD) High school mean (SD)
Parent involvement
School belonging
Teacher expectations
Academic competence
Grade point average
1.00 .33*** .00 .25*** .09 2.76 (0.65)
.48*** 1.00 .30*** .42*** .27*** 2.89 (.48)
.28*** .28*** 1.00 .34*** .60*** 3.00 (1.28)
.33*** .48*** .34*** 1.00 .30*** 2.73 (.62)
.15+ .27** .62*** .33*** 1.00 2.30 (.87)
2.24 (.68)
2.95 (.44)
3.74 (1.16)
2.90 (.66)
1.96 (.86)
Note. Correlations for high school sample above the diagonal; correlations for middle school below the diagonal. +po.10; * po.05; ** po.01; *** po.001.
equality constraint across groups for that path, the fit statistics for this modified model were as follows: X2(9, N ¼ 324) ¼ 12.130, p ¼ .206, CFI ¼ .990, SRMR ¼ .025, RMSEA ¼ .033 (90% CI ¼ .000, .075). For high school students the model accounted for 35.7% of the variance in school grades and 20.6% of the variance in academic competence. For middle school students the model accounted for 39.3% of the variance in grades and 26.2% of the variance in academic competence. As shown in Fig. 1 and Table 2, associations of parent involvement with academic adjustment were mediated by teacher expectations and perceptions of school belonging. For both middle and high school students, parent involvement contributed to more positive perceptions of school belonging, which in turn contributed to more positive perceptions of perceived academic competence and higher grades. Parent involvement contributed to higher teacher expectations only for high school students. Teacher expectations were related to higher grades for both middle and high school students. The indirect effect of parent involvement on grades was significant for high school [b ¼ .241, SE ¼ .064, b ¼ .197], but not middle school students [b ¼ .062, SE ¼ .062, b ¼ .046]. The indirect effect of parent involvement on perceived academic competence was significant both for high school [b ¼ .195, SE ¼ .033, b ¼ .210] and middle school students [b ¼ .144, SE ¼ .033, b ¼ .147]. Differential effects by immigrant/generation status Similar multi-group analysis was conducted to examine possible immigrant/generation status interactions in the associations involving parent involvement, mediating variables, and academic adjustment. For this analysis, the middle and high school samples were combined. The model examining differential effects by immigrant/generation status was tested by estimating the models from covariance matrices for US-reared youth compared to recent immigrants. The overall model fit the data well, with fit statistics similar to those reported previously, and inspection of the LM tests did not reveal the presence of any significant immigrant/generation status interactions.
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
479
Table 2 Standardized estimates of the associations of parent school involvement, teacher expectations, and school belonging with academic competence and grades for middle and high school students
Structured paths (b) Grades’Teacher expectations Grades’School belonging Academic competence’Teacher expectations Academic competence’School belonging Teacher expectations’Parent school involvement School belonging’Parent school involvement Unstructured paths (r) Grades2Academic competence Teacher expectations2School belonging
Middle school (n ¼ 195)
High school (n ¼ 129)
.59 .11 .24 .39 .01 ns .37
.56 .10 .22 .35 .27 .44
.09 ns .32
.12 ns .18
Note: All estimates are significantly different from 0, po.05 unless noted otherwise.
Discussion The present study builds on the model of parent involvement as a form of social capital introduced by McNeal (1999) by examining theoretically expected mechanisms through which parent involvement may contribute to academic adjustment for Latino middle and high school students. It was expected that parent involvement would contribute indirectly to youths’ adjustment by (1) contributing to the students’ sense of belonging to their school and (2) contributing to teachers’ expectations for students’ academic attainment. Accordingly, students’ sense of school belonging and teacher expectations for students’ academic attainment were examined as mediators of the link between parent involvement and academic adjustment. Evidence was found for both hypothesized pathways. Perhaps the most surprising finding was that associations of parent involvement with academic adjustment were stronger for high school than for middle school students. Research typically has not incorporated a developmental perspective in that it has usually emphasized links between involvement and achievement within samples that are relatively homogenous with regard to age or grade level. Entwisle (1990) noted that parent involvement is highest in the elementary school grades and tends to decline steadily through middle and high school. This pattern of decline was evident in the present study as middle school participants reported that their parents were more involved in their education than did high school students. Parent involvement had a moderate association with teacher expectations for high school students but no association for middle school students. The indirect effect of parent involvement on grades also was significant only for high school students. It is possible that through their involvement, parents of Latino middle school students can bolster their children’s sense of connection to school and their confidence in being able to succeed. The lack of association between parent involvement and teacher expectations for middle school students merits future research to identify strategies to increase parent-teacher collaborations that could strengthen middle school youths’ connection to school.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 480
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Given lower levels of parent involvement in high school as compared to middle school, it is possible that when it occurs, such involvement is more salient to high school personnel. Also, the middle to high school transition marks a period in which many youth drop out of school; thus, it may also be that the high school youth who participated in the present study represent a more select and higher achieving group than do the middle school participants. Teachers’ higher expectations for the high school students may reflect accurate perceptions about the greater likelihood that those students will complete high school and go on to higher education. Even so, the present findings confirm that parents of Latino students continue to play a role in their children’s academic adjustment throughout the high school years. Overall, the findings suggest that parent involvement is an important strategy for promoting the academic achievement of Latino students, but the payoff may be unlikely if parents’ efforts do not translate into recognition by school officials of the ways in which parents seek to reinforce the importance of education. In many cases, immigrant parents report that they came to the US as a means of providing their children with greater educational and economic opportunities (Sua´rezOrozco & Sua´rez-Orozco, 2001). The low levels of parent involvement among Latinos relative to other groups that have been documented in past studies reflect a range of barriers, including limited English language proficiency and a lack of knowledge of school officials’ expectations of parents. Moreover, long work hours and little flexibility may also make it difficult for working class parents to attend school functions. Qualitative research has documented that working-class (often ethnic minority) parents typically hold perceptions of teachers as experts who ‘‘know best;’’ such parents might assume a passive role with regard to their children’s schooling, or may become frustrated if their active efforts to participate in their children’s education are not acknowledged (Crozier, 1999). Whereas the mediated link between parent involvement and students’ perceived academic competence was significant for both middle and high school students, it is important to note that after accounting for parent involvement, teacher expectations, and school belonging, the residual correlation between perceived academic competence and school grades was not significant. Research has documented the role of perceived academic competence as an important correlate, if not determinant, of academic achievement (Valentine et al., 2004). If replicated in future research this lack of association between perceived competence and achievement might suggest that other motivational factors are more important determinants of achievement for Latino students than confidence in their scholastic abilities. For example, Sua´rez-Orozco and Sua´rez-Orozco’s (1995) mixed method comparative study of Mexican, Mexican American, Mexican Immigrant, and White adolescents documented that immigrant children are keenly aware of the sacrifices their parents have made and carry a strong sense of obligation to succeed academically as a means of giving back and contributing to their families’ well-being. For Latino students, parent involvement might function to support and maintain young peoples’ sense of belonging to school; this sense of social connection might, in turn, promote a belief in education as a means for young people to ‘‘give back’’ to their families and communities. Limitations and future directions This investigation of a relatively large sample of Latino students in middle and high school extends past work on parent involvement to an older cohort than has typically been examined,
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
481
and to a rapidly growing cultural minority group. Much theoretical and empirical work on Latinos emphasizes the centrality of families in children’s development; the present study draws from this tradition to shed light on mechanisms through which Latino parents, in collaboration with school officials, might promote their children’s school achievement. Whereas research has increasingly found that parent involvement is a multidimensional construct, the present study was limited to a simple unidimensional measure. Further limitations include the cross-sectional design and reliance on a single informant for most of the measures examined. A more complete assessment would have included reports from parents and teachers and include measures that differentiate the settings (e.g., home vs. school; Desimone, 1999) in which parents enact their involvement, the roles parents take on (e.g., observer, participant, or decision-maker; Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Epstein, 1990), and the functions of involvement (e.g., cognitive stimulation, providing personal support; Grolnick et al., 2000). A more general limitation relates to the challenge of finding psychometrically sound instruments for use with immigrant populations. In our research, we found it necessary to make alterations to existing measures and include a Spanish version. Whereas these alterations resulted in internally consistent measures, our study was not able to incorporate more thorough analytic techniques to ensure the reliability and validity of the measures for the population under study (Knight & Hill, 1998). Increasing measurement precision for immigrant and non-English speaking populations is clearly an important area for future research. Future research incorporating multi-dimensional measurement of parent involvement, multiple informants, and a longitudinal design has the potential to illuminate a more nuanced picture of how parent involvement can contribute to building social capital that can support students’ academic achievement. It is possible, for example, that school-based involvement might have the strongest impact on teacher perceptions of students, particularly when parents’ involvement includes direct contact with students. This level of detail can more effectively inform interventions and school policies designed to encourage Latino parents to advocate effectively for their children and help improve their chances for academic success.
Acknowledgments This research was supported by a WT Grant Scholars Award from the WT Grant Foundation, Grant #88-01-09 from the Russell Sage Foundation, and by a Research Team Grant from the Georgia State University Research Foundation.
References Auerbach, E. R. (1989). Toward a social-contextual approach to family literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 59, 165–181. Bentler, P. M. (2006). EQS 6 Structural Equations Program Manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software, Inc. Brewster, A. B., & Bowen, G. L. (2004). Teacher support and the school engagement of Latino middle and high school students at risk of school failure. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21, 47–67. Brislin, R. W., Lonner, W. J., & Thorndike, R. M. (1973). Cross-cultural research methods. New York: Wiley. Chrispeels, J. H., & Rivero, E. (2001). Engaging Latino families for student success: How parent education can reshape parents’ sense of place in the education of their children. Peabody Journal of Education, 76, 119–169.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 482
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Collins, L. M., Graham, J. W., & Flaherty, B. P. (1998). An alternative framework for defining mediation. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 33, 295–312. Crosnoe, R. (2001). Academic orientation and parental involvement in education during high school. Sociology of Education, 74, 210–230. Crozier, G. (1999). Is it a case of ‘we know when we’re not wanted’? The parents’ perspective on parent-teacher roles and relationships. Educational Research, 41, 315–328. Desimone, L. (1999). Linking parent involvement with student achievement: Do race and income matter? Journal of Educational Research, 93, 11–30. Dusek, J. B., & Joseph, G. (1983). The bases of teacher expectancies: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 327–346. Entwisle, D. R. (1990). Schools and the adolescent. In S. S. Feldman, & G. R. Elliott (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 197–224). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Epstein, J. L. (1990). School and family connections: Theory, research, and implications for integrating sociologies of education and family. Marriage & Family Review, 15, 99–126. Fuligni, A. J. (1997). The academic achievement of adolescents from immigrant families: The roles of family background, attitudes, and behavior. Child Development, 68, 261–273. Garcı´ a-Coll, C., Akiba, D., Palacios, N., Bailey, B., Silver, R., DiMartino, L., et al. (2002). Parental involvement in children’s education: Lesson’s from three immigrant groups. Parenting: Science and Practice, 2, 303–324. Gonzalez, R., & Padilla, A. M. (1997). The academic resilience of Mexican American high school students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 19, 301–317. Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents: Scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30, 79–90. Goodenow, C., & Grady, K. E. (1993). The relationship of school belonging and friends’ values to academic motivation among urban adolescent students. Journal of Experimental Education, 62, 60–71. Gottfredson, D. C., Marciniak, E. M., Birdseye, A. T., & Gottfredson, G. D. (1995). Increasing teacher expectations for student achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 88, 155–163. Grolnick, W. S., Kurowski, C. O., Dunlap, K. G., & Hevey, C. (2000). Parental resources and the transition to junior high. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10, 465–488. Grolnick, W. S., & Slowiaczek, M. L. (1994). Parents’ involvement in children’s schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model. Child Development, 65, 237–252. Harter, S. (1988). Manual for the Adolescent Self-Perception Profile. Denver: Author. Huss-Keeler, R. L. (1997). Teacher perception of ethnic and linguistic minority parental involvement and its relationships to children’s language and literacy learning: A case study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, 171–182. Iban˜ez, G. E., Kuperminc, G. P., Jurkovic, G., & Perilla, J. (2004). Cultural attributes and adaptations linked to achievement motivation among Latino adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33(6), 559–568. Kao, G., & Tienda, M. (1998). Educational aspirations of minority youth. American Journal of Education, 106, 349–384. Keith, P. B., & Lichtman, M. V. (1994). Does parental involvement influence the academic achievement of MexicanAmerican eighth graders? Results from the National Education Longitudinal Study. School Psychology Quarterly, 9, 256–273. Knight, G. P., & Hill, N. E. (1998). Measurement equivalence in research involving minority adolescents. In V. C. McLoyd, & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Studying minority adolescents: Conceptual, methodological, and theoretical issues (pp. 183–210). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Lopez, G. R. (2001). The value of hard work: Lessons on parental involvement from an (im)migrant household. Harvard Educational Review, 71, 416–437. Marotta, S. A., & Garcia, J. G. (2003). Latinos in the United States in 2000. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 25, 13–34. Mattingly, D. J., Prislin, R., McKenzie, T. L., Rodriguez, J. L., & Kayzar, B. (2002). Evaluating evaluations: The case of parent involvement programs. Review of Educational Research, 72, 549–576. McKown, C., & Weinstein, R. S. (2002). Modeling the role of child ethnicity and gender in children’s differential response to teacher expectations. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 159–184.
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
483
McNeal, R. B. (1999). Parental involvements as social capital: Differential effectiveness on science achievement, truancy, and dropping out. Social Forces, 78, 117–144. National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Status and trends in the education of Hispanics (NCES 2003–008). Washington, DC: US Department of Education. Available 2003. Downloaded 9/5/2006 from /http://nces.ed.gov/ pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2003008S. Roeser, R. W., & Eccles, J. S. (1998). Adolescents perceptions of middle school: Relation to longitudinal changes in academic and psychological adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8, 123–158. Sanchez, B., Colo´n, Y., & Esparza, P. (2005). The role of sense of school belonging and gender in the academic adjustment of Latino adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34, 619–628. Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. (2002). Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: New procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7, 422–435. Smith, A. E., Jussim, L., Eccles, J., VanNoy, M., Madon, S., & Palumbo, P. (1998). Self-fulfilling prophecies, perceptual biases, and accuracy at the individual and group levels. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 530–561. Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., & Darling, N. (1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: Authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266–1281. Stevenson, D. L., & Baker, D. P. (1987). The family–school relation and the child’s school performance. Child Development, 58, 1348–1357. Sua´rez-Orozco, C., & Sua´rez-Orozco, M. (1995). Transformations: Immigration, family life, and achievement motivation among Latino adolescents. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Sua´rez-Orozco, C., & Sua´rez-Orozco, M. (2001). Children of immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Trueba, H. T. (1988). Culturally based explanations of minority students’ academic achievement. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 19, 270–287. Valentine, J. C., DuBois, D. L., & Cooper, H. (2004). The relation between self-beliefs and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review. Educational Psychologist, 39, 111–133. Vondra, J. I. (2000). Commentary for ‘‘Schooling an high risk populations: The Chicago Longitudinal Study’’. Journal of School Psychology, 37, 471–479.
Journal of Adolescence Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483 www.elsevier.com/locate/jado
Parent involvement in the academic adjustment of Latino middle and high school youth: Teacher expectations and school belonging as mediators Gabriel P. Kuperminc, Adam J. Darnell, Anabel Alvarez-Jimenez Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, 140 Decatur Street, 11th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
Abstract A path model based in a theory of social capital was tested with Latino middle school (n ¼ 195, 58% female, average 13.8 years of age) and high school students (n ¼ 129, 64% female, average 16.8 years of age). Most participants (77%) were immigrants (predominantly from Mexico). Questionnaires assessed student perceptions of parent involvement, school belonging, and academic competence. Teachers rated their expectations for student academic attainment and grades were obtained from school records. Perceived school belonging and teacher expectations mediated cross-sectional associations of parent involvement with academic adjustment. Links between parent involvement and academic adjustment were stronger for high school than middle school students. Middle school parent involvement was unrelated to teacher expectations and its indirect effect on school grades was non-significant. Future research should examine the link between middle school parent involvement and teacher expectations and its potential role in increasing Latino youths’ school success. r 2007 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Parent involvement; Latino youth; Academic adjustment; School belonging; Teacher expectations; Social capital
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 404 413 6281; fax: +1 404 413 6207.
E-mail address: [email protected] (G.P. Kuperminc). 0140-1971/$30.00 r 2007 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.09.003
ARTICLE IN PRESS 470
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Introduction The high rates of academic failure and school dropout among Latino youth in the United States are a significant source of concern for educators and policy makers (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Desimone, 1999; Marotta & Garcia, 2003; Mattingly, Prislin, McKenzie, Rodriguez, & Kayzar, 2002; National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). Efforts to raise the level of parent involvement in children’s education have been among the most popular interventions offered for reducing the achievement gap observed between White students and students from other racial ethnic minority groups, including Latinos. Such efforts are consistent with widely held beliefs that parents hold primary responsibility for children’s well-being, and because those efforts are viewed as relatively easy to implement, the potential payoffs are likely to outweigh their costs (Desimone, 1999; Mattingly et al., 2002). Research has documented consistent empirical evidence of a positive link between parent involvement and a range of achievement and motivational outcomes (Grolnick, Kurowski, Dunlap, & Hevey, 2000; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Keith & Lichtman, 1994; Steinberg Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Darling, 1992; Stevenson & Baker, 1987). However, most research has emphasized direct effects of parent involvement on children’s academic outcomes (Grolnick et al., 2000) and research is only beginning to examine cultural variations in patterns of parent involvement (Garcı´ a-Coll et al., 2002). Consequently, little is known about (a) proximal mediators that might help explain the link between parent involvement and students’ academic functioning through the critical middle and high school years in which many Latino youth become increasingly disengaged from school (Brewster & Bowen, 2004), (b) whether the academic processes affected by parent involvement differ for middle as compared to high school students and (c) whether those processes differ as a function of youths’ immigration status. The present study of middle and high school Latino students investigates factors that contribute to school success within a population that is at high risk of academic failure. Particular attention is given to school contextual variables that may mediate the association between parent involvement and achievement.
What is parent involvement and why is it important? Parent involvement has been described as the degree to which a parent dedicates resources of time and energy to his or her child in a given developmental or educational domain (Grolnick et al., 2000; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994). We focus on educational involvement in the present study and use the term parent involvement to refer to a range of parental activities at school (e.g., participation in meetings, activities, and events) and in the home (e.g., keeping abreast of children’s educational experiences). Parent involvement can be viewed as a form of social capital, contributing resources that support students’ academic motivation and affirm the importance placed by their families on education (Grolnick et al., 2000; Iban˜ez, Kuperminc, Jurkovic, & Perilla, 2004). McNeal (1999) defined social capital as including three elements: (1) social ties between various members of a network (parents, teachers, students), (2) norms of obligation and reciprocity, and (3) investment of resources. By focusing on how parents’ efforts increase children’s motivational resources, the
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
471
definition of parent involvement advanced by Grolnick et al. (2000) emphasizes the third part of McNeal’s definition. However, it is likely that parent involvement strategies in the home and at school also promote norms of obligation and reciprocity by conveying to the child the importance of education (Iban˜ez et al., 2004), which in turn might lead to a greater sense of belonging to and more responsible and independent behavior in school (Epstein, 1990). Also, forms of parent involvement that come to the attention of school personnel (e.g., direct communication with teachers) are likely to increase social connections by conveying to teachers that parents care about and support their children’s education (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001). Non-traditional forms of parent involvement, such as exposing children to the rigors of manual labor as a way of demonstrating for them the harsh consequences of not succeeding in school have also been studied (Lopez, 2001). Whereas such involvement may reinforce messages about the importance of education, it may fail to affect social ties between parents, teachers, and students (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Huss-Keeler, 1997; Lopez, 2001). While acknowledging the value of non-traditional forms of parent involvement, we focus in the present study on the more traditional home- and school-based involvement. Adopting a social capital perspective points to mechanisms through which parent involvement may contribute to students’ academic adjustment. We conceptualize academic adjustment broadly, encompassing perceived academic competence and achievement, and consider two mediated pathways—student perceptions of school belonging and teacher expectations for students’ academic attainment. Parent involvement in the families of Latino adolescents The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2003) reports that Hispanic parents are significantly less likely than White parents to attend general meetings and school events, act as a volunteer, or serve on school committees. Hispanic parents did not differ from Black parents on these indicators and no racial/ethnic group differences were found on participation in scheduled meetings with teachers. Similarly, Kao and Tienda (1998) found that immigrant parents were less likely than US born parents to attend meetings that directly affected their children’s education. These studies examined only school-based involvement. Studies using an expanded definition of parent involvement to include both school- and home-based activities have not documented consistent racial or ethnic group differences (Desimone, 1999). For example, Crosnoe (2001) used a brief measure of school- and home-based parent involvement to examine 3-year longitudinal trajectories of parent involvement in a multi-ethnic sample. Crosnoe found that Hispanic parents did not differ from White parents in their levels of involvement at the beginning of high school. In that study, being Hispanic was associated with declines in parent involvement over time, but only for students in a remedial track. These findings point to the importance of broadening the definition of parent involvement to include both home- and school-based involvement. Several investigators have documented that levels of parent involvement are related to socioeconomic status, beliefs about the role and place of parents in school, misunderstandings regarding school officials’ expectations, and level of comfort with the English language (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Garcı´ a-Coll et al., 2002; Huss-Keeler, 1997; Lopez, 2001; Trueba, 1988). For example, Garcı´ a-Coll et al. (2002) found that comfort with the English language was positively associated with both home- and school-based involvement for three immigrant groups (Dominicans, Portuguese, and
ARTICLE IN PRESS 472
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Cambodian). Comfort with the English language might not only contribute to higher levels of parent involvement, but might also be more effective in promoting students’ academic adjustment. For example, Iban˜ez et al. (2004) found that the association of parent involvement with student reports of importance of school was stronger for students who reported relatively high levels of English language use compared to students who reported low English language use. Teacher expectations Low rates of participation in school-based activities can restrict Latino parents’ opportunities to advocate for their children and may reinforce perceptions by school officials that the parents do not care about their children’s education (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001). Research has documented a link between parent involvement and teacher perceptions of students’ ability (Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Vondra, 2000). Several studies have documented low expectations of teachers toward low income, ethnic and linguistic minority students (Auerbach, 1989; Huss-Keeler, 1997), and such expectations have been linked to low levels of parental participation in school activities (e.g., volunteering in schools, attending school activities) (Huss-Keeler, 1997). Teacher expectations have been found to be lower and more inaccurate for ethnic minority as compared to non-minority youth (Dusek & Joseph, 1983; Gottfredson, Marciniak, Birdseye, & Gottfredson, 1995), and low expectations have been found to affect the achievement of minority youth more negatively than others (McKown & Weinstein, 2002; Smith et al., 1998). Perceptions of school belonging Research has found that motivations to achieve in school are closely intertwined with Mexican and Mexican American adolescents’ sense of obligation to contribute to the well-being of their families (Fuligni, 1997). Sua´rez-Orozco and Sua´rez-Orozco (1995, 2001) found that children of immigrants are keenly aware of the sacrifices their parents have made for them, and invest a great deal of energy into succeeding in educational and work activities that can help their families in both the short and long term. When parents demonstrate a high value on education through involvement in their children’s education, one likely way in which children will express their own investment is through a sense of belonging in school (Iban˜ez et al., 2004). The quality of social relationships young people experience in school has been documented as an important determinant of academic achievement throughout the elementary and secondary school years (Goodenow & Grady, 1993; Roeser & Eccles, 1998). Goodenow (1993) defined school belonging in terms of student perceptions of being liked, respected, and valued by teachers and fellow students. Several studies have found that a sense of school belonging contributes to academic motivation and achievement among Latino adolescents (Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997; Iban˜ez et al., 2004; Sanchez, Colo´n, & Esparza, 2005) and there is some evidence that it is more strongly associated with academic outcomes for Latinos than for youth from other ethnic groups (Goodenow, 1993). Academic adjustment The link between perceived academic competence and achievement has been well established. A meta-analysis by Valentine, DuBois, and Cooper (2004) synthesized findings from more than 200
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
473
longitudinal studies and found consistent, small to moderate associations of educational selfbeliefs with achievement. These effects were not moderated by ethnicity, suggesting similar patterns of association for White and non-white students. Considering both actual school performance and perceived academic competence together offers a comprehensive view of academic adjustment. Perceived academic competence is not equivalent to achievement, but the processes that support and maintain a sense of academic competence are likely to contribute to achievement. The present study The social capital framework suggests that parents’ involvement may contribute indirectly to the academic adjustment of Latino middle and high school students via influences on students’ sense of belonging in school and teacher expectations for students’ educational attainment. We expected that school belonging and teacher expectations would mediate the associations of parent involvement with both academic competence and academic performance. In addition, past research has documented decreasing levels of parent involvement from middle through high school (Entwisle, 1990), and that parent involvement may be more difficult for recent immigrants than others (Garcı´ a-Coll et al., 2002). Thus, we examined grade level and immigration status as potential moderators. We hypothesized that higher levels of parent involvement would be associated with more positive teacher expectations for youths’ academic attainment. Second, we hypothesized that higher levels of parent involvement would contribute to more positive youth perceptions of school belonging. Third, we hypothesized that positive teacher expectations and school belonging, in turn, would contribute to higher achievement and more positive perceptions of academic competence. Fig. 1 illustrates the expected pathways linking parent involvement to academic achievement. Participants Data were drawn from two metropolitan public school samples in the Southeastern United States, a middle school and a high school in the same school district. Both schools served large numbers of Latino youth from immigrant families. The middle school had a 2001–2002 enrollment of 1091 students in grades 6–8. Participants were 195 Latino youth; 58% were female and the average age was 13.8 years (SD ¼ .80). Seventynine percent had immigrated to the US; the rest were US born children of immigrants (21%). Most (n ¼ 119; 76%) of the immigrants were born in Mexico; 13% (n ¼ 20) were born in Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, or Costa Rica); 4% (n ¼ 7) were born in the Caribbean (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico), and 6% (n ¼ 10) were born in South America (Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, or Venezuela). Only seventh- and eighth-graders were sampled, and participants were evenly split between the seventh and eighth grades (51% and 49%, respectively). Approximately 90% of middle school participants received a federally subsidized school lunch. The high school had a 2001–2002 enrollment of 1093 students in grades 9–12. The sample included 129 Latino youth; 64% were female and the average age was 16.8 years (SD ¼ 1.2).
ARTICLE IN PRESS 474
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483 Teacher Expectations
0.12 (0.03)
MS: .02 (0.14), ns HS: .46 (0.14)
Academic Competence
0.41 (0.03) MS: 0.19 (0.04) HS: 0.08 (0.04) Parent School Involvement
MS: 0.04 (0.03), ns HS: 0.05 (0.03), ns 0.50 (0.07)
0.28 (0.04)
Grade Point Average
0.19 (0.08) School Belonging
Fig. 1. Path model of mediated associations of parent school involvement with academic competence and school grades showing non-standardized path coefficients. All paths are significantly different from 0, po.05, unless noted otherwise.
Nearly three-quarters of participants had immigrated to the US (74%); the rest were US born children of immigrants (26%). Most (n ¼ 65; 66%) of the immigrants were born in Mexico; 16% (n ¼ 16) were born in Central American (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Nicaragua); 10% (n ¼ 10) were born in the Caribbean (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico), and 6% (n ¼ 6) were born in South America (Colombia or Peru). Most students were in the lower grades (9th–10th ¼ 65%, 11th–12th ¼ 35%). Nearly 70% of participants in the high school sample received either reduced or free lunch. Procedures The procedures were approved by Institutional Review Boards at the authors’ institution and the school district serving both schools. All students who identified as Latino or Hispanic were invited to participate. Recruitment strategies included having bilingual researchers make brief classroom presentations in English and Spanish and staffing an information table in the cafeteria during meal times. Interested students were given parental consent forms in English and Spanish. Participating students were required to bring a signed parental consent form and to sign an assent form before participating. High school participants were paid $10 and middle school participants received a free movie pass. Questionnaires were administered in small group settings of 5–15 students grouped by language preference. All of the sessions in the high school were administered in Spanish (one was administered in both English and Spanish) and approximately half of the sessions in the middle school were administered in Spanish. An interviewer introduced each questionnaire to the students and read each item aloud to control for reading ability. Sessions lasted approximately 1.5 h (about 2 class periods).
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
475
Participants in the two samples completed a similar battery of measures assessing family and school processes affecting educational, social, and psychological adjustment. Measures were pretested in small groups of Latino students who completed an earlier version of the instrument used in the present study and then participated in focus group discussions about the relevance and understandability of questions. Pre-testing procedures resulted in minor modifications of the instrument (described below). Spanish versions of all measures used with both samples were generated through translation, back-translation, and de-centering (Brislin, Lonner, & Thorndike, 1973). Youth completed questionnaires that included both the English and Spanish versions of each item side by side. Measures Academic achievement Academic achievement, was assessed by student’s cumulative grade point average gathered from end of year school records for 5 core courses: Reading, Language Arts (or English), Math, Science, and History. Perceived academic competence Academic competence was assessed with a 5-item scale adapted from Harter’s (1988) Self Perception Profile for Adolescents, which measures students’ perceptions of their scholastic abilities (e.g., ‘‘I feel I am just as smart as others my age,’’ and, ‘‘I do very well at my classwork.’’). The original instrument presents two statements side by side, one positive and one negative. Participants are asked to select one of the statements as more true for them and rate whether the statement is ‘‘sort of true’’ or ‘‘really true.’’ This format proved difficult to administer during pretesting. Consequently, the items were altered to a response format with a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Not At All True) to 4 (Very True). Internal consistency was .75 for the high school sample and .62 for the middle school sample. Parent involvement The Parental Involvement in Schooling scale (Steinberg et al., 1992) assesses the degree to which parents assist their child with homework, attend extracurricular activities, and help with class selection. The scale consists of 6 items on a 4-point Likert type scale (1 ¼ not at all true, 4 ¼ very true). Based on feedback from pre-testing of this measure, we added one item to the original 5-item measure that read, ‘‘I talk with adults in my family about problems I am having in school.’’ Cronbach’s alpha was .74 for high school students and .63 for middle school students. Teacher expectations Teachers completed two items assessing their views of the likelihood that the student would (1) graduate high school and (2) go on to college. Responses to both items were made on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (Not at all Likely) to 5 (Very Likely). Scores for the two items were averaged for each student (r ¼ .74 for high school students and .84 for middle school students).
ARTICLE IN PRESS 476
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
School belonging The Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (Goodenow & Grady, 1993) was used to assess school belonging. The scale consists of 18 items tapping perceptions of liking school, personal acceptance, inclusion, respect and encouragement for participation (e.g., ‘‘I feel like a part of my school’’ and ‘‘I am treated with as much respect as other students’’). Responses were made on a four-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (Not at all true) to 4 (Very true). Internal consistency was .79 for high school students and .82 for middle school students. Demographic variables Two demographic variables were examined as moderators of the strength of association for pathways linking parent involvement with academic adjustment: school level (high vs. middle school) and immigrant/generation status. For analyses focused on immigrant/generation status, we differentiated (1) recent immigrants (those who arrived in the US after age 5) from (2) US reared youth (US born youth and those who arrived in the US prior to their 5th birthday). It is important to note that nearly all of the US reared youth in both samples were children of immigrants. It was reasoned that the latter group differed from the former in that all of their formal education was likely received in the US. Plan of analysis Given the diversity of the samples, we first conducted preliminary analyses to examine mean differences between Mexican and non-Mexican students on the dependent, independent, and mediator variables. To do this, we estimated two multivariate analyses of variance examining effects of Mexican origin on (1) academic adjustment (grade point average and perceived academic competence) and (2) the independent variable and mediators (parent involvement, school belonging, and teacher expectations). We estimated these models separately for the middle school and high school samples. The high school sample did not include reliable data on country of origin for US born students; thus, the high school analyses were limited to immigrant youth (n ¼ 94). We also examined interactions of Mexican origin with each independent and mediator variable in regression models explaining perceived academic competence and school grades. Interaction terms were computed by multiplying a dummy variable delineating Mexican vs. nonMexican students with scores for each independent and mediator variable that were centered about their means. We next examined bivariate correlations among all study variables. For the major analyses, we tested path models using the multi-group analysis feature of the EQS 6.0 program (Bentler, 2006). Covariance matrices were evaluated for the high school and middle school samples separately, with cross-group equality constraints placed on the paths from parent involvement to each mediator and from each mediator to the measures of academic adjustment. The EQS program provides a ‘‘decomposition of effects’’ summarizing estimates of direct and indirect effects of an independent variable on one or more dependent variables. Collins, Graham, and Flaherty (1998) have argued that a significant indirect effect is sufficient for establishing mediation given an adequate theoretical rationale. We first tested a model assuming complete mediation (Shrout & Bolger, 2002) of the associations of parent involvement with the measures of academic adjustment, and then inspected modification indices (called Lagrangian Multiplier or LM tests in EQS) to examine the possibility that those associations were only
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
477
partially mediated (i.e., examining whether adding direct paths from parent involvement to school grades or perceived academic competence would significantly improve model fit). We also examined LM tests to examine moderating effects of grade level and immigration/generation status.
Results Preliminary analyses Differences between Mexican-origin and non-Mexican students In the middle, but not the high school sample, there was a multivariate effect of Mexican origin on academic adjustment, F(2, 192) ¼ 3.61, p ¼ .03, such that Mexican students (M ¼ 2.22, SD ¼ .85) earned lower grades than non-Mexicans (M ¼ 2.53, SD ¼ .87). Mexican students (M ¼ 2.67, SD ¼ .63) also reported lower perceived academic competence than non-Mexicans (M ¼ 2.88, SD ¼ .56). Mean differences on parent involvement, teacher expectations, and perceived school belonging were not significant. Regressions of perceived academic competence and school grades revealed no significant interactions of Mexican origin with parent involvement, perceived school belonging, or teacher expectations. These findings suggest that despite lower academic adjustment among middle school Mexican-origin students, the associations of academic adjustment measures with independent and mediator variables were similar for Latino students of diverse national origins. Bivariate correlations Table 1 presents zero-order correlations for the study variables in the two samples. Parent involvement was positively correlated with school belonging and academic competence for middle and high school students. Surprisingly, parent involvement was uncorrelated with middle school grades and teacher expectations of middle school students’ academic attainment. The correlation between school belonging and teacher expectations was positive and significant, and both of these mediators had significant correlations with school grades and academic competence. Modeling mediating effects of school belonging and teacher expectations Path analysis was used to test the model shown in Fig. 1. The model fit the data well [X2(10, N ¼ 324) ¼ 17.100, p ¼ .072; CFI ¼ .978; SRMR ¼ .071; RMSEA ¼ .047 (90% CI ¼ .000, .084)]. LM tests for adding direct paths from parent involvement to the two measures of academic adjustment did not reach significance, indicating that the associations of parent involvement with academic adjustment was adequately accounted for with only indirect paths. Differential effects for middle vs. high school samples Interaction effects were tested by examining LM tests for the equality constraints to identify paths that differed significantly for the middle as compared to high school samples. One LM test reached significance, suggesting differences for middle vs. high school students in the path from parent involvement to teacher expectations [X2(1, N ¼ 324) ¼ 4.913, p ¼ .027]. After releasing the
ARTICLE IN PRESS 478
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Table 1 Descriptive statistics for and correlations among criterion, predictor, and mediator variables for the middle (n ¼ 195) and high school (n ¼ 129) samples
Parent involvement School belonging Teacher expectations Academic competence Grade point average Middle school mean (SD) High school mean (SD)
Parent involvement
School belonging
Teacher expectations
Academic competence
Grade point average
1.00 .33*** .00 .25*** .09 2.76 (0.65)
.48*** 1.00 .30*** .42*** .27*** 2.89 (.48)
.28*** .28*** 1.00 .34*** .60*** 3.00 (1.28)
.33*** .48*** .34*** 1.00 .30*** 2.73 (.62)
.15+ .27** .62*** .33*** 1.00 2.30 (.87)
2.24 (.68)
2.95 (.44)
3.74 (1.16)
2.90 (.66)
1.96 (.86)
Note. Correlations for high school sample above the diagonal; correlations for middle school below the diagonal. +po.10; * po.05; ** po.01; *** po.001.
equality constraint across groups for that path, the fit statistics for this modified model were as follows: X2(9, N ¼ 324) ¼ 12.130, p ¼ .206, CFI ¼ .990, SRMR ¼ .025, RMSEA ¼ .033 (90% CI ¼ .000, .075). For high school students the model accounted for 35.7% of the variance in school grades and 20.6% of the variance in academic competence. For middle school students the model accounted for 39.3% of the variance in grades and 26.2% of the variance in academic competence. As shown in Fig. 1 and Table 2, associations of parent involvement with academic adjustment were mediated by teacher expectations and perceptions of school belonging. For both middle and high school students, parent involvement contributed to more positive perceptions of school belonging, which in turn contributed to more positive perceptions of perceived academic competence and higher grades. Parent involvement contributed to higher teacher expectations only for high school students. Teacher expectations were related to higher grades for both middle and high school students. The indirect effect of parent involvement on grades was significant for high school [b ¼ .241, SE ¼ .064, b ¼ .197], but not middle school students [b ¼ .062, SE ¼ .062, b ¼ .046]. The indirect effect of parent involvement on perceived academic competence was significant both for high school [b ¼ .195, SE ¼ .033, b ¼ .210] and middle school students [b ¼ .144, SE ¼ .033, b ¼ .147]. Differential effects by immigrant/generation status Similar multi-group analysis was conducted to examine possible immigrant/generation status interactions in the associations involving parent involvement, mediating variables, and academic adjustment. For this analysis, the middle and high school samples were combined. The model examining differential effects by immigrant/generation status was tested by estimating the models from covariance matrices for US-reared youth compared to recent immigrants. The overall model fit the data well, with fit statistics similar to those reported previously, and inspection of the LM tests did not reveal the presence of any significant immigrant/generation status interactions.
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
479
Table 2 Standardized estimates of the associations of parent school involvement, teacher expectations, and school belonging with academic competence and grades for middle and high school students
Structured paths (b) Grades’Teacher expectations Grades’School belonging Academic competence’Teacher expectations Academic competence’School belonging Teacher expectations’Parent school involvement School belonging’Parent school involvement Unstructured paths (r) Grades2Academic competence Teacher expectations2School belonging
Middle school (n ¼ 195)
High school (n ¼ 129)
.59 .11 .24 .39 .01 ns .37
.56 .10 .22 .35 .27 .44
.09 ns .32
.12 ns .18
Note: All estimates are significantly different from 0, po.05 unless noted otherwise.
Discussion The present study builds on the model of parent involvement as a form of social capital introduced by McNeal (1999) by examining theoretically expected mechanisms through which parent involvement may contribute to academic adjustment for Latino middle and high school students. It was expected that parent involvement would contribute indirectly to youths’ adjustment by (1) contributing to the students’ sense of belonging to their school and (2) contributing to teachers’ expectations for students’ academic attainment. Accordingly, students’ sense of school belonging and teacher expectations for students’ academic attainment were examined as mediators of the link between parent involvement and academic adjustment. Evidence was found for both hypothesized pathways. Perhaps the most surprising finding was that associations of parent involvement with academic adjustment were stronger for high school than for middle school students. Research typically has not incorporated a developmental perspective in that it has usually emphasized links between involvement and achievement within samples that are relatively homogenous with regard to age or grade level. Entwisle (1990) noted that parent involvement is highest in the elementary school grades and tends to decline steadily through middle and high school. This pattern of decline was evident in the present study as middle school participants reported that their parents were more involved in their education than did high school students. Parent involvement had a moderate association with teacher expectations for high school students but no association for middle school students. The indirect effect of parent involvement on grades also was significant only for high school students. It is possible that through their involvement, parents of Latino middle school students can bolster their children’s sense of connection to school and their confidence in being able to succeed. The lack of association between parent involvement and teacher expectations for middle school students merits future research to identify strategies to increase parent-teacher collaborations that could strengthen middle school youths’ connection to school.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 480
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Given lower levels of parent involvement in high school as compared to middle school, it is possible that when it occurs, such involvement is more salient to high school personnel. Also, the middle to high school transition marks a period in which many youth drop out of school; thus, it may also be that the high school youth who participated in the present study represent a more select and higher achieving group than do the middle school participants. Teachers’ higher expectations for the high school students may reflect accurate perceptions about the greater likelihood that those students will complete high school and go on to higher education. Even so, the present findings confirm that parents of Latino students continue to play a role in their children’s academic adjustment throughout the high school years. Overall, the findings suggest that parent involvement is an important strategy for promoting the academic achievement of Latino students, but the payoff may be unlikely if parents’ efforts do not translate into recognition by school officials of the ways in which parents seek to reinforce the importance of education. In many cases, immigrant parents report that they came to the US as a means of providing their children with greater educational and economic opportunities (Sua´rezOrozco & Sua´rez-Orozco, 2001). The low levels of parent involvement among Latinos relative to other groups that have been documented in past studies reflect a range of barriers, including limited English language proficiency and a lack of knowledge of school officials’ expectations of parents. Moreover, long work hours and little flexibility may also make it difficult for working class parents to attend school functions. Qualitative research has documented that working-class (often ethnic minority) parents typically hold perceptions of teachers as experts who ‘‘know best;’’ such parents might assume a passive role with regard to their children’s schooling, or may become frustrated if their active efforts to participate in their children’s education are not acknowledged (Crozier, 1999). Whereas the mediated link between parent involvement and students’ perceived academic competence was significant for both middle and high school students, it is important to note that after accounting for parent involvement, teacher expectations, and school belonging, the residual correlation between perceived academic competence and school grades was not significant. Research has documented the role of perceived academic competence as an important correlate, if not determinant, of academic achievement (Valentine et al., 2004). If replicated in future research this lack of association between perceived competence and achievement might suggest that other motivational factors are more important determinants of achievement for Latino students than confidence in their scholastic abilities. For example, Sua´rez-Orozco and Sua´rez-Orozco’s (1995) mixed method comparative study of Mexican, Mexican American, Mexican Immigrant, and White adolescents documented that immigrant children are keenly aware of the sacrifices their parents have made and carry a strong sense of obligation to succeed academically as a means of giving back and contributing to their families’ well-being. For Latino students, parent involvement might function to support and maintain young peoples’ sense of belonging to school; this sense of social connection might, in turn, promote a belief in education as a means for young people to ‘‘give back’’ to their families and communities. Limitations and future directions This investigation of a relatively large sample of Latino students in middle and high school extends past work on parent involvement to an older cohort than has typically been examined,
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
481
and to a rapidly growing cultural minority group. Much theoretical and empirical work on Latinos emphasizes the centrality of families in children’s development; the present study draws from this tradition to shed light on mechanisms through which Latino parents, in collaboration with school officials, might promote their children’s school achievement. Whereas research has increasingly found that parent involvement is a multidimensional construct, the present study was limited to a simple unidimensional measure. Further limitations include the cross-sectional design and reliance on a single informant for most of the measures examined. A more complete assessment would have included reports from parents and teachers and include measures that differentiate the settings (e.g., home vs. school; Desimone, 1999) in which parents enact their involvement, the roles parents take on (e.g., observer, participant, or decision-maker; Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Epstein, 1990), and the functions of involvement (e.g., cognitive stimulation, providing personal support; Grolnick et al., 2000). A more general limitation relates to the challenge of finding psychometrically sound instruments for use with immigrant populations. In our research, we found it necessary to make alterations to existing measures and include a Spanish version. Whereas these alterations resulted in internally consistent measures, our study was not able to incorporate more thorough analytic techniques to ensure the reliability and validity of the measures for the population under study (Knight & Hill, 1998). Increasing measurement precision for immigrant and non-English speaking populations is clearly an important area for future research. Future research incorporating multi-dimensional measurement of parent involvement, multiple informants, and a longitudinal design has the potential to illuminate a more nuanced picture of how parent involvement can contribute to building social capital that can support students’ academic achievement. It is possible, for example, that school-based involvement might have the strongest impact on teacher perceptions of students, particularly when parents’ involvement includes direct contact with students. This level of detail can more effectively inform interventions and school policies designed to encourage Latino parents to advocate effectively for their children and help improve their chances for academic success.
Acknowledgments This research was supported by a WT Grant Scholars Award from the WT Grant Foundation, Grant #88-01-09 from the Russell Sage Foundation, and by a Research Team Grant from the Georgia State University Research Foundation.
References Auerbach, E. R. (1989). Toward a social-contextual approach to family literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 59, 165–181. Bentler, P. M. (2006). EQS 6 Structural Equations Program Manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software, Inc. Brewster, A. B., & Bowen, G. L. (2004). Teacher support and the school engagement of Latino middle and high school students at risk of school failure. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21, 47–67. Brislin, R. W., Lonner, W. J., & Thorndike, R. M. (1973). Cross-cultural research methods. New York: Wiley. Chrispeels, J. H., & Rivero, E. (2001). Engaging Latino families for student success: How parent education can reshape parents’ sense of place in the education of their children. Peabody Journal of Education, 76, 119–169.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 482
G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
Collins, L. M., Graham, J. W., & Flaherty, B. P. (1998). An alternative framework for defining mediation. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 33, 295–312. Crosnoe, R. (2001). Academic orientation and parental involvement in education during high school. Sociology of Education, 74, 210–230. Crozier, G. (1999). Is it a case of ‘we know when we’re not wanted’? The parents’ perspective on parent-teacher roles and relationships. Educational Research, 41, 315–328. Desimone, L. (1999). Linking parent involvement with student achievement: Do race and income matter? Journal of Educational Research, 93, 11–30. Dusek, J. B., & Joseph, G. (1983). The bases of teacher expectancies: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 327–346. Entwisle, D. R. (1990). Schools and the adolescent. In S. S. Feldman, & G. R. Elliott (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 197–224). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Epstein, J. L. (1990). School and family connections: Theory, research, and implications for integrating sociologies of education and family. Marriage & Family Review, 15, 99–126. Fuligni, A. J. (1997). The academic achievement of adolescents from immigrant families: The roles of family background, attitudes, and behavior. Child Development, 68, 261–273. Garcı´ a-Coll, C., Akiba, D., Palacios, N., Bailey, B., Silver, R., DiMartino, L., et al. (2002). Parental involvement in children’s education: Lesson’s from three immigrant groups. Parenting: Science and Practice, 2, 303–324. Gonzalez, R., & Padilla, A. M. (1997). The academic resilience of Mexican American high school students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 19, 301–317. Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents: Scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30, 79–90. Goodenow, C., & Grady, K. E. (1993). The relationship of school belonging and friends’ values to academic motivation among urban adolescent students. Journal of Experimental Education, 62, 60–71. Gottfredson, D. C., Marciniak, E. M., Birdseye, A. T., & Gottfredson, G. D. (1995). Increasing teacher expectations for student achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 88, 155–163. Grolnick, W. S., Kurowski, C. O., Dunlap, K. G., & Hevey, C. (2000). Parental resources and the transition to junior high. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10, 465–488. Grolnick, W. S., & Slowiaczek, M. L. (1994). Parents’ involvement in children’s schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model. Child Development, 65, 237–252. Harter, S. (1988). Manual for the Adolescent Self-Perception Profile. Denver: Author. Huss-Keeler, R. L. (1997). Teacher perception of ethnic and linguistic minority parental involvement and its relationships to children’s language and literacy learning: A case study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, 171–182. Iban˜ez, G. E., Kuperminc, G. P., Jurkovic, G., & Perilla, J. (2004). Cultural attributes and adaptations linked to achievement motivation among Latino adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33(6), 559–568. Kao, G., & Tienda, M. (1998). Educational aspirations of minority youth. American Journal of Education, 106, 349–384. Keith, P. B., & Lichtman, M. V. (1994). Does parental involvement influence the academic achievement of MexicanAmerican eighth graders? Results from the National Education Longitudinal Study. School Psychology Quarterly, 9, 256–273. Knight, G. P., & Hill, N. E. (1998). Measurement equivalence in research involving minority adolescents. In V. C. McLoyd, & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Studying minority adolescents: Conceptual, methodological, and theoretical issues (pp. 183–210). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Lopez, G. R. (2001). The value of hard work: Lessons on parental involvement from an (im)migrant household. Harvard Educational Review, 71, 416–437. Marotta, S. A., & Garcia, J. G. (2003). Latinos in the United States in 2000. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 25, 13–34. Mattingly, D. J., Prislin, R., McKenzie, T. L., Rodriguez, J. L., & Kayzar, B. (2002). Evaluating evaluations: The case of parent involvement programs. Review of Educational Research, 72, 549–576. McKown, C., & Weinstein, R. S. (2002). Modeling the role of child ethnicity and gender in children’s differential response to teacher expectations. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 159–184.
ARTICLE IN PRESS G.P. Kuperminc et al. / Journal of Adolescence 31 (2008) 469–483
483
McNeal, R. B. (1999). Parental involvements as social capital: Differential effectiveness on science achievement, truancy, and dropping out. Social Forces, 78, 117–144. National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Status and trends in the education of Hispanics (NCES 2003–008). Washington, DC: US Department of Education. Available 2003. Downloaded 9/5/2006 from /http://nces.ed.gov/ pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2003008S. Roeser, R. W., & Eccles, J. S. (1998). Adolescents perceptions of middle school: Relation to longitudinal changes in academic and psychological adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8, 123–158. Sanchez, B., Colo´n, Y., & Esparza, P. (2005). The role of sense of school belonging and gender in the academic adjustment of Latino adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34, 619–628. Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. (2002). Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: New procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7, 422–435. Smith, A. E., Jussim, L., Eccles, J., VanNoy, M., Madon, S., & Palumbo, P. (1998). Self-fulfilling prophecies, perceptual biases, and accuracy at the individual and group levels. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 530–561. Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., & Darling, N. (1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: Authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266–1281. Stevenson, D. L., & Baker, D. P. (1987). The family–school relation and the child’s school performance. Child Development, 58, 1348–1357. Sua´rez-Orozco, C., & Sua´rez-Orozco, M. (1995). Transformations: Immigration, family life, and achievement motivation among Latino adolescents. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Sua´rez-Orozco, C., & Sua´rez-Orozco, M. (2001). Children of immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Trueba, H. T. (1988). Culturally based explanations of minority students’ academic achievement. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 19, 270–287. Valentine, J. C., DuBois, D. L., & Cooper, H. (2004). The relation between self-beliefs and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review. Educational Psychologist, 39, 111–133. Vondra, J. I. (2000). Commentary for ‘‘Schooling an high risk populations: The Chicago Longitudinal Study’’. Journal of School Psychology, 37, 471–479.