Fitting In: The Roles of Social Acceptance and Discrimination in Shaping the Academic Motivations of Latino Youth in the U.S. Southeast

Abstract

Using data on 459 Latino 9th graders from the LA-SIAA and the NC-SIAA studies, we evaluate the specific educational values and beliefs that motivate the academic achievement of Latino youth and contrast the school experiences of Latino youth in an emerging Latino community, North Carolina, with the school experiences of youth living in a traditional settlement community, Los Angeles. Despite their greater fears of discrimination, we find that Latino youth in North Carolina are more academically motivated than their peers in Los Angeles. This is partially because they are more likely to be immigrants. Being an immigrant, having a stronger sense of ethnic identification, and having a stronger sense of family obligation were each linked to a more positive view of school environments. Therefore, these factors each partially explained the immigrant advantage in academic motivation and helped to counter the harmful effects of discrimination on academic motivation.

Factors Influencing Academic Motivation of Ethnic Minority Students: A Review

“…Within the category of family-related factors, the following subcategories were identified: The first subcategory is family obligations. Four facilitators of motivation, related to family obligations, were found: sense of family respect or support (Perreira et al, 2010), family obligation attitudes (Tseng, 2004), responsibility, and a sense of guilt related to the family (Lee, 1994).…”

“…This category is about ethnic minority student's identity and orientation toward their own ethnic minority culture or the majority culture in which they live. Ten factors were facilitators and positively related with motivation of ethnic minority students: majority acculturation (Lew et al, 1998), acculturation (Ramos & Sanchez, 1995), Anglo (majority) orientation (Flores et al, 2008), minority acculturation (Lew et al, 1998), ethnic (identity) centrality (Perreira et al, 2010), racial/ethnic identity (Shin, 2011), ethnic pride (Warner, 2008), othergroup orientation (Guzmán et al, 2005), ethnic affirmation and belonging (Perreira et al, 2010), and Africentric values (Shin, 2011). The factor acculturation in the included studies can be summarized as follows: "a process in which cultural behaviors and values are changed through contact with the dominant culture" (Ramos & Sanchez, 1995, p. 213).…”

“…Six facilitators of motivation were categorized as family background: parents' educational attainment (Plunkett & Bámaca-Gómez, 2003), parental education (Stewart et al, 2007;Wood et al, 2011), parental college (having a parent who attended college; Sentell, 2012), parental employment Stewart et al (2007), living in an urban area (Stewart et al, 2007), and living in a rural area (Sentell, 2012). Two barriers were found in this subcategory: single caregiver family structure (Stewart et al, 2007) and parents with a high-school degree (Perreira et al, 2010).…”

Polygyny, Child Education, Health and Labour: Theory and Evidence from Mali

“…It is well known that children who face discrimination are usually more motivated and put in more eort at school than their counterparts (Fuligni, 2001;Perreira et al, 2010). Children who face discrimination view this eort as their duty to their close parents, who support them, in response to the sacrices their parents make.…”

“…Children who face discrimination view this eort as their duty to their close parents, who support them, in response to the sacrices their parents make. They feel they must obtain better jobs to help support their close parents in the future (Perreira et al, 2010).…”