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Academic Motivation, Achievement, and Decisions

Among Students from Immigrant and U.S.-born Families

 

Vivian Tseng

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

California State University, Northridge

 

Abstract

U.S. schools are increasingly diverse both in terms of students’ generational status and ethnicity.  1 in 5 children are from immigrant families and 80% of immigrants are from Asian Pacific, Latin American, and Caribbean countries.  This diversity poses exciting opportunities for the study of academic motivation, achievement, and decisions.  Examining these outcomes during college is important given the increasing income disparity between youths who do and do not complete college, and the greater income disparity for ethnic minority as compared to European American students (William T. Grant, 1988).  My research examines the academic adjustment of college students from immigrant and U.S.-born families across diverse panethnic backgrounds.  Survey and university records data was collected from over 1200 college students with Asian Pacific (mostly Chinese, Korean and Asian Indian), Latin American (predominantly Dominican, Puerto Rican and Mexican), African/Black Caribbean, and European backgrounds.

 

Findings indicated consistent generational differences in academic motivation.  Across the four panethnic groups, students with immigrant parents expressed higher academic motivation than did students with U.S.-born parents.  After accounting for these generational differences, there were no ethnic differences in academic motivation.  Instead, students from immigrant families, regardless of their countries of origin, placed a greater emphasis on education than did those from U.S.-born families.  Mediation analyses further suggested that students from immigrant families shared a common sense of family obligation, and this obligation partly accounted for their greater academic motivation.  Among immigrant families, educational pursuits are an important way for youths to fulfill their lifelong obligations to assist their families and to repay their immigrant parents for their investments and sacrifices.

 

Surprisingly, differences in academic achievement did not mirror those in academic motivation.  Despite their stronger academic motivation and family obligation, students from immigrant families did not achieve higher grades than their peers from U.S.-born families.  Instead ethnic minority students, irrespective of their generation in the U.S., achieved lower grades than did European American students.  Mediation analyses indicated that the panethnic differences in achievement were due in part to ethnic minority students' greater perceptions of discrimination at the university, as compared to their European American peers.

 

Findings indicated generational differences in academic decisions.  Students from immigrant families across all the panethnic groups were more likely to pursue math and science-intensive majors than were their peers from U.S.-born families.  Mediation analyses indicated that students in immigrant families were more likely to pursue these majors than were their peers because of their stronger perceptions that math and science fields represented promising routes for upward socioeconomic mobility.  These perceptions are likely fueled by changes in the U.S. economy, which have created a shortage of highly-trained professionals in science, engineering, and health fields, and U.S. immigration policy favoring immigrants who can fill these labor niches (Ong, Bonacich & Cheng, 1994).

 

For additional information, please contact Vivian Tseng at vivian.tseng@csun.edu or California State University, Northridge, Department of Psychology, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330-8255.

 

References Cited

Committee on Health and Adjustment of Immigrant Children and Families: National Research Council & Institute of Medicine (1998). From Generation to Generation: The Health and Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families.  Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

 

References

Manuscripts in Preparation

Tseng, V. (In preparation).  Family interdependence among youths from immigrant families: Implications for academic adjustment.

Tseng, V. (In preparation).  Pathways to upward mobility: Course of study among youths from immigrant families.

 

Publications

Chao, R.K., & Tseng, V. (2002). Parenting of Asians. In M. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting, (2nd ed., Vol. 4).  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Fuligni, A.J., & Tseng, V. (1999). Family obligation and the academic motivation of adolescents from immigrant and American-born families.  In T. Urdan (Ed.), Advances in motivation and achievement: The role of context (Vol. 11, pp. 159-183). Stamford, CT: JAI Press, Inc.

Fuligni, A.J., Tseng, V., & Lam, M. (1999).  Attitudes towards family obligations among American adolescents with Asian, Latin American, and European backgrounds.  Child Development, 70, 1030-1044.

Tseng, V., Chesir-Teran, D., Becker-Klein, R., Chan, M.L., Duran, V., Roberts, A. & Bardoliwalla, N. (2002).  Promotion of social change: A conceptual framework. American Journal of Community Psychology.

Tseng, V., & Fuligni, A.J. (2000). Parent-adolescent language use and relationships among immigrant families with East Asian, Filipino, and Latin American Backgrounds.  Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 465-476.

 

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