Conceptualizing Latinx Youth's Educational Experiences: An Empirical Study On Mexican-Origin Female Adolescents’ Academic Motivation and A Social Policy Report on Latinx Youth's Educational Attainment
Open Access
- Author:
- Aceves, Lorena
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 20, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Mayra Bamaca, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mayra Bamaca, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Daniel Max Crowley, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Susan Marie Mc Hale, Committee Member
Robert William Roeser, Committee Member
Dawn Paula Witherspoon, Outside Member
Douglas Michael Teti, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Latinx
Educational attainment
Latinx female adolescents
Policy
Academic motivation
Latinx students
Policy Report
Familism
Ethnic identity
conceptual model - Abstract:
- Extant theoretical and empirical work focused on the educational experiences of Latinx adolescents has highlighted the significance of cultural and familial factors for Latinx youth’s academic experiences (Alfaro & Umaña-Taylor, 2015; Knight et al., 2017; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2013). Even with the progress made by this research, significant gaps still exist in understanding the impact of cultural and familial level factors on Latinx youth’s academic experiences. These gaps include a lack of focus on Latina females’ academic experiences, the limited work focused on individual level factors alongside cultural and familial level factors, and limited applicability of theory and research for specifically improving the condition of Latinx youth’s educational attainment. This dissertation aimed to address these gaps by 1) empirically testing one potential mechanism by which academic motivation may unfold among a sample of Mexican-origin female adolescents and 2) developing a social policy report that synthesized past policies, programs, theory, and research to propose an innovative integrative model that can provide information to support Latinx youth’s educational attainment and guide policy. The empirical study examined 1) the contribution of Time 1 parental support and family ethnic socialization to Time 3 academic motivation, 2) the mediating role of Time 2 ethnic-racial identity affirmation and self-esteem among Time 1 familial level factors and Time 3 academic motivation, and 3) the moderating role of familism among all these associations. Using longitudinal data from 308 Mexican-origin female adolescents (Age: R= 11-17 years; M = 13.72, SD = 1.54) and structural equation modeling, the findings only revealed that Time 1 parental support was significantly associated with Time 2 self-esteem. Due to the limited empirical findings, an alternate model was tested in which parental support was included as a moderator whereas familism was included as a main effect. The alternate model revealed that under conditions of low parental support, cultural and familial factors were inhibiting for adolescents’ self-esteem and academic motivation. Under conditions of high parental support, individual level factors, ethnic-racial identity versus self-esteem, were either inhibitive or promotive of academic motivation due to the role they played in Mexican-origin female adolescents’ academic experiences. Overall, results from the alternate model revealed complex patterns by which cultural, familial, and individual level factors related to Mexican-origin female adolescents’ academic motivation and underscored the family emotional climate for further understanding how cultural, familial, and individual factors promote academic motivation across adolescence. The social policy report’s main goal was to propose an innovative way for conceptualizing and promoting Latinx youth’s educational attainment. This goal was attained through a curated approach. First, the current demographic landscape of Latinx students was presented with a focus on statistics that need to be considered to support Latinx students’ educational attainment. Second, past policies (across the last two and current Administrations and the state of California), educational programs (e.g. McNair scholars’ program, AVID) and theories (within developmental, educational, and socio-cultural disciplines) were reviewed to inform an innovative conceptualization of Latinx youth’s educational attainment. Third, and most importantly, an innovative integrative model for Latinx youth’s educational attainment was introduced, paying special attention on the integration of factors within socio-cultural, family, and individual domains. Finally, the social policy report provided recommendations for policy makers, researchers, practitioners that were developed based on the integrative model for Latinx youth’s educational attainment. In sum, this dissertation provides evidence for the importance of understanding the academic experiences of Mexican-origin female adolescents by bringing together critical cultural, familial, and individual level factors that could help support this population’s educational attainment. In addition, the dissertation demonstrates how policy, theory, and research could be synthesized to propose an integrative model that pushes forward key factors across different domains that can promote Latinx youth’s educational attainment. Both of these approaches are necessary to continue to support Latinx youth in academic spaces.