"Latina/o Parents’ Positive and Negative Responsiveness and their Adolescents’ Academic Aspirations"

Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) Biennial Meeting
April 12-14, 2018
Minneapolis, Minnesota
 
Presentation Title: "Latina/o Parents’ Positive and Negative Responsiveness and their Adolescents’ Academic Aspirations" (poster)
​Authors: Stephanie Soto-Lara, Ta-yang Hsieh, Sandra Simpkins

Abstract

Literature suggests that parental support influences adolescents’ academic aspirations during adolescence (Tucker, Barber, & Eccles, 2001). In accordance with the self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), the quality and the manner through which support is given in an autonomy-supportive way has an impact on adolescents’ aspirations (Ng, Kenney-Benson, & Pomerantz, 2004). Although the Latino population constitutes the nation’s largest racial/ethnic minority (Pew, 2016), there is little research on this growing population (Davalos, Chavez, & Guardiola, 2005). Of the little research that exists, majority of the literature examines between group differences and less on the heterogeneity within Latinos (Nadeem et al., 2004; Romo et al., 2007). The educational trajectories of Mexican-origin adolescents varied dramatically based on the intersection of gender and citizenship status (Covarrubias, 2011). The aim of this study is to examine the extent to which gender, social class, and nativity influences Latina/o parenting and adolescents’ educational aspirations. Specifically, we will examine two research questions: 1) to what extent parent responsiveness differs by their social status and nativity, as well as adolescents’ gender, and 2) to what extent do parent responsiveness predict adolescents’ academic aspiration and achievement? 

Seventy-three Latino parent-child dyads (adolescents age range: 15-16, see Table 1 for more demographic information), were video recorded having conversations about the adolescents’ future plans in terms of school, family and personal life, and work. Three bilingual raters coded responsiveness, including codes for acceptance, reassurance, rejection and disagreement (Romo et al., 2007) on a 5-point Likert scale in 30-second intervals. Inter-rater reliability was acceptable (ICC = 0.75 to 0.83). Demographic differences in responsiveness were tested by t-tests. Academic aspiration and achievement will be regressed on responsiveness once they are collected from high school transcripts by the end of 2017. 

Parents’ positive responsiveness differed by parents’ nativity, adolescents’ gender, but not parents’ social class. Specifically, parents born in the U.S. showed greater acceptance than parents born outside the U.S. Parents showed greater reassurance to males than females. Parents’ negative responsiveness differed by parents’ social class, and adolescents’ gender, but not by parents’ nativity. Specifically, parents who completed at least some college displayed greater disagreement than parents who complete high school or less. Parents showed greater rejection to males than females. Parents with high income showed greater disagreement and rejection than parents with low income (Table 2). Findings from this study sheds light on how parents’ social status, nativity, as well as adolescents’ gender leads to different within-group results and highlights the heterogeneity within the Latino population. Further research may be warranted to explore the intersection of race/ethnicity, citizenship status, and other identities that may influence parenting among Latina/o families.