Promoting Academic Expectations and Preventing Worries: Family Management Among African American Families Across Socioeconomic Lines

Authors: Nestor Tulagan, Jacquelynne Eccles
Presented at 2017 AERA

Abstract: Guided by the Family Management framework, we sought to uncover African-American parents’ (n = 879) academic expectations and worries for their children, the strategies they implement to address each of them, and the ways these vary across socioeconomic (SES) lines. Frequency analyses revealed a variety of academic expectations, worries, and strategies. Pearson’s Chi-square analyses revealed statistically significant relationships between parents’ academic expectations and their highest educational attainment, as well as between parents’ worries and family income. Adjusted residual analyses revealed statistically significant divergences between low and high SES groups in these dimensions. Finally, no significant variations across SES was found for parents' strategies. Suggestions for future studies include investigating how family management dimensions relate to student outcomes.