African American Adolescents' Future Education Orientation: Associations With Self-Efficacy, Ethnic Identity, and Perceived Parental Support

• NCJ Number: 223689
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 37 Issue: 8 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 997-1008
• Author(s): Jennifer L. Kerpelman; Suna Eryigit; Carolyn J. Stephens
• Date Published: September 2008
• Length: 12 pages
• Contract Number(s): 00-35401-9256
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Agriculture
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using data from 374 African-American students (59.4-percent female) in grades 7-12 in a rural, southern county public school, this study examined associations among self-efficacy, ethnic identity, and parental support with "future education orientation" (FEO).

Abstract

The current study supports previous literature in showing that African-American females typically value academic effort, achievement, and future education to a greater degree than African-American males. Although males were lower in FEO than females, the factors that predicted FEO were virtually the same for males and females. Stronger self-efficacy, ethnic identity, and perceived maternal support for achievement predicted higher FEO for both males and females; however male adolescents, regardless of current achievement, were similar to each other and low achieving females in their level of FEO. Future research should include objective measures of academic achievement and expand measures that assess more accurately what parents and others are providing for support toward FEO. Future research should also examine why African-American males, regardless of their current grades, have lower FEO than African-American females. In addition to extending the research, implications for policies and programs that facilitate FEO should be explored. FEO was measured with eight items from the Future Education subscale of the Future Orientation Questionnaire. The revised Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measures was used to assess ethnic identity, and the general self-efficacy subscale of the Self-Efficacy Scale was used to assess self-efficacy. Items from the Adolescent Family Process assessed parental support for adolescent achievement. Grades were used to indicate current level of achievement; and demographic variables measured were age, gender, family structure, and each parent's educational attainment. 4 tables and 62 references