Doctoral Dissertation Research: Understanding Differences in Academic Achievement and Self-Esteem

亚利桑那州海德大学这项研究研究了为什么非裔美国学生尽管学习成绩较差，却比白人学生有更高的自尊心。此前的研究表明，一个人的整体自我价值感(全球自尊)与学业成绩高度相关。政策制定者利用这一点为旨在增强学生自尊的项目辩护，希望这能提高学习成绩。不幸的是，这些项目的价值存在争议，自尊和表现之间的关系也被非裔美国人所矛盾，他们比白人同龄人拥有更高的自尊，尽管他们在表现上存在巨大而持久的差距。让这种关系进一步复杂化的是，拉美裔青年的学业水平低于白人，同时也表现出较低的自尊，根据理论，他们应该这样做。本项目试图通过考察三种额外机制的影响来解释这些相互矛盾的模式：学术自尊(在学术领域进行的自我评估)、心理中心性(特定领域对个人的重要性)和种族认同。采用纵向混合方法设计，在2006-07学年期间，对当地图森高中450名非裔美国人、墨西哥裔美国人和白人高中一年级和二年级学生进行两个阶段的研究。除了调查，一部分学生还将接受采访，以更多地了解自尊对个人生活的实际意义，这是一个一直没有得到足够重视的话题。这个项目将从三个方面为社会学理论做出贡献：第一，它将扩大我们现有的关于种族/民族群体中全球自尊与学业成就之间联系的知识；第二，它将纳入以前未被研究的理论组成部分，心理中心性和种族/民族认同；第三，本研究将系统地考察文献中未被研究的西班牙裔学生的自尊。除了这些重大的科学贡献，这项研究还有两个更广泛的影响。首先，它将注意力集中在拉美裔美国人身上，特别是拉美裔青年。这一群体不仅在人口结构上越来越突出，而且没有遵循欧洲和亚洲移民所经历的向上教育流动的“典型”移民道路。了解造成这种情况的原因可能会产生重大的经济后果。其次，在一个年轻人的教育程度与一生的经济成功相关的社会中，这项研究可能有助于我们更有效地指导我们的政策倡议。目前的政策以全球自尊为目标，试图提高学业成绩，但这些努力显然对所有年轻人都没有同样的影响。在全球层面上，这项研究的结果可能会让我们在花同样多或更少的钱的同时改善教育。在地方一级，这项研究的结果将汇编成报告提交给参与的学校。希望这些学校能够利用这些调查结果作为提高学生学业成绩的工具。

SES-0622869Henry WalkerLaura Auf der HeideUniversity of ArizonaThis research studies why African American students, despite having lower academic performance, have higher self-esteem than white students. Previous research has shown that an individual's overall feelings of self-worth (global self-esteem), are highly correlated with academic achievement. Policy makers have used this to justify programs targeted at enhancing student self-esteem, in the hopes that this would boost academic performance. Unfortunately, the value of these programs is in dispute and the relationship between self-esteem and performance is contradicted by African Americans, who have higher self-esteem than their white counterparts, despite a large and persistent performance gap. Further complicating this relationship, Hispanic youth perform at lower academic levels than whites, while concurrently exhibiting low self-esteem, as they should according to theory. This project attempts to explain these contradictory patterns by examining the influence of three additional mechanisms: academic self-esteem (self-evaluations made in the academic domain), psychological centrality (the importance of particular domains to an individual), and racial identity. Using a longitudinal, mixed-methods design, 450 African American, Mexican American, and white high school freshmen and sophomores in local Tucson high schools will be studied at two points during the 2006-07 school year. In addition to surveys, a subset of the students will also be interviewed to provide more understanding of what self-esteem actually means for the lives of individuals, a topic to which there has been insufficient attention paid. This project will contribute to sociological theory in three ways: first, it will expand our existing knowledge of the linkages between global self-esteem and academic achievement in racial/ethnic groups; second, it will incorporate the previously understudied theoretical components, psychological centrality and racial/ethnic identity; third, this study will systematically examine the self-esteem of Hispanic students, an understudied group in the literature. In addition to these significant scientific contributions, this research has two broader impacts. First, it focuses attention on Hispanic Americans and, in particular, Hispanic youth. Not only is this group increasing in demographic prominence, but it fails to follow the "typical" immigrant path of upward educational mobility experienced by European and Asian immigrants. Understanding the reasons for this may have substantial economic consequences. Second, in a society where educational attainment in youth is correlated with economic success throughout life, this research may help us direct our policy initiatives more effectively. Current policies target global self-esteem in an attempt to increase academic achievement, but these efforts clearly do not have equal effects on all youth. At the global level, the results of this research may allow us to improve education while spending as much or less money. At a local level, the findings of this research will be compiled into reports for the participating schools. It is hoped that the schools will be able to use the findings as a tool to enhance the academic success of their students.