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

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。先前的研究表明，一个人的整体自我价值感（整体自尊）与学业成就高度相关。政策制定者利用这一点来为旨在提高学生自尊的项目辩护，希望这能提高学习成绩。不幸的是，这些项目的价值是有争议的，自尊和表现之间的关系与非裔美国人相矛盾，他们比白人同龄人有更高的自尊，尽管在表现上存在巨大而持久的差距。使这种关系进一步复杂化的是，西班牙裔青年的学业水平比白人低，同时表现出较低的自尊，这是他们根据理论应该做到的。本项目试图通过考察另外三种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价）、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学年的两个时间点对图森当地高中的450名非洲裔美国人、墨西哥裔美国人和白人高中一年级和二年级学生进行了研究。除了调查之外，一部分学生也将接受采访，以提供更多的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。这个项目将在三个方面为社会学理论做出贡献：首先，它将扩展我们对全球自尊与种族/族裔群体学术成就之间联系的现有知识；其次，它将纳入先前未充分研究的理论组成部分，心理中心和种族/民族身份；第三，本研究将系统地考察西班牙裔学生的自尊，这是一个文献中研究不足的群体。除了这些重要的科学贡献之外，这项研究还有两个更广泛的影响。首先，它把注意力集中在西班牙裔美国人身上，尤其是西班牙裔青年。这一群体不仅在人口统计学上日益突出，而且没有遵循欧洲和亚洲移民所经历的教育向上流动的“典型”移民道路。了解其中的原因可能会产生重大的经济影响。其次，在一个年轻人的受教育程度与一生的经济成就相关的社会中，这项研究可能有助于我们更有效地指导我们的政策举措。当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的影响都不一样。在全球范围内，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，供参与的学校使用。希望这些学校能够将研究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.