Peer Group Influences and Ethnic Differences in Academic Achievement

描述（由申请人提供）：西班牙裔和亚裔人口预计将以每年2%以上的速度增长，直到2030年（美国人口普查局，2008）。两个种族群体的孩子往往来自社会经济背景较差的移民家庭（Portes & Rumbaut, 1990） （Niedzwiecki & Duong, 2004），这些家庭有着共同的集体主义价值观（Hofstede, 1980; Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002）。一个不同之处在于，拉美裔学生在学校表现不佳，而亚裔美国学生在学业上表现优异。2008年，18.3%的西班牙裔青少年高中辍学，而非裔美国学生为9.9%，亚裔美国学生为4.4%，欧裔美国学生为4.8% （NCES, 2010）。考虑到学业失败的负面发展后遗症，包括犯罪（Dishion, Patterson, Stoolmiller, & Skinner, 1991）、药物使用（Crosnoe, 2006）、抑郁（Masten et al., 2005）、失业以及健康和精神健康问题（Vander Stoep, Weiss, Kuo, Cheney, & Cohen, 2003），这些统计数据令人担忧。学业失败对社会来说是代价高昂的，因为它与犯罪的增加有关（Davis, Lewin, & Hops, 1999; Ronis & Borduin, 2007）和社会服务的需求（Lindbeck, 2006; Wright & Campbell, 2005）。虽然人口因素和家庭社会化实践有助于成就的种族差异，但它们并不能完全解释这些差异（Fuligni & Huynh, 2008; Patterson & Fangzhou, 2010; Sue & Okazaki, 1990）。同伴群体最近作为种族成就差异的潜在影响进行了研究，因为(1)它是学生成就的重要社交环境（Veronneau, Vitaro, Pedersen, & Tremblay, 2008），(2)随着儿童向青春期过渡，学校态度的种族和性别差异出现（Taylor & Graham, 2007），与同伴评价的重要性增加相一致（Berndt, 1982）。(3)有证据表明，儿童的学业成绩受到同伴的奖励或惩罚，因社会文化背景（Nakamoto & Schwartz, 2010）和种族/性别群体（Duong & Schwartz, in preparation）而异。拟议的研究将考察与同伴的社会功能和后来的学业成绩之间的纵向关系，以及这些联系是否因青少年的种族/性别群体、他们朋友的学术价值观以及他们对成就是否是其种族群体身份的一部分的感觉而变化（称为“嵌入式成就”，见Oyserman， Harrison, & Bybee, 2001）。此外，性别/种族群体与学业成就之间的关联的中介将被检查，包括同伴群体价值观和嵌入成就。这些问题将使用来自学术成功项目（ASP）的3年数据来回答，该项目包括1513名西班牙裔和亚洲学生（6-8年级）。最后，本研究将利用ASP数据获得的知识和对现有干预措施的成分分析，为提高少数民族青少年学业成绩的综合干预措施的发展提供信息，其中包括关注改变同伴过程。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hispanic and Asian populations are expected to grow by more than 2% every year until 2030 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). Children of both racial groups tend come from immigrant families (Portes & Rumbaut, 1990) of disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds (Niedzwiecki & Duong, 2004) that share collectivistic values (Hofstede, 1980; Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). One difference is that Hispanic students have been shown to struggle in school while Asian American children perform well academically. In 2008, 18.3% of Hispanic adolescents were high school dropouts, compared to 9.9% of African American, 4.4% of Asian American, and 4.8% of European American students (NCES, 2010). These statistics are alarming given the negative developmental sequelae of academic failure, including delinquency (Dishion, Patterson, Stoolmiller, & Skinner, 1991), substance use (Crosnoe, 2006), depression (Masten et al., 2005), unemployment, and health and mental health problems (Vander Stoep, Weiss, Kuo, Cheney, & Cohen, 2003). School failure is costly to society, as it is linked with increased involvement in crime (Davis, Lewin, & Hops, 1999; Ronis & Borduin, 2007) and need for social services (Lindbeck, 2006; Wright & Campbell, 2005). While demographic factors and family socialization practices contribute to ethnic differences in achievement, they do not entirely explain them (Fuligni & Huynh, 2008; Patterson & Fangzhou, 2010; Sue & Okazaki, 1990). The peer group has more recently been investigated as a potential influence in ethnic differences in achievement because (1) it is an important socializing context in students' achievement (Veronneau, Vitaro, Pedersen, & Tremblay, 2008), (2) ethnic and gender differences in school attitudes emerge as children transition to adolescence (Taylor & Graham, 2007), coinciding with an increase in importance of peer appraisal (Berndt, 1982), (3) there is evidence that whether children's academic performance is rewarded or punished by peers varies by sociocultural context (Nakamoto & Schwartz, 2010) and ethnic/gender group (Duong & Schwartz, in preparation). The proposed research will examine longitudinal relations between social functioning with peers and later academic outcomes and whether these links vary by adolescent's ethnic/gender group, the academic values of their friends, and their sense of whether achievement is part of their ethnic group's identity (called 'embedded achievement,' see Oyserman, Harrison, & Bybee, 2001). In addition, mediators of the association between gender/ethnic group and academic achievement will be examined, including peer group values and embedded achievement. These questions will be answered using 3 years of data from the Academic Success Project (ASP), which includes 1513 Hispanic and Asian students (Grades 6-8). Finally, the proposed research will use knowledge gained from ASP data and a components analysis of existing interventions to inform the development of a comprehensive intervention to increase academic achievement among ethnic minority youth that includes a focus on shifting peer processes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Despite decades of empirical and political attention, ethnic differences in academic achievement remain wide. These achievement gaps are alarming given the negative developmental sequelae of academic failure, which includes delinquency (Dishion, Patterson, Stoolmiller, & Skinner, 1991), substance use (Crosnoe, 2006), and depression (Masten et al., 2005), unemployment, parenting difficulties, and health and mental health problems (Vander Stoep, Weiss, Kuo, Cheney, & Cohen, 2003). School failure is also costly to society, as it is linked with increased involvement in crime (Davis, Lewin, & Hops, 1999; Ronis & Borduin, 2007; Mahoney & Lord, 2007) and need for social services (Lindbeck, 2006; Liu & Reingold, 2009; Wright & Campbell, 2005; Zhang & Miller, 2009).