Understanding How Family Socialization and Parent Educational Involvement Shape Graduate Students of Color

• In Event: Mapping Success: Pathways From Admission to Graduation

Abstract

Using a life course perspective, primary socialization lens, and community cultural wealth model, this grounded theory study describes how parent-child relationships and parent educational involvement are central to academic success of graduate students of color. Given racial and gender equity gaps that lead to lower outcomes for students of color in the educational pipeline, this study explores family influences that form values that promote education and hard work, strategies to navigate college-going and career directions, and lessons to manage parental relationships. Recognizing the central role of families in educational outcomes, intimate stories counter dominant discourses that privilege deficit perspectives, which helps to address the complex challenges of retention and completion of graduate students of color, enhancing equity in postsecondary education.

Author

• Nathan R. Durdella, California State University - Northridge