Academic Networks and Expectations: the Paradox of Second-generation Asian Americans

• In Event: 069 - Section on Asia and Asian America Paper Session. New Frontiers in Stratification and Inequality

Abstract

Research has shown that one of the key ingredients to academic success is support from social networks. Strong academic commitment and high expectations from one’s personal relationships - including with peers, parents, and teachers - are linked with better academic outcomes, such as grades and school engagement. Prior scholarship has shown that there are racial/ethnic differences in individual academic networks; moreover, there is some evidence that the influence of social networks on adolescent academic outcomes also differs by race and ethnicity. However, little research has examined the broader academic support from multiple relationships, and how these academic networks help adolescents form their own college-going desires. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), a nationally representative dataset of high school sophomores, we find that second-generation Asian Americans have the strongest academic networks: they have friends who are the most academically oriented and teachers and parents with high expectations. Results from propensity score matching analyses show that having strong academic support from one’s social network is linked with higher student expectations. However, the positive relationships between strong academic networks and college-going expectations are weaker for second-generation Asian Americans, the group that has the strongest networks. We end by discussing factors that may shape the high expectations of second-generation Asian Americans.

Authors

• Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, New York University

• Jia-Lin Liu, New York University