The Roles of Racial Discrimination and Social Support in Educational Attainment among African American Youth

• In Event: 2-186 - Supporting the Whole Student: Multiple Pathways to Academic Achievement

Integrative Statement

The purpose of this study was to examine whether African American adolescents’ reports of school-related racial discrimination experiences in 11th grade were related to educational attainment. African American adolescents are at greater risk of high school drop-out and are less likely to attend college relative to European American and Asian American youth (Belfield, Levin, & Rosen, 2012; Burd-Sharps & Lewis, 2017; Rendon, 2013). Racial discrimination experiences have been linked to academic well-being and educational outcomes but fewer studies have examined longitudinal associations from adolescence into the transition to adulthood. It is possible that perceptions of unfair treatment during adolescence may decrease motivation and attachment to education, which can influence persistence in educational pursuits (Liang & Borders, 2012; Oyserman, Uskul, Yoder, Nesse, & Williams, 2007). However, support from family and from peers may buffer against the negative effects of racial discrimination and help African American youth persist in their education (Newman, Lohman, & Newman, 2007; Smalls, 2010; Wood, Kaplan, & McLoyd, 2008). The relations among racial discrimination, social support, and educational attainment may also differ by gender because African American boys and girls may have qualitatively different discrimination experiences and family and peer interactions based on gender (Carter, 2005; Varner & Mandara, 2013; 2014). I hypothesized that family and peer support would protect against the negative relation between racial discrimination and educational attainment for female African American youth but not male African American youth.

Data were analyzed from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context study, which followed adolescents from 7th grade through the transition to adulthood. The sample for this study included 608 African American youth who participated in waves 4 (11th grade) and wave 5 (1 year after high school). The participants reported their racial discrimination experiences with teachers and peers (11th grade), social support from family members and peers (11th grade), and level of educational attainment (high school drop-out to some college). Separate multiple linear regression analyses were conducted for family and peer support. Racial discrimination in 11th grade was related to lower educational attainment (p < .001). Family support did not moderate the negative relation between racial discrimination experiences and educational attainment, but was positively related to educational attainment (b = .13, p = .02). There was a three way interaction between discrimination, peer support, and gender (b = .30, p = .02). Post-hoc probing of the interaction indicated that for female African Americans with high peer support there were not significant differences in educational attainment based on frequency of racial discrimination experiences (see Figure 1). In the context of high racial discrimination experiences, female African Americans with low peer support and male African Americans had lower educational attainment than their counterparts who experienced low racial discrimination.

These results indicate that family and peer support are both positive for educational attainment but that they play different roles in the lives of African American youth.

Author

• Fatima varner, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author