Self-Regulation and College Planning Among Low-Income, Ethnic Minority Students

• In Event: 3-177 - Health, Education, and Self-Regulation among Ethnic Minority Emerging Adults

Integrative Statement

Despite efforts to increase college graduation rates among low-income, ethnic minority teens (Allensworth et al., 2018), gaps remain in research on predictors of college enrollment, and particularly on the steps such students take toward college entry. Although academic achievement is key to college acceptance, scholars have also argued that college readiness requires social and emotional learning (SEL) skills (Farrington et al., 2012; Greenberg, Domitrovich, Weissberg, & Durlak, 2017). SEL skills include self-regulation, which involves executive function, emotion regulation, and impulse control (Blair & Raver, 2015). However, the literature lacks extensive knowledge on the specific types of self-regulatory skills that play a role in the steps teens take in order to enter college. The current study aims to deepen understanding of college plans made by high school students in low-income, ethnic minority neighborhoods. Our main hypothesis is that teens with better executive functioning, greater emotion regulation, and higher impulse control will display more college readiness.

Data were drawn from parents and teens who have participated in a longitudinal study of low-income, African-American and Latino families across three waves (n = 297; see Table 1 for descriptive statistics). Parents reported on teens’ executive function and impulse control (McCoy, Raver, Lowenstein, & Tirado-Strayer, 2011), using items from the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF; Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000) and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version 11 (BIS-11; Patton, Stanford, & Barratt, 1995). Direct assessments of executive functioning were based on the Hearts and Flowers task (Diamond, Barnett, Thomas, & Munro, 2007). We also used a direct assessment of emotion regulation and cognitive regulation based on the Emotional Go/No Go task (Tottenham, Hare, & Casey, 2011). Parent-reported indicators of college readiness included: whether teens registered for the PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT; whether students completed the PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT; whether teens asked for help with college applications; whether students completed a FAFSA form; and an index of steps taken by families, such as whether parents asked high school counselors for help with their teens’ college applications.

As shown in Table 2, results suggest that students’ greater executive function, as rated by parents, was related to a greater likelihood that students would engage in the 4 steps described above. Furthermore, students with higher scores on parent ratings of executive function were more likely to receive help from others with applying to college. Findings were detected cross-sectionally and longitudinally, using parent reports and direct assessments of self-regulation. Notably, compared to executive function, fewer results emerged for impulse control and emotion regulation.

Next steps will include testing for the robustness of these findings (e.g., controlling for a broader range of covariates). Additionally, we will examine parents’ answers to open-ended questions on their teens’ post-high school plans, which address the challenges that parents have faced in helping their teens make future plans and hopes that parents hold for the futures of their children. We will conclude our paper with a discussion of implications for research and programs to support low-income, ethnic minority students with college aspirations.

Authors

• Christine Li-Grining, Loyola University Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Amanda L Roy, University of Illinois, Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jinyoung Koh, Loyola University Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zahra Naqi, Loyola University Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author