Examining Links between Latinx Youths’ Positive Youth Development and Educational Outcomes

• In Event: Understanding Latinx Adolescents' Academic Outcomes: Individual and Contextual Factors

Abstract

Introduction. Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a framework positing that youths’ social contexts influence the development of key competencies that support their social, emotional, and academic well-being (Lerner et al., 2013). PYD is comprised of Five C’s, caring (e.g., sympathy and empathy for others), competence (e.g., positive view of one’s academic abilities), confidence (e.g., positive view of ones’ self), character (e.g., respect for culture), and connection (e.g., positive relationships with others), each of which measure unique, yet complementary dimensions of thriving (Lerner et al., 2013). Extant work has linked PYD to elevated rates of academic achievement and higher levels of school belonging (e.g., having positive feelings about school) (Lerner et al., 2013). However, this work has primarily been conducted with US-origin white, middle-class youth (Geldholf et al., 2014), leaving questions about its generalizability to other populations, including Latinx youth. Latinx youth comprise a large portion of the US school population (López et al., 2018), and experience disproportionality in educational outcomes (e.g. lower achievement rates; McFarland et al., 2017). As such, understanding factors that promote educational outcomes for this population remains critical. A small body of work has found positive associations between prosociality, also considered a dimension of PYD, and educational outcomes in Latinx youth (e.g., Carlo et al., 2018). However, prosocial behaviors remain distinct from the Five C’s, and scant work has examined the role of the Five C’s among Latinx youth. We addressed this gap by investigating (a) relations between each of the Five C’s and GPA and school belonging, and (b) the qualifying role of gender, given gender differences in Latinx youths’ educational outcomes.
Method. Participants were 288 Latinx adolescents (Mage = 13.69 years, SD = .56; 48% female; 86 % U.S.-born) from the Southwest. Adolescents were interviewed by telephone and reported on their background information, including family’s highest education level, gender (0 = boys, 1 = girls), and nativity (1 = U.S. born, 0 = foreign-born). Adolescents also reported on the Five C’s (Geldhof et al., 2014), including care (6 items; α = .80), character (8 items; α = .70), competence (6 items; α = .72), confidence (6 items; α = .83), and connection (8 items; α = .83), as well as on school belonging (4 items, α = .77; Maurizi et al., 2013) and their GPA. Table 1 provides descriptives and correlations. To address study goals, regression analyses were conducted in SPSS.
Results/Discussion. Results for regression analyses are presented in Table 2. Results showed that each of the PYD dimensions positively related to GPA and school belonging. Gender qualified relations between two dimensions of PYD, caring and character, and school belonging; in both cases, relations were stronger for girls compared to boys. Results provide evidence that PYD dimensions matter for Latinx youths’ academic well-being and may be particularly salient for girls. For the conference presentation, we will explore the role of cultural values (e.g., familism) as an amplifier of direct relations between PYD and outcomes and will use path models in Mplus to test hypothesized relations.

Authors

• Kealie Walker, University of Arizona
  Presenting Author

• Rayni Thomas, University of Arizona
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melissa Y Delgado, University of Arizona
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rajni L. Nair, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author