Poster #133 - Academic Achievement Predicts Same- and cross-Ethnic Social Functioning Among Asian and Hispanic American Adolescents

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Forming positive peer relationships and achieving academic success are two critical tasks during adolescence in the school context. Research has suggested ethnic differences in the link between adolescents' adjustment in these two domains, with members of certain ethnic minority groups more likely to experience peer sanctions for academic success (Ogbu & Simons, 1998; Steinberg et al., 1992). Given the increasing ethnic diversity in North American schools, it is crucial to further examine peer interactions among adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. The present work investigated adolescents' social interactions with same- and cross-ethnic peers in a setting where Asian and Hispanic American students, two of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in North American schools, are well-represented.
Research in this area has indicated same- and cross-ethnic friendships are differentially related to adolescents' academic functioning, although findings on the temporal ordering have been inconclusive (Kawabata & Crick, 2015). Beyond friendship, less is known about the link between achievement and the broader aspects of social functioning in the peer group, including social acceptance and respect. Using cross-lagged panel models, the current work sought to examine the longitudinal relationship between academic achievement and social functioning with same- and cross-ethnic peers, indexed by social acceptance, respect and friendship, among Asian and Hispanic American adolescents.
335 middle school students (52.8% female; Time1 Mage = 12.27 years, SD= 0.71; 65% Asian American, 35% Hispanic American) were followed for two consecutive spring semesters. Same- and cross-ethnic social functioning were treated as latent constructs that incorporated social acceptance, respect and friendship measured through peer-nomination procedures at both time points. Same- and cross-ethnic friendships were operationalized as the number of reciprocally nominated friends within or outside one’s ethnic group. Same- and cross-ethnic social acceptance and respect were obtained from the total nominations from same- and cross-ethnic peers divided by the number of available raters in each category. Academic achievement was considered as latent constructs incorporating students’ math, science and language art grades obtained from school records at both time points. Socioeconomic status (SES), as a confounder, was calculated by self-reported parental education level and occupation at Time 1 using the Hollingshead four-factor index (Hollingshead, 1975).
Multi-group analyses were conducted to examine the differences in the two cross-lagged paths among Asian and Hispanic American students. The unconstrained models were compared to models in which the paths of interest were constrained to be equivalent across the two ethnic groups. Ethnic differences were determined by the chi-square differences between the unconstrained and constrained models. Significant ethnic differences were revealed between the two groups of students in the link between achievement and prospective social functioning with both same- and cross-ethnic peers. Higher academic achievement predicted more positive same-ethnic social functioning one year later only for Asian American students (ΔX^2 (1) = 6.2, p= .01; see figure 1). In contrast, higher academic achievement was associated with more positive cross-ethnic social functioning one year later only for Hispanic American students (ΔX^2 (1) = 4.2, p= .04; see figure 2).

Authors

• Minci Zhang, University of Southern California
  Presenting Author

• David Schwartz, University of Southern Califronia

• Siqi Liu