“Education is the Only Inheritance We Can Leave Them”: Latinx Families as Advocates of College

• In Event: Education, discrimination, and positive youth development among Latinx populations

Abstract

The role of Latinx families in adolescents’ educational journey is critical for youth’s development and achievement in school (Jabbar, et al., 2019). Higher education research has highlighted how familial support is salient to cultivating Latinx students’ academic interest and success despite being vulnerable to systemic barriers (Harper et al., 2020; Kiyama, 2010; Kiyama & Rios-Aguilar, 2017). As Latinx families experience different challenges (i.e., low SES, language barriers, documentation status), research that examines the varied ways Latinx parents perceive education and model adaptive coping processes to support their adolescents academically is necessary. Drawing from the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST; Spencer, 1995) and Funds of Knowledge Theory (FoK; Moll et al., 1992), the current study explores how Latinx parents make meaning of higher education by leveraging their cultural assets to support youth’s academic success.

Data were drawn from the College Knowledge Academy (CKA) program. Participants were 20 families that resided in the Southwest region of the United States and had participated in CKA. Eighteen mothers, eight fathers, and one grandmother participated. Most of the families were Spanish-speaking (70%), identified as Mexican-origin (90%), resided in a lower working-poor to lower-middle class area, and did not have a college degree. Families had at least one adolescent that was in high school or college. Family cluster semi-structured in-person interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and lasted between 45-90 minutes.

Three broader themes emerged from the current study: 1) Parental Socialization in Valuing Education, 2) Parents Modeling Resourcefulness to Support Youth’s Education, and 3) Parents Cultivating Youth’s Self-Efficacy. Parents socialized their children to value education through messages of upward mobility. Specifically, parents drew from their own personal and financial challenges and used them as examples to instill in youth the value of obtaining a college degree. Additionally, parents modeled resourcefulness in support their youth’s education by utilizing their cultural and social assets to mitigate financial hardships. Parents accessed community resources (i.e., teachers, school staff, neighbors, friends) to strategize paying for their adolescent’s education (i.e., financial aid, scholarships). Youth’s self-efficacy was cultivated through their parents. Parents promoted life skills (e.g., cooking, doing their own laundry, problem-solving) and communicated to youth their capacity of pursuing higher education. These efforts resulted in youth actively finding ways to position themselves for survival (e.g., knowing how to live far away from home) and achievement in the university terrain (e.g., enrolling in advanced courses, participating in school clubs, looking for and applying to scholarships). Findings suggest that Latinx families’ meaning making of higher education is positive and a perception they actively transfer to youth. These families provide educationally enriching environments for youth in multiple ways to mitigate financial hardships and showcase their resiliency through resourcefulness modeling as well as instilling self-efficacy.

Authors

• Elena Calderon Sandoval, University of Arizona
  Presenting Author

• Elia Hilda Bueno, University of Arizona

• Judy Kiyama-Marquez