Science Support for Latinx Adolescents: A Family Systems Approach

• In Event: Examining Family Processes across Culturally Diverse Families: A Focus on Family Functioning within Black, Latinx, and Chinese Families

Abstract

Latinx students face several challenges throughout their educational trajectories (e.g. being placed in low academic tracks) that marginalize them from enriching their knowledge and pursuit of science (Gandara, 2006; Taningco et al., 2008). A potential source of support that can address these challenges is parent support, which has been strongly linked with Latinx adolescents’ general academic outcomes (Altschul, 2011; LeFevre & Shaw, 2012). Another potential source of support that has been under researched is adolescents’ older siblings (McHale et al., 2012). While parent and sibling support have been considered separately, family systems theory suggests that parent-adolescent and sibling-adolescent processes should be considered simultaneously as they may influence each other and co-determine adolescent development (Cox & Paley, 1997). For example, parents’ experience with science education may not only influence their science support, but also how much adolescents lean on older siblings for support (Sanchez et al., 2005; Archer et al., 2015). Particularly, older siblings’ science support may be more prominent among families where parents have limited experience with science education. Using a qualitative approach, we examined two research questions: 1) what do Latinx adolescents believe are the most helpful strategies that their parents and siblings use to support them in science? and 2) whether the support varies depending on the parents’ experience with science education?
Methods. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 90 Latinx adolescents (see Table 1 for demographics). Two questions from the interview transcripts focusing on parent and sibling science support were used for analysis (e.g. “What do you think are the two most important things your parents do or sibling does to help you in science?”). Inductive and deductive approaches were used in multiple iterative stages of coding to determine the final themes and subcategories of family science support (Saldaña, 2016). To capture whether the science support from parents and siblings varied based on parents’ science education, we conducted a cross-case analysis across three groups: high science classes (parents took 3-4 high school science classes; n=29), some science classes (parents took 1-2 science classes; n=31), and no science classes (n=30; see Table 1).
Results. We found the following themes of family science support and their respective categories: active engagement (homework help, monitoring), academic socialization (encouragement, conversations about the future, advice) and providing resources (material and social resources; see Table 2). Throughout the themes, the adolescents highlighted their siblings using their knowledge and resources from the science classes they had previously taken to provide support. When comparing across families based on parents’ science education, adolescents mentioned classwork help more from only their siblings in the no science classes group compared to the high science classes group where adolescents mentioned more help from both parents and siblings.
Discussion. This study highlights the complementary support that parents and siblings provide for Latinx adolescents in science and the valuable role that siblings can play in Latinx families where parents have limited experience with science education. Based on the findings, schools may consider implementing science curriculum that can leverage students’ family assets.

Authors

• Perla Ramos Carranza, University of California - Irvine
  Presenting Author

• Sandra Simpkins, University of California - Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author