Predictors of College Adjustment and Success: Similarities and Differences among Southeast-Asian-American, Hispanic and White Students

The last decade has seen significant advances in clarifying the links among the achievement motivational profiles of adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds and their home and school environments. The purpose of the present study was to begin to address the following four questions with respect to college students: (1) To what degree, and by what measures, do Southeast-Asian-American, Hispanic and White college students differ in their academic adjustment and success? (2) To what degree do college students from these backgrounds report differences in their parents' values, beliefs and practices? (3) To what degree do they differ in their comfort level with peers and instructors on campus? and (4) Do the sorts of patterns linking parenting practices and academic adjustment and success observed in studies of adolescents persist in college students from each of these three ethnic groups? Understanding ethnic group differences in college success The literature documenting ethnic group differences among college students in academic adjustment and achievement is extensive. Against a backdrop of changing demographics and large increases in the minority population of most areas of the United States, college entrance, retention and graduation rates for students of color remain low and relatively unchanged (Astin, 1982; Duran, 1994; Irvine, 1990, Justiz, 1994; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Suzuki, 1994; Tinto, 1993). By the end of the 1980's, researchers had compiled a fairly clear picture of the formulas of success for "traditional" college students, that is 18-22 year old non-minority students from middle-class backgrounds whose parents had attended college. This formula included consideration of the adequacy of students' academic preparation, the appropriateness of their educational expectations and career goals, the "anticipatory socialization" (Weidman, 1989) they had received from parents, peers and others prior to entering college, and their assimilation into their new milieu upon matriculation. (See, for example, Pascarella and Terenzini's 1991 encyclopedic volume.) Recently, however, several scholars have called into question the universality of some of these patterns and urged that more research be conducted so as to better understand the dynamics at play among the less "traditional" and more diverse populations now making their way to and through college (Astin, 1998; Kraemer, 1997; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1998; Rendon, 1994; Stage, 1993; Tierney, 1992). The hypotheses they have proposed span the gamut. Some researchers have focused on elements in the broader community backgrounds and experiences of minority youth which place them at a relative educational disadvantage. Such elements include the absence of role models, the perception that educational achievement will not guarantee economic advantage down the road, and financial pressures and family responsibilities that make pursuing college impossible (e.g., Ogbu, 1992; Ogbu & Matute-Bianchi, 1986). Other researchers focus on the more elusive macrosystem values (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) that obtain in different communities. Such values include the degree to which academic education is prioritized (as opposed to moral or religious education, or knowledge of one's cultural heritage), as well as the degree to which community youth are encouraged to pursue formal education (e.g., Goldenberg & Gallimore, 1995). Still others examine family attitudes and daily practices relating to children's education and schoolwork (e.g., Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts & Fraleigh, 1987; and Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts & Dornbusch, 1994). A more recent tac has been to focus on the specific knowledge and resources contained in the social and academic "capital" parents invest in their children (Connor & DeVos, 1989; Cooper, Azmitia, Garcia, Ittel, Lopez, Rivera & Martinez-Chavez, 1994; Duran, 1994; Goldenberg & Gallimore, 1995; Mehan, 1992; and Phelan, Davidson & Cao, 1991). …