Parent educational level and academic performance : role of student sense of belonging and ethnic racial identity affiliation

The first paper employs mediation analyses to determine whether student sense of school belonging mediates the association between parent educational level and academic performance. The sample included Native American adolescents (N = 215) whose parents espoused various educational levels. Student sense of school belonging was assessed using the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM; Goodenow, 1993) scale. Student sense of school belonging mediated the association between parent educational level and student academic motivation, a common proxy for academic performance. Implications include illuminating possible indirect associations between parental educational level and academic performance that includes student sense of school belonging as an important factor. The second paper explores whether ethnic racial identity affiliation can serve as a moderator influencing the association between FLI student status and student sense of school belonging. The sample included college students (N = 251) of various ethnic and racial identities enrolled in an elite four-year university in the western United States. Student sense of school belonging was assessed using a cultural mismatch measure. Ethnic racial identity affiliation was assessed using the Multi-Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM; Phinney, 1992). There was a significant association between FLI student status and sense of belonging, with ethnic racial identity affiliation serving as a protective moderator for FLI students. FLI students indicated lower levels of belonging (i.e., cultural match) than their non-FLI peers. However, this association between FLI students and belonging was weaker for FLI students who were strongly affiliated with their ethnic racial identity than FLI students who were not strongly affiliated with their ethnic racial identity. Implications include conceptualizing ethnic racial identity affiliation as a protective mechanism for underrepresented students that can protect against threats to student sense of school belonging. Moreover, understanding how ethnic racial identity and sense of belonging function together adds to scholarly knowledge of the indirect paths to academic performance. The third paper utilizes statistical techniques to explore two-occasion interindividual difference in change in belonging levels across time using a longitudinal sample of AI/AN students (N = 69) enrolled in a Native American reservation high school . First, this study analyzes whether student sense of school belonging levels change over time. Second, this study explores whether a student's school grade level moderates student sense of school belonging growth rates. Sense of school belonging was measured via the PSSM scale at both time one (when students were either freshmen or sophomores) and at time two (when students were either juniors or seniors). Student sense of school belonging increased over time. Although there was a larger increase in student sense of school belonging among students who were freshmen at time one versus students who were sophomores at time one, this belonging growth was not significant. Implications include further exploring fluctuations in student sense of school belonging over time, rather than considering the phenomenon a static construct. Together, these papers place special emphasis on possible mechanisms through which parent educational level is associated with student academic performance (i.e., sense of belonging and ethnic racial identity affiliation). Through this dissertation, I hope to highlight the need for more rigorous exploration of sociocultural and psychological variables that could be indirect pathways between seemingly direct associations (e.g., association between parent educational level and academic performance).

Keywords: Education.
Advisor: LaFromboise Teresa Davis 
Markus Hazel Rose 
Obradović Jelena (Education professor)