ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN ADOLESCENT ACHIEVEMENT:

AN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Laurence Steinberg, Sanford Dornbusch, & Bradford Brown
American Psychologist, 1992, pp. 723-729

Basic premise: One of the most consistent and disturbing findings in studies of adolescent achievement
concerns ethnic differences in school performance. Although there is considerable agreement that these ethnic
differences in school performance are genuine, there is little consensus about the causes of these differences,
and a variety of explanations for the pattern have been offered. Among the most familiar are

• inherited differences between ethnic groups in intellectual abilities

• ethnic differences in achievement related socialization practices in the family
• ethnic differences in cultural values (particularly value placed on educational success)
• ethnic differences in perceived and actual discrimination with educational and occupational
institutions

Because the genetic hypothesis has received little research support, this article focuses on environmental
accounts of ethnic differences in achievement. The purpose of the article is to understand how different
contexts in youngsters' lives affect their behavior, schooling, and development

Overview of Research Program

During 1987-1988 school year, the authors administered a 30-page, two-part questionnaire with a series of
standardized psychological inventories, attitudinal indexes, and demographic questions to approximately
15,000 students in 9 high schools.

• sample was 67% White and approximately 33% non-white, with nearly equal proportions o f
African American , Hispanic, and Asian American youngsters.
• questionnaires contained measures of psychosocial development and functioning, as well as
social relations in and outside of school.
• outcome variables tapped psychosocial adjustment, schooling, behavior problems, and
psychological distress.

FINDINGS AND CONTENTIONS

Previous research findings suggest that adolescent competence is higher among youngsters raised in
authoritative homes—home in which parents are responsive and demanding—than in other familial
environments. Three components of authoritative childrearing contribute to this competence.

• parental acceptance or warmth

• behavioral supervision and strictness—control
• psychological autonomy granting or democracy

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SOCIALIZATION OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FAMILY
Can ethnic differences in school performance be explained by ethnic differences in the use of authoritative
parenting? According to previous research by Dornbusch, no.

Example: Although Asian American students have the highest school performance, their parents are among
the least authoritative.

Explanation: The effects of authoritative parenting may differ as a function of the ecology in which the
adolescent lives.

Findings from this study:

• Across outcome variables not related to school, the researchers found that youngsters from authoritative
homes fared better than their counterparts from nonauthoritative homes in all ethnic groups.
• When they looked at school performance, they found that White and Hispanic youngsters were more
likely to benefit from authoritative parenting than were African American or Asian American youngsters.
• Within the African American and Asian American groups, youngsters whose parents were authoritative
did not perform better than did youngsters whose parents were nontautoritative.
• African American students' school performance was even unrelated to their parents' level of education.

Why would authoritativeness benefit Asian American and African American youngsters when it comes to
psychological development and mental health, but not academic performance?

Explanation:

• Adolescents from "caste-like" minorities may believe that they will face a job ceiling that prohibits them
from receiving occupational rewards commensurate with their educational credentials. Consequently, they
will put less effort into their work (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986).
• Students' beliefs about the relation between education and life success influence their performance and
engagement in school.
• Unwarranted optimism may be limiting African American and Hispanic students' performance.
• Asian American students fear that educational failure will have negative consequences.
• Asian American students spend twice as much time each week on homework and report that
their parents would be angry if they came home with less than an A-.
• African American and Hispanic students, who do less well in school, are more cavalier about
the consequences of poor school performance and report that their parents have relatively
lower standards.

PEERS AND PARENTS AS INFLUENCES ON ACHIEVEMENT

Findings from this study:

• Although parents are the most salient influence on youngsters' long-term educational plans, peers are the
most potent influence on their day-to-day behavior.
• Parents are relative more potent sources of influence on White and Hispanic youngsters than they are on
Asian American or African American youngsters.

• In comparison with White youngsters, minority youngsters are more influenced by their peers and
less by their parents in matters of academic achievement.

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 It is essential to recognize the tremendous level of ethnic segregation that characterizes the social
structure of most ethnically mixed high schools.

• For the most part, students from one ethnic group do not know their classmates from other ethnic
groups.
• Within ethnic groups, youngsters have a very differentiated view of their classmates; across ethnic
groups, they see their classmates as members of an ethnic group first, and members of a more
differentiated crowd second, if at all.

• Across all ethnic groups, youngsters whose friends and parents both support achievement perform better
than those who receive support only from one source but not the other, who in turn perform better than
those who receive no support from either.
• Among White youth, youngsters from authoritative homes are more likely to belong to peer crowds that
encourage academic achievement and school engagement.

• For these youngsters, authoritative parenting is related to academic achievement not only because
of the direct effect it has on the individual adolescent's work habits but because of the effect it has
on the adolescent's crowds affiliation.

• Among African American and Asian American students, the researchers found no relation between
parenting practices and peer crowd membership.

• In ethnically mixed high schools, Asian American, African American, and, to a lesser extent,
Hispanic students find their choices of peer groups more restricted than do White students.
• Regardless of parenting practices, Asian American students tend to belong to a peer group that
encourages and rewards academic excellence.

• Asian American youngsters report a high level of peer support for academic achievement.
• In contrast to popular belief, Asian American parents are less involved in their children's
schooling than any other group of parents.

• Even when African American students have parents supportive of academic success, these
youngsters find it difficult to join a peer group that encourages the same goal.

• Peer support for academic success is sometimes so limited that many successful African
American students eschew contact with other African American students and affiliate
primarily with students from other ethnic groups.
• African American students are more likely than others to be caught in a bind between
performing well in school and being popular among their peers.

Understanding African American and Asian American students' experiences in their peer groups helps to
account for the finding that authoritative parenting practices, although predictive of psychological
adjustment, appear almost unrelated to school performance among these youngsters.

• For Asian American students, the costs to schooling of nonauthoritative parenting practices are offset
by the homogeneity of influence in favor of academic success that these youngsters encounter in their
peer groups.
• For African American youngsters, the benefits to schooling of authoritative parenting are offset by the
lack of support for academic excellence that they enjoy among their peers.

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• As with White students, for Hispanic students, the family exerts a very strong influence on school
performance, and the relative influence of the peer group is weaker.

• In Hispanic homes, the prevalence of authoritative parenting is relative lower, and the prevalence of
authoritarian parenting relatively higher.
• In an American school system that emphasizes autonomy and self-direction, authoritarian parenting,
with its emphasis on obedience and conformity and its adverse effects on self-reliance and self-
confidence, may place youngsters at a disadvantage.
• Without the degree of support for academics from their peer group, the level of parental
authoritarianism experienced by Hispanic students may diminish their performance in school.

CONCLUSIONS
1. Adolescents whose parents are warm, firm, and democratic achieve more in school than their peers.

2. The effects of authoritative parenting must be examined within the broader context in which the family
lives and in which youngsters develop.

3. Parenting practices on youngsters' academic performance and behavior are moderated to a large extent by
the social milieu the students encounter among their peers at school.

4. Strong peer support for academic offsets what might otherwise be the ill effects of growing up in a
nonauthoritative home, whereas the absence of peer support for academic may offset some of the benefits
of authoritativeness.

PARENTING STYLES
PERMISSIVE INDIFFERENT is a style in which the parent is relatively uninvolved in the child's life. This
style is associated with socially incompetent behavior, especially a lack of self-control. Children do not
develop a good sense of independence. Parental behaviors: Undemanding. Little control. Rejecting.
Unresponsive. Parent-centered. (It's 10:00 PM. Do you know where your child is?)

PERMISSIVE INDULGENT is a style in which parents are highly involved with their children but place
few demands or controls on them. Permissive-indulgent parenting, like permissive-indifferent, is also
associated with children's social incompetence and lack of self-control. The spoiled child syndrome.
Inability to follow rules. Parental behaviors: Undemanding. Little control. Accepting. Responsive. Child-
centered.

AUTHORITARIAN parenting is a restrictive, punitive style that exhorts the child to follow the parent's
directions and to respect work and effort. The authoritarian parent places firm limits and controls on the
child and allows little verbal exchange. Children of authoritarian parents often are anxious about social
comparison, fail to initiate activity, and have poor communication skills. Either foreclosed identity or
rebellion. Parental behaviors: Demanding. Strong control. Rejecting. Unresponsive. Parent-centered.

AUTHORITATIVE parenting encourages children to be independent but still places limits and controls on
their actions. Extensive verbal give-and-take is allowed, and parents are warm and nurturant toward the
child. Children more likely to become self-reliant and socially responsible. Parental behaviors:
Demanding. Strong control. Accepting. Responsive. Child-centered. [Warm demanders]