Perreira, K., Fuligni, A., Potochnick, S. 2009. Fitting in: The Roles of Social Acceptance and Discrimination in Shaping the Academic Motivations of Latino Youth in the U.S. Southeast. Working Paper. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Available upon request)
Abstract: An emerging literature suggests that high academic aspirations contribute to academic achievement. Yet, few researchers have studied the specific academic values and beliefs that lay behind students' aspirations or how the social contexts of schools can affect these academic values and beliefs. Using data on 459 Latino 9th graders from the LA-SIAA and the NC-SIAA studies, we evaluate the specific educational values and beliefs that motivate the academic achievement of Latino youth and contrast the school experiences of Latino youth in an emerging Latino community, North Carolina, with the school experiences of youth living in a traditional settlement community, Los Angeles. Despite their greater fears of discrimination, we find that Latino youth in North Carolina are more academically motivated than their peers in Los Angeles. This is partially because they are more likely to be immigrants. Being an immigrant, having a stronger sense of ethnic identification, and having a stronger sense of family obligation were each linked to a more positive view of school environments. Therefore, these factors each partially explained the immigrant advantage in academic motivation and helped to counter the harmful effects of discrimination on academic motivation.
Potochnick, S., Perreira, K., Fuligni, A. Fitting in: The Roles of Social Acceptance and Discrimination in Shaping the Daily Psychological Well-being of Latino Youth in the U.S. Southeast. Working Paper. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Available upon request)
Abstract: This paper examines how the contexts of reception in new and traditional receiving communities influence the daily psychological well-being of Latino youth. Data came from two companion studies, the UCLA Study of Adolescents' Daily Lives and the Southern Immigrant Academic Adaptation study. Compared to Latino youth in Los Angeles, North Carolina's youth experienced higher levels of daily happiness, but also experienced higher levels of daily depressive and anxiety symptoms. Using random effect models, we evaluated how perceived discrimination, social acceptance, and daily ethnic treatment contributed to these differences in daily psychological well-being. We found that discrimination and daily negative ethnic treatment worsened; whereas social acceptance combined with daily positive ethnic treatment improved daily psychological well-being.
Fuligni, A., Perreira, K. 2009. Immigration and Adaptation," In Villaruel, F.A., Azmita, M., Cabrera, N., Carlo, G., Chahin, J., Contreras, J.C., (Eds.) Handbook of U.S. Latino Psychology, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, in press.
Perreira, K., Fuligni, A., Potochnick, S. Fitting in: The Roles of Social Acceptance and Discrimination in Shaping the Academic Motivations of Latino Youth in the U.S. Southeast. Presented at:
- Joint Session of the Population Association
of America and SOMEDE
(Mexican Society of Demography), Detroit,
MI (May 2009)
- Society for Research on Child Development,
Denver, CO (April 2009)
- CityUniversity of New
York, New York,
NY (April 2009)
- ColumbiaPopulationCenter,
Columbia University, New York, NY (February 2009)
-Population Research Institute, PennsylvaniaStateUniversity, University Park, PA
(December 2008)
Potochnick, S., Perreira, K., Fuligni, A. Fitting in: The Roles of Social Acceptance and Discrimination in Shaping the Health of Latino Youth in the U.S. Southeast. Population Association of America, Detroit, MI (May 2009)
Potochnick, S. and Perreira, K. The Effects of Positive and Negative Racial/Ethnic Treatment on Adolescent Latino Mental Health in a New Receiving Community, Thirteenth Annual APPAM Research Conference, Los Angeles, CA (November 2008)
Potochnick, S. and Perreira, K. Migration, Academic, and Mental Health Experiences of Latino Youth in North Carolina. Panel discussion at the Latino Youth Issues Forum, Asheboro, NC (September 2008)
Pedraza, J. and Perreira, K. Educational Aspiration and Expectations among 9th Grade North Carolina Latino/as. Race and Wealth Conference, Duke University, Durham, NC, (November 2007)
Pedraza, J. and Perreira, K. Educational Aspiration and Expectations among 9th Grade North Carolina Latino/as, Southern Demographic Association, Birmingham, AL (October 2007)
Pedraza, J. and Perreira, K. Educational Aspiration and Expectations among 9th Grade North Carolina Latino/as. Pomona College Summer Research Conference, Claremont, CA (September 2007)
