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8/11/2019 Bohon Et Al-Latinos Adolescents and College
1/20
Society for the Study of Social Problems
College Aspirations and Expectations among Latino Adolescents in the United StatesAuthor(s): Stephanie A. Bohon, Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, Bridget K. GormanSource: Social Problems, Vol. 53, No. 2 (May, 2006), pp. 207-225Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of SocialProblemsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4488161
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8/11/2019 Bohon Et Al-Latinos Adolescents and College
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208
BOHON/JOHNSON/GORMAN
predicated
on
the notion that future educational success
among
adolescents is
contingent
on
current beliefs
that such success
is
desirable and
likely.
Research on
status socialization
theory
is often
guided
by
the status attainment
model,
which
is
designed
to
explain
the
reproduction
of
class
position
across
generations
through
social-psychological processes (Morgan 2005).
Two
particularly
important
orientations
sug-
gested
by
status socialization
theory
are
aspirations (an
adolescent's
desire
to
achieve
high
levels of
education)
and
expectations an
adolescent's assessment of
the likelihood of
achieving
these levels
personally).
Educational
aspirations
and
expectations
have a notable
impact
on
the
educational attainment
process (e.g.,
Hanson
1994;
Hao and Bonstead-Bruns
1998;
Kao
and Tienda
1998).
Aspirations
and
expectations
are
largely
influenced
by
habitus-the accumulation of
past
experience
affected
by
class
socialization, actions,
and observations
(Bourdieu
and
Passeron
1973). Clearly
these
experiences
are
shaped differently
for
minorities
(Morgan
2005).
The
extent
to
which variations
in
background, family
structure,
and
parental expectations
for
their
children's achievement
occur across racial and ethnic
groups suggests
that
educational
aspirations and expectations will vary across these groups as well, as work on African Ameri-
cans has
demonstrated
(Hauser
and Anderson
1991;
Mickelson
1990).
A
major
limitation of
past
research on
aspirations
and
expectations
is that it
has focused
almost
exclusively
on black-white differences
(Hanson
1994;
Hauser and
Anderson
1991;
Hout and
Morgan
1975). Only
a
few studies
examine the
expectations
and
aspirations
of
Latinos,
and
those that
do tend to focus
exclusively
on Mexicans
and Mexican
Americans
(Hao
and
Bonstead-Bruns
1998;
Kandel and Kao
2000;
St-Hilaire
2002),
or
they
treat Latinos
as a
monolithic
group (Kao
and Tienda
1998).
Thus,
in
this article we extend the
current sta-
tus
attainment literature
by
examining
the differences
in
educational
aspirations
and
expec-
tations,
and
the factors
that
produce
them,
among
Cuban,
Puerto
Rican,
and Mexican
origin
youth
in
the United States
(along
with non-Latino
white and black
adolescents).
Specifically,
we
examine
whether adolescents
from
different
Latino
ethnic
backgrounds
differ
from
each
other
and
from non-Latinos
in
the
strength
of
their
college aspirations
and
expectations.
We
also
examine whether
differences
in
college aspirations
and
expectations
(if
any)
can
be
attributed
to
family
and household
characteristics,
parental hopes
for their child's educational
success,
and academic skills and
disengagement,
as
suggested
by
the status
attainment
model.
Aspirations
and
Expectations
Aspirations
and
expectations
are
conceptually
similar,
but educational
aspirations
are
understood to reflect some
degree
of
hopefulness
beyond
what adolescents
realistically expect
to
achieve
(Mickelson 1990). Aspirations,
therefore,
are considered
to
be
somewhat
abstract,
representing idealistic preferences for the future. Indicators of educational aspirations also tap
values,
to
some
degree
(St-Hilaire 2002);
aspirations
for
college may
reflect
students'
recogni-
tion of
the
social
and
economic
importance
of
higher
education rather than
their
personal
desire to
attend
college.
Although aspirations may
at least
partially
reflect the
"internalization
of
objective proba-
bilities for
success"
(Bourdieu
and Passeron
1973:83),
educational
expectations
do so to a
larger
extent. In
comparison
to
aspirations, expectations
are considered
a more
realistic self-assessment
of
a child's
educational future
(Mickelson
1989).
When
aspirations
and
expectations
are
compared, expectations register
lower
than
aspirations,
as would be
expected (Hanson
1994;
St-Hilaire
2002).
The
cognitive
difference
in
expectations
and
aspirations
is
reflected
in
the
finding
that African American children have
significantly higher aspirations
than whites
(Hauser
and Anderson
1991) although
their
expectations
are
often lower
(Morgan 1996).
This
aspiration-expectation
mismatch, then,
reflects
the measurement of
abstract rather than
concrete educational orientations
(Mickelson 1990).
8/11/2019 Bohon Et Al-Latinos Adolescents and College
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College Aspirations
among
Latino Adolescents
209
Explanations
for the low
levels
of academic success
among
Latino students
in
the United
States
are
varied,
and
many
involve
in
some
way
the educational
aspirations
and
expecta-
tions of
adolescents. Some researchers have
suggested
low
educational attainment is
directly
related to the
disproportionate tendency
of
Latinos to be
immigrants,
where limited
English
proficiency
and a different orientation toward education reduce both the desire and
ability
to
complete high
school
or to
attend
college
(Van
Hook
2002).
Others contend that
low
educa-
tional
aspirations
and
expectations
are
linked
to
poverty (Rumberger
et al.
1990);
the
high
levels of
poverty among
Latino families
make it
unlikely
that
many
can afford either the cost
of
college
tuition or the
opportunity
cost of
educating
an adolescent who
could, instead,
be
working. Knowing
that
college
is
unaffordable,
adolescents
may
not
allow
themselves the
hope
or desire
for
education
beyond high
school.
Still
other
researchers
have
suggested
that
various
factors related to
minority
status are
reproduced throughout
the
social
structure and
create barriers to
high
educational attainment
(Bourdieu
and Passeron
1973).
For
example,
according
to Alan C. Kerckhoff
(1976),
minority
background
individuals
recognize
that
they
have
greater
barriers to advancement than
non-minorities.
Consequently,
minorities set lower
average goals for themselves. In short, according to these models, social background and race
affect
aspirations
and
expectations;
these
orientations,
in
turn,
affect attainment. It is
likely
that there are a number of
co-varying
factors
that
explain
low educational
aspirations
and
expectations (and attainment) among
Latinos,
but more work is needed to understand the
processes
by
which students
develop
them.
An
examination of both
aspirations
and
expectations
offers
information that
is
relevant to
current
assertions about low educational attainment
among
Latinos. Is Latino educational attain-
ment low
because Latinos
place
a
low
premium
on education
(see
Valencia and Black
2002)?
Or,
as a
disadvantaged
minority,
do Latino adolescents
recognize
the numerous
structural
bar-
riers to
attending college,
causing
them to
be less
optimistic
about their chances
for
high
attain-
ment
(see
Kerckhoff
1976)?
If
both
educational
aspirations
and
expectations
are
low,
one could
conclude that adolescents lack
the desire to attain
higher
levels of
education; if
aspirations
are
high yet
expectations
are
low,
one could
alternatively
conclude that it is not the desire that is
lacking,
but
the
(perhaps realistic)
belief that
the
opportunities
do not exist.
In
either
case,
understanding
the sources
of
such
group
differences
will
enable
educators
and
policymakers
to direct
efforts
more
effectively
toward
improving
Latino
educational
attainment.
Latino
Heterogeneity
and Educational
Orientations
There is
considerable variation
among
Latinos
in
terms
of
country
of
origin,
political
sta-
tus,
economic
standing,
and
other factors
(del
Pinal and
Singer 1997).
These differences
may
have
important
implications
for the
development
of educational
aspirations
and
expectations.
Previous work on Latinos' orientations toward education suggests that Cuban academic suc-
cess
may
be
at least
partially
attributed to
high
levels of trust
in
the educational
system (see
Cheng
and
Starks
2002).
This
trust
stems from
the additional educational
support
accorded
early
waves
of
Cuban
refugees
and the
relatively high
socioeconomic
class of
the
earliest
Cuban
immigrants
(Ogbu
1991;
Velez
1989).
These factors related to
immigrant reception
and modes of
incorporation
into U.S.
society
and
may
be
extremely important
in
the
socio-
economic
success
or failure
of
immigrants, creating
"castelike"
conditions
for some
groups
(Pedraza-Bailey
1985),
especially
those who
have
a
history
of
exclusion from the
primary
means of
upward
mobility.
That the latter is the case for Mexican Americans and Puerto
Ricans has been
widely
noted
(Ogbu
1987;
Pedraza-Bailey
1985;
Vdlez
1989).
Indeed,
the diver-
gent
histories of these
groups
in
the United States
fit John
U.
Ogbu's
(1991)
distinction
between
voluntary
and
involuntary
minorities. Whereas the United States seized
territory
from both
Mexicans
and
Puerto
Ricans,
and both
groups
have been
historically oppressed
in
this
country,
Cubans do not share this
experience.
8/11/2019 Bohon Et Al-Latinos Adolescents and College
5/20
210
BOHON/JOHNSON/GORMAN
Given
the
importance
of
country
of
origin
and
modes of
incorporation
in
determining
the
social
position
of
different Latino
groups
(Ogbu
1991;
Portes
and
B6r6cz
1989)
and
the
importance
of
social
position
in
the
development
of
educational orientations
(Bourdieu
and
Passeron
1973),
Latinos cannot be
treated as
a
monolithic
group
for
the
purpose
of
studying
educational aspirations and expectations. This is
especially
true for Mexican, Puerto Rican,
and Cuban
origin
groups,
who
make
up
72
percent
of
the U.S. Latino
population (U.S.
Bureau
of the
Census
2000).
They
have faced
considerably
different
receptions upon
entry
into
the
U.S.
mainland,
ranging
from
often
warmly
welcomed,
in
the case of
Cubans,
to
grudgingly
toler-
ated,
in
the
case
of
Puerto
Ricans,
to often
open hostility,
in
the
case of
Mexicans
(Johnson,
Farrell,
and Guinn
1997;
Portes and
Stepick 1993).
Beyond
differential
receptions
and
modes
of
incorporation,
the
considerable
differences
between these
groups
in
socioeconomic conditions
are also
likely
to be
related to the race
and
class of their
migrant
ancestors. Cubans
and Cuban
Americans
tend
to be middle class
with
income levels
commensurate with
non-Latino
whites,
while Puerto
Ricans are
disproportion-
ately poor.
Mexicans
and Mexican
Americans
are
the
largest
Latino
group
and have the
lowest
average
socioeconomic
status of the three
groups (Cheng
and Starks
2002; Ogbu 1991;
Velez
1989).
Puerto Ricans
may
also
be
disadvantaged
by
their darker
phenotype
in
a
country
where
race
matters
(Massey
and Denton
1993).
This
is
particularly
evident
in
the
poor
socioeco-
nomic conditions of
many
Puerto
Ricans
despite
the
fact that
they
are not
immigrants
and,
therefore,
have the
advantages
of
citizenship
and
early English
language training (Ogbu
1991).
In
this
study,
we take into account
Latino
heterogeneity by
examining potential
differ-
ences
in
college aspirations
and
expectations
across the
three
largest
Latino
groups
and
the
potential
sources of
such differences.
Specifically,
we test
whether
previous
explanations
for
Latinos'
low
average
educational attainment
account
for
differences
in
college aspirations
and
expectations
or
whether
additional ethnic differences
remain. To see
whether
remaining
dif-
ferences reflect the
varied
receptions
and
experiences
of
these
groups
in
the
United
States,
we
examine
immigrant
status,
language
use,
socioeconomic
disadvantage,
and other
family
demographic characteristics. In doing so, we also consider the students' own academic skills
and
level of
engagement
in
school,
in
keeping
with
the status
attainment model.
Given what is
currently
known about
Cubans,
Puerto
Ricans,
and
Mexicans
in
the
United
States,
we
expect
that both
expectations
and
aspirations
will
differ
across the
groups.
Insofar
as
aspirations
reflect
educational
ideals,
it is
likely
that
Puerto Ricans-who are not immi-
grants
and
are,
therefore,
the most
"American"
of
the three
groups-will
have similar
aspira-
tions for
college,
on
average,
as
whites,
although
island-born Puerto Ricans
may
have
slightly
different
aspirations
than
mainland-born,
since
different social conditions
in
the two
places
may shape
whether
college
is
viewed as valuable and
attainable.
Cubans,
who exhibit
high
levels of
trust
in
the
educational
system
(Ogbu 1987)
and
have
traditionally
shown
high
sta-
tus
orientations
(Portes
and
Stepick
1993),
should
have
stronger
college aspirations.
Finally,
we
expect
the
Mexicans
in our
sample
to
exhibit
weaker
college aspirations
than
whites,
as
has been previously demonstrated (Portes and Rumbaut 2001; St-Hilaire
2002).
Educational
expectations
have received much
less attention than
aspirations;
however,
the
general
belief is
that
expectations
act
as
a
proxy
for
the
anticipation
of
blocked
opportuni-
ties
(Hanson
1994).
Consequently,
we would
expect
that,
due to class
differences,
Mexicans
would
have
the
weakest
expectations
for
college
while
Cubans will have the
strongest.
Puerto
Ricans,
who
we
anticipate
will have
aspirations
on
par
with non-Latino
whites,
are
likely
to have
weaker
expectations
due to their underclass
status.
In
this
way,
we
expect
the
patterns
of
college
aspirations
and
expectations
among
Puerto Ricans to mirror those of Afri-
can
Americans
(Mickelson
1990;
Morgan 2005).
In
addition to differences
in
aspirations
and
expectations,
we also
expect
there to be dif-
ferences in the
salience of factors
that
predict
them. Studies that have
explored
between-
group
differences in
various measures of academic
performance have found this to be the
case
(Cheng
and
Starks 2002; V6lez
1989).
Based on these
previous
findings
we
expect,
for
example,
that Mexicans will be
highly
sensitive to income
differences,
while
Cuban children
8/11/2019 Bohon Et Al-Latinos Adolescents and College
6/20
College
Aspirations
among
Latino Adolescents
211
will
find easier access
to
college
(and
more
pressure
to
attend)
regardless
of income
differ-
ences.
We
also
expect
that the
effects
of
parental
education will
vary,
since Cuban children
have
been
shown
to
have
high
levels
of educational
attainment
despite
low levels of attain-
ment
by
their
parents
(Portes
and
Rumbaut
2001),
while
Mexicans
and
Puerto Ricans do
not
show this
pattern
(Portes
and Rumbaut 2001; Vernez 1998).
With
regard
to
immigrant generations,
non-citizen
Mexican
students
have limited access
to
student
loans,
federal
grants,
and the instate
tuition
needed to make
college
affordable
(Bohon,
Macpherson,
and Atiles
2005).
This effect will
not
be
evident
for Puerto
Ricans,
who,
whether
mainland-born or island-born
are U.S.
citizens. Neither should these
impedi-
ments
affect most
Cubans,
who,
as
refugees,
are
usually given
greater
access
to
governmen-
tally
funded
programs.
It
should
be
noted, however,
that circular
migration, particularly
among
Puerto Ricans who
can
move
easily
from the island
to the
mainland,
may
distort
the
effects
of
being
first
(and possibly
second) generation.
This will
also
be
true,
to
a
lesser
extent,
for
Mexicans but not Cubans.
English usage
at
home
may
also
have variable
effects across the
groups.
In
general,
speaking English at home implies a more "American" orientation and intent to stay on the
U.S.
mainland
(Portes
and
Rumbaut
2001). Consequently,
we would
expect
that
Mexicans
and Puerto Ricans
who
speak
English
at
home
will
have
expectations
and
aspirations
similar
to
non-Latino
whites who
also
speak
English
at home.
However,
for Cubans-who tend
to be
clustered
in
south
Florida
where Latinos
dominate the
local
economy-speaking
English
has
different connotations
(Portes
and
Stepick
1993).
In the
Miami
area,
speaking
Spanish
is
very
beneficial
for
conducting
business and
a
point
of
pride
among
the
upper
and middle
classes.
Cuban
parents may
make a
conscious
effort to
speak
Spanish
at home to ensure that
their
children
are
bilingual. Additionally,
speaking Spanish
among
Cubans
immigrants
does not
signal
an
expectation
of return
migration
as it
may
for
Mexicans and Puerto
Ricans. Cubans
speaking
English
at
home, therefore,
should have
lower
aspirations
and
expectations
than
Cubans
who do not
(and
lower
than
non-Latino whites
speaking English
at
home).
Data and
Methods
This research
uses data
drawn
from
the
National
Longitudinal Study
of Adolescent
Health
(Add
Health),
a
nationally
representative
study
of American adolescents
in
grades
7 to
12 from
134
middle
and
high
schools
in
80 communities
in 1994
and
1995
(Udry 2003).
Sam-
pling
of
schools was
stratified
by region,
urban
location,
school
type (public
vs.
private),
racial
composition,
and size.
Data
collection
occurred
in
two
steps.
First,
an in-school
questionnaire
was
administered to
all
students
present
in
selected
schools,
resulting
in
over
90,000
com-
pleted
questionnaires.
Second,
a
sub-sample
of students
(and
one
parent
or
parentlike figure)
was selected for in-depth interviews at home. This sample was stratified within schools by sex
and
grade.
All
questionnaires
were
in
English.
Over
80
percent
of selected
students
partici-
pated
in
the in-home interviews
in 1995
(n
=
20,745).
For this
analysis,
we limit
the
in-home interview
sample
to
Mexican,
Puerto
Rican,
and
Cuban
adolescents,
while
for
comparitive purposes
we
include
non-Latino
white and
non-
Latino black
respondents.2
Unfortunately, sample
size
limitations necessitated
the removal
of
other
Latino
groups
from the
analysis.
We
also limit the
sample
to
respondents
with
complete
information
on our
dependent
measures
and
sample
weights,
resulting
in
a
final
sample
size
of
16,545.'
2.
Although
we
acknowledge
important
differences,
for
simplicity,
references
to
Cubans
and Mexicans refer to
both immigrants and U.S.-born residents with Cuban and Mexican ethnicity, unless directly specified.
3.
Missing
values were
imputed
using
the
"impute"
command
in STATA
see
StataCorp
[2003]
for
more
informa-
tion). Missing
values on each
independent
measure
were
imputed
on the
basis
of the other
measures included
in this
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212
BOHON/JOHNSON/GORMAN
The Add Health data offer
an
excellent
opportunity
for
intergroup comparisons,
as
there
are a
large
number of
cases in
each
group.
We
note
two limitations to
using
the Add Health
data for
the
analyses
conducted
here,
however.
First,
Add Health
is a
school-based
question-
naire. As a
consequence,
these data do not include information
on students
who have
dropped
out. Second, the in-home
questionnaire
was administered in
English only.
Conse-
quently,
the
missing
cases
may
be
disproportionately
drawn
from
adolescents with
immigrant
parents.
Admittedly,
the second
problem
is
greater
than
the
first,
since
the omission of
drop-
outs will
yield
resultant
findings
that
are more
conservative than
if
dropouts
were included.
Mexicans and
Puerto
Ricans are more
likely
to
drop
out
than
non-Latino
whites,
and
drop
outs are
likely
to
have
weaker
college
aspirations
and
expectations,
so
any
differences we
observe
in
this
sample
would
likely
be wider
if
we had information from
drop
outs.
Our measure
of
college aspirations
reflects
the
degree
to which
respondents
want to attend
college ("On
a scale of
1
to
5,
where
1
is low and 5
is
high,
how much
do
you
want
to
go
to
college?"). Expectations,
in
contrast,
reflect the
degree
to which
respondents
believe
they
will
attend
college ("On
a scale of
1
to
5,
where
1
is low and 5 is
high,
how
likely
is it that
you
will
go
to college?"). Thus, our measure reflects the strength of the desire for and anticipation of
going
to
college,
a
particularly
salient level
of
educational attainment for
contemporary
ado-
lescents
(Schneider
and
Stevenson
1999).
Our
primary predictor
of
interest is
race/ethnicity,
categorized
as
Cuban,
Puerto
Rican,
Mexican,
non-Latino
white,
and
non-Latino
black. We
also examine the influence of
a
number of factors
typically
considered to
shape
educational
aspirations
and
expectations (see Cheng
and Starks
2002),
including family
characteristics,
the
influence
of
significant
others,
indicators of academic skills
and
behaviors,
age
and
gender.
Family
characteristics include number of
siblings
and a
categorical
measure of
family
struc-
ture:
two
biological/adoptive parents, any
other two
parent family,
mother
only,
and
other.
Given our focus
on Latino adolescents,
we also examine
the
influence
of
immigrant
status
and
English
language
use.
Puerto
Ricans
are not
foreign-born; yet,
we
expect
that the island-
born
will
differ from both the mainland-born with island-born
parents
and the mainland-born
with mainland-born
parents, paralleling
generational
status
among
other Latinos.
Indeed,
there is a
precedent
for
our
treatment
of
island-born Puerto Ricans as similar to
foreign-born,
as
the
island-born versus mainland-born distinction
parallels
the native-born versus
foreign-
born distinction
for
other outcomes
(see
Landale,
Oropesa,
and Gorman
1999;
Zsembik and
Fennell
2005). Consequently,
we differentiate
first
generation (born
outside the
U.S.
mainland),
second
generation
(U.S.-born
with at least one
parent
born
outside
of
the U.S.
mainland),
and
third
generation
(U.S.-born
with
U.S.-born
parents).
We also
measure whether
or
not
English
is
usually spoken
at home
(1
=
yes,
0
= no).
Two measures of
family
socioeconomic status are also
included.
Income is
a
continuous
measure
of
the natural
log
of total
family
income
in
1994.
An
ordinal measure
of
parental
education is also
included,
representing
the
highest
level of
completed schooling
of
the
respondent's mother or father, whichever is greater. The categories are educational attain-
ment
less
than
a
high
school
diploma,
a
high
school
diploma
or
equivalent (including
those
who attended some
college
but did not achieve at least a bachelor's
degree),
and an earned
bachelor's
degree
or
better.
High
school
graduates
are our reference
group.
Parents'
aspiration
for
the adolescent is constructed as
an
averaged
index
of
four
items
("How disappointed
would
your
mother
[father]
be
if
you
did not
graduate
from
high
school?"
and
"How
disappointed
would
your
mother
[father]
be if
you
did
not
graduate
from
college?")
Responses ranged
from
1
=
low
disappointment,
to 5
=
high disappointment
(o
=
.80).
analysis (percent missing
included
in
parentheses):
parental
education
(1.69),
family
income
(24.27), parent college
aspirations
for R
(2.16),
school
disengagement
score
(1.87),
self-rated
intelligence (0.16),
and
PVT
score
(4.94).
Given
the high rate of missing values that were imputed for family income (24.27), we re-estimated all the included regression
models
with
a control that
flagged imputed
cases. In
all
models the control was not
significant,
and thus was not
retained.
8/11/2019 Bohon Et Al-Latinos Adolescents and College
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College Aspirations among
Latino Adolescents 213
We measure both academic skills and
engagement
in
school. One
measure
of
academic
skills is a
continuous
score
on
the Add Health
Picture
Vocabulary
Test
(PVT).
This test was
derived from
the
Peabody
Picture
Vocabulary
Test-Revised
(PPVT-R)
that
measures the hear-
ing (receptive)
vocabulary
for Standard American
English
(Dunn
and Dunn
1981)
and is
often
interpreted
as a
gauge
of verbal
ability.
The PVT included in Add Health differs from the
PPVT-R
n
that
only
half of the
original
items
were administered. Raw
scores were
age
stan-
dardized with a mean
of 100 and a
standard
deviation
of 15. A
second
measure
of
academic
skills is the
respondents'
self-rated
intelligence ("Compared
with other
people
your
age,
how
intelligent
are
you?"),
where
1
=
moderately
below
average,
and 6
=
extremely
above
average.
Our measure of academic
disengagement
is based on
responses
to three
items:
in
the
past
school
year,
how
many
times
the
adolescent
skipped
school,
had trouble
paying
attention
in
school,
and had trouble
getting
homework
done
(Johnson,
Crosnoe,
and
Elder
2001).
For
the
first
item,
the
responses
are
collapsed
into five
categories (0,
1-2,
2-5, 6-9,
10+
days).
Responses ranged
from 0
(never)
to
4
(every day)
for
the second and third items.
The
three items
are
averaged,
as
long
as at
least
two are not
missing,
to create the
composite
scale
(o"
=
.61).
Finally, we include measures of age and gender. Of these, age is particularly important
since
younger
adolescents
may
be
more
optimistic
about their educational
future than older
children.
In
many
studies
(e.g.,
Hanson
1994;
Morgan
1996)
researchers
minimize
this
prob-
lem
by
using
same
grade
respondents;
however,
sample
size considerations
do not
allow
us to
both select
same-grade
respondents
and
also examine Latino
heterogeneity.4
Due
to the
complex sampling strategy employed
to collect the
data
(a
multistage,
strati-
fied, school-based,
cluster
sampling design),
models
are
estimated
using
the Huber/White
estimator
of
variance
(see
Chantala
and
Tabor
1999).
Rather
than
assuming
that
observations
are
independent,
the
estimation
procedures
we
use correct
for intracluster
correlation,
pro-
ducing
standard errors that
are
more accurate
and
reducing
the
chance
of
false-positive
sig-
nificance tests. In
addition,
weights
are also
used
in all
analyses
due
to the fact that some
ethnic/racial
groups
were
oversampled.
Results
Descriptive
statistics
are
presented
in Table
1.
They
show
strong aspirations
for
and
expectations
of
college
attendance across
each of the five
groups. Important
differences across
ethnic
groups
exist,
however.
As
anticipated,
Mexicans have weaker than
average (and
weaker
than non-Latino white
and
black)
and Cubans have
stronger
than
average aspirations
and
expectations compared
to all other
groups.
Puerto
Ricans'
aspirations
are lower than non-
Latino
blacks',
while
Puerto
Rican
expectations
are lower than non-Latino
blacks
and
whites.5
Differential
aspirations
and
expectations
may
be
explained
by
the considerable
differ-
ences in family and household characteristics, parental hopes for their child's educational
success,
and academic
skills and
disengagement.
It is worth
noting
that the
reported
income
for Cubans in this
study
is lower than for
Puerto
Ricans
and non-Latino
whites,
which
is
inconsistent with
the fact
that
Cubans
in
the
United States have income
levels commensurate
with
non-Latino whites
(U.S.
Bureau of
the Census
2000).
The
finding
with
regard
to this
sample
may
reflect
that the Cuban adolescent
respondents
in
the
Add Health
survey
are dis-
proportionately
immigrants
themselves,
and
many
of the
(also disproportionate)
second
gen-
eration
may
be
children of the last waves of Cubans
arriving
after
the
1959
Revolution.
That
4. To examine this issue
further,
we
replicated
all
analyses
in
this
study
eliminating respondents
who were seniors
in
high
school and
likely
to have
their
college plans
fixed. The
resulting analyses (available upon
request)
were
not
markedly
different
from those
presented
here.
5. The p-values on the difference of means tests between Puerto Ricans and whites and Puerto Ricans and blacks
were
.055 and
.046,
respectively.
That
Puerto Ricans do
not
appear
to have
aspirations
significantly
different
from non-
Latino
whites is
likely
to
be
due to the
adjustment
for standard
errors
in
our
estimation
procedures.
8/11/2019 Bohon Et Al-Latinos Adolescents and College
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Table
1
*
Adolescents'
Responses
to School-Based
Questionnaire,
Weighted
Means
(SD)
and
Percentages
for
Dependent
a
Full
Sample
Non-Latino
White
Non-Latino
Black
Mexican
(n
=
16,545)
(n
=
9,962) (n
=
4,000)
(n
=
1,583)
How
much
R
wants to
go
to
college
4.4
(1.0)
4.4
(1.0)
4.4
(1.2)
4.2
(1.3)ab
How
likely R
will go to college
4.1
(1.2) 4.2 (1.0)
4.1
(1.4)
3.7 (1.4)ab
Age
of
adolescent,
years
15.9
(1.8)
15.9
(1.6)
16.1
(2.2)
16.0
(2.1)
Female,
%
49.3
49.1
50.5
48.8
Number
of
siblings
1.3
(0.9)
1.2
(0.8)
1.3
(1.2)a
1.8
(1.2)ab
Family
structure,
%
Two
biological/adoptive
parents
53.1
59.0
28.2a
55.4b
Other
two
parent
17.4
18.2 14.4a
15.3
Mom
only
20.7
15.3
43.0a
19.1b
Other
8.8
7.4
14.4a 10.2ab
Immigrant
status,
%
First
generation
3.4
1.4
2.0
21.7ab
Second
generation
5.6
3.2
2.7
28.0ab
Third or
higher
generation
91.0
95.4
95.4
50.3ab
English
spoken
in
home
95.2
99.3
99.4
55.1ab
Family
income
in
dollars,
logged
3.5
(0.8)
3.7
(0.6)
3.1
(1.0)a
3.1
(0.9)a
Parental
education,
%
Less
than
high
school
12.0
6.7
16.la
49.2ab
High
school
graduate
58.8
59.7
63.2 40.6ab
College graduate
29.3
33.6 20.7a
10.2ab
Parent
college aspirations
for
R
3.9
(1.2)
3.9
(1.1)
4.0
(1.5)
3.8
(1.4)b
PVT score
101.7
(13.3)
104.8 (10.6)
93.1
(15.1)a
92.7
(16.1)a
Self-rated
intelligence
3.8
(1.1)
3.9
(0.9)
4.0
(1.4)
3.4
(1.2)ab
School
disengagement
score
1.0
(0.8)
1.0
(0.7)
0.9
(0.9)a 1.1
(1.0)b
Source:
Data
from National
Longitudinal
Study
of Adolescent
Health
(Add
Health;
Udry
2003).
Note:
p