Postsecondary Education
Among Mexican American
Youth
Hispanic Journal of
Behavioral Sciences
Volume 29 Number 2
May 2007 181-191
© 2007 Sage Publications
10.1177/0739986307299584
http://hjb.sagepub.com
hosted at
http://online.sagepub.com
Contributions of Parents, Siblings,
Acculturation, and Generational Status
Maria T. Hurtado-Ortiz
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Mary Gauvain
University of California, Riverside
This study investigated how experiences in the family context contribute to the
postsecondary educational attainment of Mexican American youth. The sample consisted of 104 recent high school graduates. One half of the sample was
attending a 2-year college, and the other one half was not enrolled in any postsecondary institution. This study examined the relationships among family
(i.e., parents’ and older siblings’ educational experiences, family income, and
parental involvement) and education variables (i.e., high school and college
grade point average, college attendance, and college aspirations). Variations
within the Mexican American community, in particular acculturation and generational status, were examined in relation to youths’ educational experiences.
Keywords:
Hispanic; parents; postsecondary education; siblings
A
lthough recent census data indicate that Hispanic youths in the United
States are participating in higher education in greater numbers, they
remain undereducated relative to the total population (Llagas & Snyder, 2003).
Authors’ Note: Some of these findings were reported in a dissertation by the first author as part
of the requirements for a doctoral degree in developmental psychology at the University of
California, Riverside. An earlier version of this study was reported at the conference of the
American Psychological Society in Toronto, Canada, June 2001. A National Science Foundation
Doctoral Fellowship to the first author helped support this research. Correspondence should be
addressed to Maria T. Hurtado-Ortiz, PhD, Department of Psychology, California State University
Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA 90747; e-mail: mhortiz@csudh.edu.
181
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Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences
Research with ethnically diverse samples on factors related to educational
achievement beyond high school reports positive associations between family
income and parental involvement in children’s education and college attendance
(Eccles & Harold, 1996; Keith & Lichtman, 1994). Studies that included solely
Hispanic samples echo these findings with family income, parents’ involvement
in their children’s education, and parents’ own educational backgrounds positively related to postsecondary academic achievement and aspirations of
Hispanic adolescents (Hossler & Stage, 1992; Rodriguez, 2002). In several
studies, higher educational attainment by Mexican American mothers, in particular, was found to increase the likelihood of their children’s high school
completion and college attendance (Gándara, 1995; Hurtado & Gauvain,
1997).
These findings point to experiences in the family as important for understanding patterns of college attendance among Hispanic youth. However,
research on family influences on educational attainment in ethnically diverse
and Hispanic-only samples has concentrated on parental contributions. Many
Hispanic parents, especially first-generation immigrants, have limited educational experiences, which may affect their ability to support and guide their
children’s education beyond the high school years (Delgado-Gaitan, 1993;
Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 1995). Yet parents may not be the only family resource available to help children in academic matters. Older siblings, especially siblings who have had successful experiences with the U.S. school
system and are proficient in English, may help bridge the gap between home
and school when children reach the postsecondary level. Older siblings may
serve as role models of academic success and as information brokers in relation
to the schooling experiences and achievements of younger siblings. In particular, older siblings may provide vital information and support about the steps
leading up to college, such as college preparatory courses, entrance examinations, and the application process (Buriel & De Ment, 1997; Valdes, 1996).
To advance understanding of family factors that may help Hispanic
youth achieve academically after high school, the current study investigates
contributions by Mexican American parents and older siblings to the college attendance of younger children in the family. We also explore these
factors in relation to acculturation and generational status of the youth.
Regardless of acculturation levels, most Hispanic high school students have
high academic aspirations (Hurtado & Gauvain, 1997). Even though firstand second-generation individuals are less acculturated to U.S. culture and
schools, they perform better in high school than third-generation adolescents
(Rodriguez, 2002). However, it is highly acculturated Hispanic youth who
are more likely to attend college (Hurtado & Gauvain, 1997).
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The current research focuses on Mexican Americans, which is the largest
Hispanic community in the United States. Children in this community are at
high risk of academic underachievement (Rodriguez, 2002). All the participants were recent high school graduates; one half was enrolled in junior college and one half was not enrolled in any postsecondary educational setting.
Consistent with earlier findings, we expected that parent education and family income would be positively related to parental involvement in children’s
academic experiences. Because the influence of siblings on adolescents’
academic achievement, educational aspirations, and college attendance has
received little research attention (Hurtado, 1997), the current study investigated the contributions of older siblings to the academic experiences of the
participants. Based on previous studies, we expected to find variation related
to acculturation and generational status, with first- and second-generation
college attendees more successful academically than their counterparts from
third and later generations. We also predicted that more acculturated participants would be enrolled in college. Finally, the college aspirations, perceived opportunities and abilities, and educational goals of the participants
were examined. Based on prior research (e.g., Cooper et al., 1994) we
expected that all participants would have high educational aspirations but
that they would differ in information and resources useful for accomplishing
these goals.
Method
Participants
Participants were 104 recent high school graduates (52 male and 52 female,
M = 18.6 years, SD = .75) of Mexican American descent. The median family
income reported by the participants ranged from US$24,000 to $30,999. All
participants spoke and read English, although 15 (14.4%) identified Spanish
as their dominant language. All the participants had at least one older sibling
(M = 2.06, SD = 1.32) who was between age 19 and 27 years (M = 22.23 years,
SD = 2.12) and no more than 7 years older than the participant.
One half of the participants (26 male, 26 female) was attending a 2-year
community college in the Los Angeles, California, metropolitan area that
serves more than 22,000 students. The mean age of these participants was
18.5 years (SD = .61) with 21.2% immigrants or first generation in the
United States, 44.2% second generation, 19.2% third generation, 13.5%
fourth generation, and 1.9% fifth generation. Participants self-reported their
grade point averages (GPAs) as an index of academic achievement.
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Although the accuracy of self-reported grades has been questioned, this
information has been used reliably in adolescent research (Dornbusch,
Mont-Reynaud, Ritter, Chen, & Sternberg, 1991). The mean high school
GPA for this group, which represents the cumulative GPA for all courses
taken during their high school career, was 3.04 on a 4-point scale (SD = .48).
The mean college GPA, calculated from the students’ college grades for
general education courses such as anthropology, history, and health science,
was 2.80 on a 4-point scale (SD = .63). Regarding mothers’ educational
attainment, 30.8% had an eighth grade education or less, 11.5% some high
school, 26.9% high school graduates, 17.3% some college, and 13.5% college graduates. Among the fathers, 36.5% had an eighth grade education or
less, 7.7% some high school, 17.3% high school graduates, 23.1% some
college, and 15.4% college graduates. The average number of older siblings
in college was 1.13, SD = 1.05.
The other one half of the participants (26 male, 26 female) was not
enrolled in any postsecondary settings. To obtain comparability in the groups,
participants in this group were recruited through referrals provided by the
participants who were attending college. The mean age of these participants
was 18.8 years (SD = .85) with 44.2% immigrants or first generation, 38.5%
second generation, 5.8% third generation, and 11.5% fourth generation. The
mean high school GPA was 2.89 on a 4-point scale (SD = .58). Among the
mothers, 61.6% had an eighth grade education or less, 11.5% some high
school, 21.2% high school graduates, and 5.7% some college. For fathers,
56.9% had an eighth grade education or less, 11.8% some high school, 19.6%
high school graduates, 7.8% some college, and 3.9% college graduates. The
average number of older siblings in college was .75, SD = .81.
Measures and Procedure
All participants completed the following measures: a background questionnaire about the participants and their families; the Acculturation Rating
Scale for Mexican Americans II (ARSMA II; Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado,
1995); a modified version of the Perceived Parental Concern Scale (Leung,
Wright, & Foster, 1987); a four-item questionnaire that assessed the youth’s
educational goals and perceived educational opportunities; and an interview
about educational goals (Azmitia et al., 1994). All questionnaires, which
were originally written in English, were translated into Spanish by a professional English/Spanish translator and then the Spanish version was backtranslated into English by a researcher with extensive experience conducting
Spanish/English surveys. The interview was available in Spanish and
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185
English, and participants chose the language version with which they felt
most comfortable.
Participant and family background. This questionnaire asked for the participants’ gender, date of birth, ethnicity, educational attainment to date,
high school and college GPA, parents’ educational levels, family income,
number and ages of siblings, and number of siblings presently in college or
who have attended college in the past.
Acculturation status. Scale 1 of the ARSMA II (Cuellar et al., 1995) was
used to assess acculturation status. This scale includes a 30-item self-rating
composed of a 13-item Anglo Orientation subscale and a 17-item Mexican
Orientation subscale. Questions measure cultural preferences and behavioral tendencies in language, identity, heritage, and interaction. Cronbach’s
alpha for this sample was .89.
Parental involvement in youth’s education. This seven-item questionnaire included four items adapted from Leung et al.’s (1987) scale and three
items devised for the current study. The items asked about the participants’
perceptions of parents’ concern and encouragement for schoolwork (e.g.,
“My parents help me with my school work”; “My parents want me to go to
college”). Items were scored on a 4-point scale with the end points being 1
(strongly disagree) and 4 (strongly agree). Cronbach’s alpha for this sample for the seven-item scale was .86.
Educational goals and perceived educational opportunities. Four
items were developed to assess participants’ views on several collegerelated themes: desire to attend a 4-year college, ability to afford attending a 4-year college, perceived academic ability, and likelihood of success
at a 4-year college. Past research has found that these themes are related
to adolescents’ attitudes toward college (Johanson & Vopava, 1985).
Items were rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 (strongly disagree)
to 5 (strongly agree). Azmitia et al.’s (1994) six open-ended interview
questions, originally designed for parents, were modified to assess participants’ educational goals and thoughts about how to realize these goals,
for example, “How much education do you hope to attain? What are you
doing to help yourself attain that education?” A seventh question was
added, “What are some of the factors that need to be considered when
deciding which college to attend?” to probe for any additional collegerelated concerns.
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Questionnaires were administered at a community college for participants
attending college and at the participants’ home for participants not attending
college. Adolescents took an average of 50 minutes (range of 45 to 60 minutes) to complete the questionnaires. A researcher was available to clarify
items on the questionnaires; however, otherwise interaction was kept to a minimum. On completion of the questionnaires, the interview about educational
goals was conducted. Each respondent received US$5.00 for participation.
Results
Preliminary analyses compared the generational status of participants in
the two groups (attending college and not attending college) and the educational attainment of the participants’ mothers, fathers, and older siblings.
The groups did not differ in generational status, χ²(1, 103) = 9.29, or in the
educational attainment of older siblings, χ²(1, 103) = 2.50. The mothers,
χ²(1, 103) = 11.57, p < .001, and fathers, χ²(1, 103) = 10.12, p < .001, of
participants attending college had more education than mothers and fathers
of participants not attending college. For the entire sample, fathers had
more education than mothers, χ²(1, 103) = 21.80, p < .001.
Parental Factors and College Attendance
All analyses include the entire sample (N = 104) except analyses that
include college GPA, which only include the subsample attending college
(n = 52). Pearson product–moment correlations were used to examine relations between college attendance and parents’ education, family income,
and parental involvement in the child’s education. No relation was found
between fathers’ education and adolescents’ college attendance, r(103) =
.02. However, there was a positive relation between mothers’ education and
adolescents’ college attendance, r(103) = .34, p < .001. No relations were
found between family income and high school GPA, r(103) = –.04, or college attendance, r(103) = .17.
Independent forward-selection stepwise regression analysis was used to
determine the contribution of parental involvement to college attendance for
the entire sample. Results indicated only two of the seven items explained a
significant amount of variance in college attendance. The item “My parents
help me with my school work” explained 4% of the variance, β = –.25, R² =
.043, p < .01, and the item “My parents want me to get a degree” explained
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2% of the variance, β = .16, R² = .024, p < .10, in college attendance.
Independent forward-selection stepwise regression analysis was also used to
determine the contribution of parental involvement to college GPA for the
participants attending college. Only one item was significant, and this item,
“My parents are upset when I don’t do well in school,” explained 9% of the
variance in college GPA, β = –.30, R² = .091, p < .05.
Educational Experience of Older Siblings
Independent stepwise multiple regressions were used to determine the
contribution of total number of older brothers and sisters in college to the
college attendance and high school GPA of the entire sample and in relation to college academic achievement for the college sample only.
Regardless of participants’ gender, the total number of older brothers, but
not sisters, in college explained 4% of the variance in college attendance,
β = .20, R² = .041, p < .05. The total number of older brothers and sisters in
college did not explain variance in participants’ high school GPA. For the
college sample only, the total number of older brothers in college explained
7% of the variance in college GPA, β = –.26, R² = .067, p < .05, and the total
number of older sisters in college explained an additional 7% of the variance, β = .26, R² = .071, p < .05.
College Attendance, Academic Achievement, and Acculturation
and Generational Status
There was a positive relation between acculturation and college attendance for the entire sample, r(103) = .19, p < .05. When language preference was considered, we found that of the 15 (14%) participants who
answered the questionnaires and interviews in Spanish, only one was attending college. Results also indicated positive relations between acculturation
and mothers’ education, r(103) = .63, p < .0001, and fathers’ education,
r(103) = .31, p < .001.
Independent forward-selection stepwise regressions were used to examine the contribution of acculturation and generational status to high school
and college GPA. For the entire sample, generational status explained
9% of the variance in high school GPA, β = –.31, R² = .094, p < .01.
Acculturation did not explain any variance in high school GPA. In a second
analysis that included only the participants attending college, neither acculturation nor generational status contributed to variation in college GPA.
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College Aspirations, Perceived Opportunities,
and Educational Goals
For the entire sample, there were no relations between acculturation and
college aspirations, perceptions of academic ability, or likelihood of success at a 4-year college (rs ranged from .06 to .17). A positive relation
between acculturation and perceptions of college affordability was found,
r(103) = .19, p < .05, indicating that more acculturated participants perceived themselves as being better able to afford attending college.
Analysis of educational goals indicated a difference between the amount
of education that those currently in college hoped to achieve as compared
to those not enrolled in college, t(102) = 2.45, p < .05, with those in college
hoping to complete more years of education. Participants who were not
enrolled in college reported saving money to accomplish their educational
goals to a greater extent than participants enrolled in college, t(102) = 2.06,
p < .05. This finding is consistent with the fact that 87% of the participants
who were not enrolled in college were working as compared to 60% of the
participants who were enrolled in college.
Discussion
The current study contains several important findings. Results suggest that
parents and older siblings influence the postsecondary educational experiences of Mexican American youth. Consistent with prior studies, we found
that generational status and acculturation affect the educational attainment of
Hispanic youth. Furthermore, the educational goals of Hispanic youth who
were enrolled in college differed from Hispanic youth of the same age who
were not enrolled in college. These findings are discussed in relation to future
research.
Results suggest that Mexican American parents play an important role in
their children’s education. Consistent with prior research (Hurtado &
Gauvain, 1997), we found a positive relation between mother’s, but not
father’s, education and adolescent’s college attendance. Mexican American
mothers and fathers may serve different functions in the educational process,
and future studies should investigate why mothers’ academic experiences are
related to higher educational attainment of youth in this community. Findings
also indicate that although Mexican American parents encouraged their
children to earn a college degree these parents did not help their children with
class assignments nor did they become angry with their children when they
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189
did not perform well academically. Given that more than one half of the
participants’ mothers and fathers had less than a high school education,
parents may not have been able to assist their children with schoolwork
because of their own limited educational experiences (Delgado-Gaitan, 1993;
Valdes, 1996). However, other members of the family appear to help youth in
this regard. As predicted, the educational experiences of older siblings appear
to influence the postsecondary academic experiences of their younger
brothers and sisters. Findings also indicated that the gender of the older siblings may be important. Perhaps older brothers and sisters model different
college-related behaviors, including study habits, or interact with younger
siblings differently in college-related areas. Future studies should investigate
how older brothers and sisters in Mexican American families support the college attendance and success of younger siblings.
Generational status and acculturation were related to the college experiences of Mexican American youths. Similar to other studies (e.g., Rodriguez,
2002), a negative relation between generational status and high school GPA
was found, suggesting that Mexican immigrant adolescents report higher levels of academic achievement than their nonimmigrant counterparts. A positive relation was found between acculturation and college attendance, which
is consistent with previous findings (e.g., Hurtado & Gauvain, 1997). More
acculturated adolescents, as compared to less acculturated youth, may have
better access to information about college (e.g., enrollment deadlines,
entrance exams) and financial resources that aid in the transition from high
school to college. The positive relations between acculturation and mothers’
and fathers’ education suggest that an intergenerational pattern may exist.
Finally, a positive relation between acculturation and perceptions of college
affordability was found, which implies that less acculturated adolescents may
not continue education beyond high school because they lack information
about financial resources, such as loans, grants, and scholarships, to help pay
for college expenses. It may also be true that less acculturated adolescents, if
they are not legal U.S. residents, understand that college affordability is a
major issue because their postsecondary education options are limited and
they are ineligible for most types of financial assistance. Whatever the reason
may be, it is reflected in the large percentage of participants who were not
enrolled in college who reported that they were working to save money for
college. Together, these findings suggest that the interrelations between
acculturation and postsecondary education of Mexican American youth warrant further study.
The purpose of the current study was to improve understanding of how the
family contributes to the postsecondary academic experiences of Mexican
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Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences
American youth. Family processes play an important role in the academic
achievement, aspirations, and attainment of Mexican American youth, and
particular factors, such as parents’ educational experiences, family income,
and acculturation are critical in this regard. Older siblings with college experiences of their own may also play significant roles in this process, especially
in immigrant and first-generation families. Older siblings may serve as role
models and as information brokers for their younger siblings as they near college age. Because the Mexican American community is undereducated relative to the total population and, as a result, has limited access to higher paying
occupations and career opportunities, further study of the processes that support academic attainment after high school for the youth in this community is
important. The findings reported here suggest that one important avenue of
support for these youth resides very close to home in the form of older siblings. Future research on the nature and extent of sibling support for the postsecondary educational attainment of Mexican American youth may enhance
understanding of this family dynamic and suggest ways of supporting sibling
processes that appear particularly beneficial for improving the educational
attainment of Mexican Americans.
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Maria T. Hurtado-Ortiz received her PhD in developmental psychology from the University
of California, Riverside. She is an associate professor of psychology at California State
University, Dominguez Hills. Her research interests include the cultural, social, and developmental influences on adolescents’ college-planning behaviors and mothers’ child care practices. She is coprincipal investigator on a National Institutes of Health funded project
examining the mental models of type 2 diabetes among Latino students who are at risk for the
disease. Her favorite leisure activity is taking long nature walks with her husband and children.
Mary Gauvain received her MA in sociology of education from Stanford University and her
PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Utah. She is professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research interests include the social and cultural contributions to the development of cognitive skills and the social ecology of children’s
everyday lives. Her favorite leisure activities are hiking, cross-country skiing, reading, and
spending time with her family.