The attitude-achievement paradox: disadvantaged minority youth may show low achievement despite high motivation to achieve upward mobility through schooling¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2004 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among African American youth, studies repeatedly find low school achievement in spite of high motivation to achieve upward mobility through schooling. → Phalet 2004 q2 i? Minority youth often endorse abstract mobility beliefs about education while rejecting concrete beliefs about its benefits for their personal future. → Phalet 2004 (2)

Evidence¶

Phalet 2004¶

Phalet, K., Andriessen, I., & Lens, W. (2004). How Future Goals Enhance Motivation and Learning in Multicultural Classrooms. Educational Psychology Review, Vol. 16, No. 1. https://hdl.handle.net/1874/23520

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports, citing Ogbu and Simons (1998), a repeated finding among African American youth in the United States labelled the attitude-achievement paradox, commonly explained as ambivalent attitudes toward achievement in the presence of racism and discrimination (citing Mickelson, 1990).

"have repeatedly found conflicting evidence of low levels of school achieve- ment, in spite of high levels of motivation to achieve upward mobility through schooling (Ogbu and Simons, 1998)."

Phalet 2004 (2)¶

Phalet, K., Andriessen, I., & Lens, W. (2004). How Future Goals Enhance Motivation and Learning in Multicultural Classrooms. Educational Psychology Review, Vol. 16, No. 1. https://hdl.handle.net/1874/23520

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports, citing Mickelson (1990), the discrepancy between abstract and concrete mobility beliefs, which it reads as suggesting limits to perceived instrumentality of doing well in school in the absence of sufficient opportunities.

"most African American and Latino youth are found to endorse "abstract" mobility beliefs about the value of education for success later in life. At the same time, however, they tend to reject "concrete" beliefs about the benefits of education for their personal future (Mickelson, 1990)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Race and Ethnicity — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• Ethnic-minority children report higher intrinsic motivation than European-American children despite higher stigma awareness — related
• Among African American eighth graders high in racial centrality, stronger endorsement of the traditional academic race stereotype is associated with lower academic self-concept, controlling achievement and demographics (Study 1) — related
• Perceived instrumentality enhances student motivation only for students with a positive attitude toward their personal future; for students with a negative future outlook, high utility has the opposite effect — related
• The immigrant optimism hypothesis holds in some cultural contexts but not in others, depending on cultural congruence, cooperative learning, and family educational investment
• Academic achievement is moderately correlated with academic self-concept in African American middle school youth — related
• African American middle school students on average endorse the traditional academic race stereotype while reporting high academic self-concept — related
• SRL partially mediates the positive relations of both academic value and school belonging to mastery orientation among African American and Latino adolescents — related