Family Orientation and Achievement Goal Orientations Among the Children of Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Families

Jung-In Kim,Hyewon Chung,Kristen Penwell,Courtney Donovan,Shauna P A De Long,Wendi Gorelik

doi:10.17583/ijep.2020.4422

Abstract

The current study examined the role of family orientations on the achievement motivations (i.e., achievement goal orientations and intrinsic motivation) of high school youths of different generational status (i.e., from immigrant or non-immigrant families) when their perception of their parents’ goals and classroom goal structures were tested simultaneously as predictors. A total of 331 high school students (ninth grade; ages 13–16, with 96% of the students in the ages of 14 or 15; 141 boys and 187 girls) from one high school in the United States participated in the study, completing a series of assessments with regard to their math classes. The findings show the complex role of the family contexts (parent goals and family orientations) on the adaptive mastery goals for children of immigrant families, going beyond previous studies that reported the relationships between family orientation and performance-approach or less adaptive performance-avoidance goals. This study still found that students’ family orientations strongly predicted their desire to win over their peers with certain levels of internal pressure in order to meet their parents’ expectations, aligned with previous literature. Through examining a context beyond the classroom context, studies should continue to examine the larger family and cultural context in understanding students with diverse backgrounds.

Highlights

The current study examined the role of family orientations on the achievement motivations of high school youths of different generational status when their perception of their parents’ goals and classroom goal structures were tested simultaneously as predictors
Using the achievement goal orientation theory framework, the current study aims to expand on past research by examining the role of family orientations on the different types of adaptive or less adaptive achievement motivations for the high school youths of different generational status
We examined the role of family orientations on the achievement motivations of high school youths of different generational status, when their perception of their parents’ goals and classroom goal structures were tested simultaneously as predictors

Summary

Introduction

The current study examined the role of family orientations on the achievement motivations (i.e., achievement goal orientations and intrinsic motivation) of high school youths of different generational status (i.e., from immigrant or non-immigrant families) when their perception of their parents’ goals and classroom goal structures were tested simultaneously as predictors. According to the U.S Census Bureau (2012), approximately 25% of children in the United States have at least one foreign-born parent; for the most part, the parents are from Latin America or Asia With such a large percentage of children coming from diverse backgrounds, it is unsurprising that there has been an increasing number of studies involving children from immigrant families. The current study further examined the mediating role of high school students’ family orientation in the relationships between their perceptions of parental goals and their different types of achievement goal orientations and intrinsic motivations in the broader context of goal-related messages, such as messages from the classroom or from one’s parents

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion