Hispanics' SAT Scores: The Influences of Level of Parental Education, Performance-Avoidance Goals, and Knowledge about Learning.

Abstract

This study uncovers which learning (epistemic belief of learning), socio-economic background (level of parental education, family income) or social-personality factors (performance- avoidance goals, test anxiety) mitigate the ethnic gap in SAT scores. Measures assessing achievement motivation, test anxiety, socio-economic family background, and epistemic belief of learning were administered to 143 European-American and 62 Hispanic students. Analysis of covariance revealed that the measures of epistemic belief of learning, performance-avoidance goals, and level of parental education each had a unique influence on combined SAT (SAT-V + SAT-M), SAT-V, and SAT-M scores. Indeed, the statistical removal of these influences resulted in the elimination of 55% to 75% of the effect attributed to ethnic differences in SAT performance. Moreover, even when gender differences were controlled the analysis of covariance revealed the same results. Taken as a whole, these results suggest that multiple factors influence ethnic differences in SAT performance.