Stereotype Promise?: Testing Theories on the Academic Achievement of Asian Youth Vis-à-Vis Other Racial Groups

Background/Purpose: Both mainstream media and academia refer to the model minority stereotype with the assumption that it has a real and significant impact on the lives of Asian Americans (hereinafter AAs). However, few attempts have been made to model and empirically test the concept. A phenomenon of particular interest is the seemingly exceptional academic achievement and occupational outcomes of AAs, particularly those of the children of immigrants. This study attempts to test existing theories on the academic achievement of AA youth with a focus on Zhou and Lee’s “stereotype promise.”  

Method: The study used a national sample of 4,833 eighth graders and their parents from Wave 7 of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998 (ECLS-K). ECLS-K is a nationally representative longitudinal study of kindergarten children of 1998 followed through 2007, which provides an unparalleled opportunity to conduct analyses on not only AA children (n=217) but youth across all races. First, an exploratory factor analysis was run on items comparable to those in conventional instruments to examine whether an underlying pattern of stereotype promise exists. A principal-factor method with a polychoric correlation matrix was utilized to account for ordinal items. After extracting factors on beliefs/attitudes toward academic achievement, OLS regression with survey weights was run on STATA14 to examine whether these attitudinal traits were associated with AA academic outcomes vis-a-vis other racial youth. Dependent variables are the math IRT scores. Independent variables are child’s educational expectations, importance placed on grades, perceived interest and competence in math, beliefs in self-efficacy, and parental expectations. Covariates include child and parent demographics. Both intercept and slope differences were examined across race.

Results: Examining all 8^th graders, the study found that the importance placed on grades, perceived interest and competence in math, and parental expectations were all positively associated with the math performance of AA youth (p<.05). Contrary to the popular cultural explanation, AA youths’ long-term academic goals and beliefs in self-efficacy (i.e., hard work) did not matter for math achievement. Moderation effects by race were found. In contrast to AAs, importance placed on grades was negatively associated with the math performances of White and Hispanic youths (p<.01); whereas self-efficacy positively influenced the academic performance of Hispanics (p<.05). Countering the tiger-parent stereotype, after controlling for marital status and SES, AA parents no longer held higher educational expectations of their children than did other parents. Consequently, the effects of parental expectations on academic achievement did not differ by race.

Implications: This study is a unique attempt to model and empirically test competing theories on AA academic success with a focus on the model-minority framework. Methodologically, the study uses a large-scale national dataset to examine youths across all races, including AAs. Substantively, it provides partial support for the theory of stereotype promise and debunks the tiger-parent thesis. Given that academic outcomes are closely tied to immigrant social mobility, it is important to generate rigorous scientific knowledge on whether and how beliefs and attitudes associated with racial stereotypes impact academic outcomes. Limitations and directions for future research will also be discussed.