Context-Linked Influences on the Achievement Outcomes of African American Male High School Seniors

Abstract

Background and Purpose: School social workers need to better understand the relationship between risk and protective factors in the social environment of African American adolescent males. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to add to what is known about the relationships between support from parents, teachers and peers, contextual risks, and the achievement outcomes of African American adolescent males.

Methods: Data were collected using a cross-sectional survey design. Stratified random sampling yielded a representative sample (n=139) of recruited high-achieving, middle-achieving, and low-achieving participants enrolled in an urban school district in Virginia. The School Success Profile which measures perceptions of support, contextual risk, and adaptation within family, peer group, neighborhood, and school contexts and the School Support Questionnaire, a seven item open-ended questionnaire, developed by the researcher were administered. Participants’ official weighted grade point averages (GPA) and their English Reading Standards of Learning (SOL) test scores, the two criterion measures, were obtained from the school district.

Bivariate and multivariate statistical procedures were used to examine the relationships between predictor variables and the criterion measures. Deductive logic guided the analysis of the School Support Questionnaire data. Atlas-ti software was used to sort, code, unitize, and identify emergent themes from the participants’ responses. Seven themes emerged as school success factors (tangible support, standards, social support, guidance, communication support, behavioral support, and emotional support).  

Results: Quantitative analysis revealed that some support variables were predictive of better achievement outcomes whereas others were associated with poorer outcomes. Three predictor variables; Family Togetherness, Contextual Risk, and Teacher Support accounted for 19.3% of the variance in GPA. Teacher Support was the only predictor associated with a higher GPA. Family Togetherness moderated Contextual Risk on GPA. Contextual Risk was the only variable that predicted SOL, accounting for 10.5% of the variance. Higher Contextual Risk scores were associated with lower SOL test scores. Another variable, Friend Support, moderated the influence of Contextual Risk on SOL test scores.   

Qualitative analysis identified salient similarities and differences about the types and sources of support reported to have had an impact on the participants’ success in school. For example, all three groups endorsed the importance of tangible support. High-achieving males also acknowledged the importance of behavioral support from parents, low-achieving males reported that they needed more emotional support from teachers, and middle-achieving males were more concerned about standards, especially the quality of instruction provided by teachers. Even though the qualitative findings cannot be generalized beyond the study population, the participants identified factors they perceived as having had an influence on their school achievement that were not accounted for in the quantitative findings.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings support a systemic conceptualization of academic achievement that considers spheres of influence (peers, families, schools, and communities) on African American male adolescents’ academic achievement. Findings also support the need for earlier, tailored school social work interventions for academically at-risk students that includes family, peer group, school, and community-level components.