What Is the Relationship between Support from Others and African American High School Seniors' Success in School?

Background and Purpose:

There is substantial evidence that certain types of teacher and parent support have a positive influence on the schooling experiences of African American adolescents, including their educational outcomes. However, there remains considerable scholarly disagreement about the influence of peer support on African American adolescents’ educational outcomes and not enough is known about salient gender differences and similarities. The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences and similarities in participants’ retrospective views about the role of support from parents, teachers, and peers relative to their success in school.

Methods:  

Qualitative data were collected during the 2006-07 school year, as part of a larger study. Stratified random sampling yielded a representative sample (n= 312) of high-achieving (GPA 3.0 or higher - 56 females, 32 males), middle-achieving (GPA 2.0-2.99 - 70 females, 56 males), and low-achieving (GPA below 2.0 - 50 females, 48 males) participants enrolled in an urban school district in Virginia. The School Support Questionnaire (SSQ) a seven item questionnaire was completed by each participant. The first question on the SSQ asked if they perceived themselves to be a successful student. The remaining open-ended questions asked how teachers, parents and peers contributed to their academic success and what types of support would have helped them be successful in school.  

Deductive logic guided the analysis of the SSQ 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).  

Findings:

Ninety-two percent of the participants considered themselves to be successful students, which was an unexpected finding. Moreover, important gender differences and similarities related to the types of support reported to have had an impact on the participants’ success in school were identified. For example, females endorsed emotional support as a success factor more often than males and males endorsed behavioral support more often than females. Within all achievement levels, peers were mentioned more frequently than teachers and parents as an important source of social support and low-achieving females acknowledged a need for more behavioral and tangible support from peers than other achievement groups. Consistent with the findings of others, high-achieving males and females also acknowledged that parents were an important source of social support.

Conclusion and Implications:

Qualitative analysis illuminated important gender similarities and differences with regard to what sources and types of support the participants associated with their success in school. The findings support the need for school social workers to gain a nuanced understanding of what types of protective factors have a greater likelihood of influencing African American adolescents’ schooling experiences, given that many of these students are at increased risk for poorer educational outcomes. They also support the need for evidence-informed targeted interventions aimed at strengthening the systems of support within the social environment of academically at-risk African American adolescents.