Social support and positive future expectations, hope, and achievement among Latinx students: Implications by gender and special education

Abstract

A cultural-ecological approach posits that multiple sources of relational support can contribute to youths’ strengths development. Some such strengths are positive future expectations (PFE) and hope, both of which represent beneficial, future-oriented cognitive-motivational constructs; however, they have not been fully explored among Latinx youth. Furthermore, it is unknown how different socializing agents (i.e., family, teachers, friends) influence youths’ PFE, hope, and academic achievement, and if relations differ by gender and special education (SPED) designation. The present study (5th–12th grade Latinx students living in the Southwest U.S.; n = 748; 49% male; 15% SPED) investigated whether students’ relational supports longitudinally related to their PFE (for education/work, self-satisfaction, community involvement), hope, and academic achievement 1 year later. In the non-SPED designated sample, family support related to PFE for work/education and self-satisfaction for boys. Conversely, teacher support related to PFE for work/education and self-satisfaction for girls. PFE for community involvement was low across the sample. The same pattern emerged for hope, with family support significant for boys and teacher support for girls. For achievement, teacher support related positively across gender. Friend support had few significant associations overall, although a significant negative relation emerged between friend support and achievement for SPED students. SPED students had a positive path between family support and PFE for work/education. Findings support a multidimensional approach to increasing strengths and resilience through increased attention to family, teacher, and friend support across unique groups of Latinx youth.

Introduction to the special issue on strengths-based examinations of Latinx youths’ interpersonal relationships and socioemotional well-being

“…In the two southwest U.S. samples, aspects of peer relationships were examined as contributors to mental health, future expectations, hope, and academic achievement; these links were also examined by youths' age, gender, special education designation. Fraser et al (2022) found that friend support was less salient compared to their other sources of support, as friend support was not found to be related to any of the outcomes, except when examining the links for youth who had a special education designation. However, from the Fraser et al (2022) study, there was an unexpected finding in that friend support negatively predicted academic achievement, a finding the authors suggest is due to the possible low quality of those relationships for youth with learning disabilities.…”

“…Fraser et al (2022) found that friend support was less salient compared to their other sources of support, as friend support was not found to be related to any of the outcomes, except when examining the links for youth who had a special education designation. However, from the Fraser et al (2022) study, there was an unexpected finding in that friend support negatively predicted academic achievement, a finding the authors suggest is due to the possible low quality of those relationships for youth with learning disabilities. Similarly, Padilla et al (2022) found only one significant association for peer constructs; they found that youth who reported more conflict with their best friend, on average, also reported more risky behavior.…”

“…Alarcón et al (2022) utilized ethnographic observations in three elementary schools to explore the experiences of Indigenous Mapuche children in Chile and the role of peers as they navigate formal schooling, a system which employs an individualistic and punitive educational model conflicting with their traditional Kumeltuwün intracultural education. Fraser et al (2022) quantitatively examined the role of peers as socializing agents (among other agents including family and teachers), on the positive future expectations (related to work/ education, community involvement, self-satisfaction), hope, and academic achievement of Latinx youths (5 th to 12 th grades) in the U.S. southwest. Last, Padilla et al (2022) used longitudinal data to better understand the relationship-adjustment linkage, examining the quality of peer friendships and adjustment outcomes.…”

“…The articles in this special issue seek to identify the mechanisms through which U.S. and international Latinx communities leverage aspects of family and interpersonal relationships (e.g., sibling, peer, teacher) to adapt and respond to diverse contexts and demonstrate resistance, resilience, and adaptation. The articles contained within this special issue expand our understanding of family relationships by including understudied dyads such as father-child (Hernández et al, 2022; Padilla et al, 2022) and siblings (Killoren et al, 2022; Padilla et al, 2022; Roos et al, 2022), extend knowledge about interpersonal relationship to peers (Padilla et al, 2022) and romantic partners (Killoren et al, 2022), disrupt homogenous characterization of Latinx populations through the inclusion of an Indigenous sample (Alarcón et al, 2022), explore the role of social position factors such as gender (Fraser et al, 2022; Killoren et al, 2022; Padilla et al, 2022; Roos et al, 2022) and special education status (Fraser et al, 2022).…”

The role of family in Latinx students’ science education and career pursuit.

“…Though not specific to science education, researchers have found that Latinx parents’ support their female and male children differently with regard to education. In a sample of 5th−12th grades Latinx students and their parents, familial support was related to boys’ positive future expectations for work and education, self-satisfaction, and hope in the context of their education, but not for girls (Fraser et al, 2022). Others have found that Latinx parents sometimes discourage or are reluctant to allow their Latina daughters to enroll in college (Cauce & Domenech-Rodriguez, 2002; Gonzalez et al, 2020) and that Latino boys receive more parental support for higher education than Latina girls (Cauce & Domenech-Rodriguez, 2002).…”