Family Processes Promoting Achievement Motivation and Perceived School Competence among Latino Youth: A Cultural Ecological-Transactional Perspective

This longitudinal study uses a cultural ecological-transactional perspective (Garcia-Coll, et. al., 1996; Kuperminc, et al., in press) to examine whether relational factors (familism and parental involvement) predict processes of motivation and achievement one year later among 199 Latino adolescents from immigrant families. Parent involvement predicted higher present-oriented and future-oriented motivation, and familism predicted higher presentoriented motivation. Future-oriented motivation predicted higher perceived school competence, while present-oriented motivation predicted lower perceived school competence. Both future and present-oriented motivation increased over time for recent immigrants significantly more than for US-reared youth. Findings suggest that 1) familism and parent involvement relate significantly to processes of achievement motivation among Latino youth 2) future-oriented and present-oriented motivation are distinct from one another and are linked to perceived school competence in unique, and inverse ways among Latino youth and 3) immigration age plays an important role in the motivational processes of Latino youth over time. INDEX WORDS: Latino, Immigration, Achievement motivation, School, Hispanic, Familism, Parent involvement, School competence, Youth, Adolescence FAMILY PROCESSES PROMOTING ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND PERCEIVED SCHOOL COMPETENCE AMONG LATINO YOUTH: A CULTURAL ECOLOGICAL-TRANSACTIONAL PERSPECTIVE