The social networks and resources of African American eighth graders: evidence from the National Education Longitudinal study of 1988

Adolescence, Spring, 1999 by Renee Smith-Maddox

The context of these networks must also be considered. The most important predictors of educational aspirations for both poor and nonpoor students were communication with parents, ability-group placement, participation in extracurricular activities, parental involvement, and parents' expectations. In short, parents, ability grouping, and cultural experiences in the community have the greatest influence on aspiration level.

Finally, methodological issues pertaining to research on African American adolescents have surfaced (Bell-Scott & Taylor, 1989). Unbalanced research designs and biased instruments have often made it difficult to assess African American adolescents accurately, or generalize findings to them. Future investigations should thus seek to generate normative data on African American adolescents - by class. The present study has attempted to lay the groundwork for such research.

Appendix

The following is a list of variables employed in the analyses. (The variable labels and source variables from NELS:88 are indicated in parentheses.)

DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Outcome Measure

Educational Aspirations. Response by student to "How far in school do you think you will get?": (1) will not finish high school; (2) will graduate from high school but will not go any further; (3) will go to vocational, trade, or business school after high school; (4) will attend college; (5) will graduate from college; or (6) will attend a higher level of school after graduating from college (BYS45).

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

Social Resource Measures

Communication with Other Adults (ONETWORK). Whether student talked to an adult relative (other than parents) or other adult to obtain information about high school courses or programs or to get information about jobs/careers that might be of interest after finishing school; 1 = yes, 0 = otherwise (BYS51ac, BYS51bc, and BYS51dc).

Parental Network (PNETWORK). Whether student had discussions with parents regarding programs at school (BYS36A), school activities (BYS36B), and things studied in class (BYS36C). Student responses to these three items were summed.

Parents' Education Level (PARED). Response by parent to "What is the highest level of education you and your spouse/partner have completed?": (1) eighth grade or less; (2) beyond eighth grade, but did not graduate; (3) completed high school or GED; (4) vocational, trade, or business school after high school: (a) less than one year, (b) one or two years, or (c) two years or more; or (5) college: (a) less than two years, (b) two or more years, (c) finished two-year program, (d) finished four- or five-year program, (e) master's degree or equivalent, or (f) doctorate or other advanced degree (BYPARED).

Socioeconomic Status (POOR). Poverty status, coded as 1 = below poverty threshold and 0 = otherwise.

Cultural Resource Measures

Activities Outside School (ACTIVITY). Responses by parent to questions regarding student's involvement in activities outside school: studies computers outside regular school class (BYP60G), borrows books from the public library (BYP61AB), and ever involved in a religious group (BYP63E); 1 = yes, 0 = otherwise. Parent responses to these three items were summed.