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Socioeconomic Stress and Academic Adjustment Among Asian American Adolescents: The Protective Role of Family Obligation

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Abstract

Socioeconomic stress has long been found to place youth at risk, with low family income conferring disadvantages in adolescents’ school achievement and success. This study investigates the role of socioeconomic stress on academic adjustment, and pinpoints family obligation as a possible buffer of negative associations. We examined direct and interactive effects at two time points in the same sample of Asian American adolescents—early high school (N = 180 9th–10th graders; 60 % female) and 2 years later in late high school (N = 156 11th–12th graders; 87 % of original sample). Results suggest that socioeconomic stress is indeed associated with poor academic adjustment, measured broadly through self-reported GPA, importance of academic success, and educational aspirations and expectations. Family obligation was positively related to adjustment, and also was found to buffer the negative effects of socioeconomic stress, but only during adolescents’ later high school years. Adolescents reporting more family obligation experienced less of the negative effects of financial stress on academic outcomes than those reporting lower obligation. Cultural and developmental implications are discussed in light of these direct and moderating effects.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the schools and individual adolescents who participated in the study. Funding for the study, in part, was made possible by a Wake Forest University SBE grant awarded to LK.

Author contributions

LK designed and coordinated the larger study from which this manuscript is based. KA conceived of this manuscript’s research questions. LK and KA performed the statistical analyses and drafted the manuscript. GS, AS, and LG participated in the interpretation of the data and helped to draft specific sections of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Lisa Kiang & Kandace Andrews

  2. University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Gabriela L. Stein, Andrew J. Supple & Laura M. Gonzalez

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  1. Lisa Kiang
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  2. Kandace Andrews
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  3. Gabriela L. Stein
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  4. Andrew J. Supple
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  5. Laura M. Gonzalez
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Correspondence to Lisa Kiang.

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Kiang, L., Andrews, K., Stein, G.L. et al. Socioeconomic Stress and Academic Adjustment Among Asian American Adolescents: The Protective Role of Family Obligation. J Youth Adolescence 42, 837–847 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9916-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9916-6

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