Educational Expectations of Asian-American Youth: Determinants and Ethnic Differences. Research Reports.

This paper tests three explanations for the high educational expectations of Asian American high school students living in the United States: (1) favorable socioeconomic and background characteristics; (2) demonstrated academic ability; and (3) cultural values conducive to education. The focus is on differences in the relevance of these explanations across Asian American ethnic groups. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), for 1988 through 1992, were used with five multivariate regression models to explain differences in educational expectations between Asian American ethnic groups and Whites, both for the base year and for changes over time. Much diversity is found in the forces that shape educational expectations and effect changes in them across Asian American ethnic groups. The educational expectations of groups that are well assimilated into U.S. society are principally influenced by socioeconomic and demographic factors, while parental expectations explain much of children's high educational expectations for recent immigrant refugees. Appendixes contain charts of estimated coefficients of linear regressions models predicting educational expectations for the first and second follow-ups of the NELS:88. (Contains 5 tables and 56 references.) (SLD)