Are acculturation and parenting styles related to academic achievement among Latino students

Latino students are falling behind their Caucasian classmates with regard to their academic achievement. Previous studies have found a relationship between parenting, acculturation, and academic achievement. Parenting styles, as conceptualized by Diana Baumrind, include authoritative, authoritarian and permissive parenting. Authoritative parenting has been found to result in improved academic achievement among Caucasians while research on Latino students has yielded mixed results. Acculturation is also thought to be related to academic achievement, but again, with mixed results. In this study, second generation high school students from one high school in Los Angeles were surveyed to see whether parenting styles and acculturation levels were related to academic achievement, as measured by grade point average and plans to go to college. A total of 122 predominantly Mexican-American 11th and 12th grade students completed the Parental Authority Questionnaire and the revised Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican-Americans. Parenting styles and acculturation were not found to be related to one another or to GPA. However, students who planned on attending a four-year college reported significantly higher scores on the authoritative parenting questionnaire. They also had significantly higher GPAs in comparison with the students who planned to attend vocational school or community college. Generational status and acculturation were also found to be significantly related. Future studies may want to utilize a different measure of parenting styles or look at parental involvement, which is potentially a more important measure.