Family Orientation and Achievement Goal Orientations Among the Children of Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Families

Abstract

The current study examined the role of family orientations on the achievement motivations (i.e., achievement goal orientations and intrinsic motivation) of high school youths of different generational status (i.e., from immigrant or non-immigrant families) when their perception of their parents’ goals and classroom goal structures were tested simultaneously as predictors. A total of 331 high school students (ninth grade; ages 13–16, with 96% of the students in the ages of 14 or 15; 141 boys and 187 girls) from one high school in the United States participated in the study, completing a series of assessments with regard to their math classes. The findings show the complex role of the family contexts (parent goals and family orientations) on the adaptive mastery goals for children of immigrant families, going beyond previous studies that reported the relationships between family orientation and performance-approach or less adaptive performance-avoidance goals. This study still found that students’ family orientations strongly predicted their desire to win over their peers with certain levels of internal pressure in order to meet their parents’ expectations, aligned with previous literature. Through examining a context beyond the classroom context, studies should continue to examine the larger family and cultural context in understanding students with diverse backgrounds.