Across development, students’ motivational beliefs have been found to typically decrease. A few recent studies have noted that not all individuals may display declines (e.g., stability). Nevertheless, these studies often involved mostly White participants and we know less about the motivational belief development in other racial/ethnic groups. In my dissertation, I examined the heterogeneity in the expectancies for success and subjective task value development in multiple races/ethnicities. Additionally, I examined potential factors that may lead to varying developmental patterns among students, such as the role of various social identities and the socializers. In Study 1, I estimated growth mixture models and examined the underlying patterns that may be hidden in the average trends. I found two classes of stable trajectories for expectancies for success; five classes of stable, decreasing, or increasing trajectories for interest and utility value; and three classes of stable, decreasing, or increasing trajectories for attainment value among Asian and Latinx students from Southern California across Grades 8 through 10. Additionally, group comparisons were made at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender. Findings suggested that students from marginalized groups (e.g., Latina students) do not always display more negative motivational belief development compared to those privileged in math (e.g., Asian female students). In Study 2, I estimated latent transition models and examined the varying change patterns in motivational beliefs in four racial/ethnic groups (i.e., White, Asian, Latinx, and Black) across Grades 9 to 11 using a nationally representative sample in the U.S. Additionally, I examined the role of parents and teachers in shaping students’ motivational beliefs. Findings suggested diverse patterns of stability, decreases, and increases in motivational beliefs in all racial/ethnic groups. Parent socialization and perceived teacher unfairness were significantly associated with some changes in motivational belief development (e.g., perceived teacher unfairness and negative development of interest among Black students). My dissertation demonstrates the variability in motivational belief development among students within the same racial/ethnic group. Overall, my findings challenge the traditional racial/ethnic stereotypes that exist in STEM, suggest ways for researchers to highlight the strengths of marginalized groups, and present ways to create a more equitable learning environment to foster positive motivational beliefs in all youths.

Due to the importance of motivational beliefs and family support, this dissertation used the situated expectancy-value theory, family systems theory, and the Latino youth development model to focus on motivational and family processes related to science during adolescence among Latinx families. Using the Latinx subsample from a nationally representative dataset, Paper 1 focused on the relations between parent support at 9th grade, adolescents’ 11th grade science intrinsic and utility values, and 11th grade STEM occupational expectations. Moreover, Paper 1 also tested whether these indicators and relations differed by adolescent gender and parent education. Findings indicated that parent science support was related to adolescents’ science utility value and girls’ science intrinsic value, with only adolescents’ science utility value predicting whether they had a STEM occupational expectation. Also, adolescent girls were more likely than boys to have a STEM occupational expectation and adolescents who had parents with a higher education received greater parent support compared to their peers. Expanding upon Paper 1 with a smaller dataset, Paper 2 tested whether parents’ and siblings’ respective familism values and parent education predicted parent and older sibling science support. Also, Paper 2 examined associations between parent and older sibling science support and adolescents’ science intrinsic and utility values. Findings from this study suggested that parents’ and siblings’ familism values were not associated with how much support they gave in science. When compared to each other, parents provided greater support compared to siblings. Lastly, both parent and sibling support predicted adolescents’ science utility value. Finally, using qualitative data that consisted of 14 interviews with Latinas who successfully persisted in science in college, Paper 3 focused on identifying how parents and siblings supported the development of Latina adolescents’ science intrinsic and utility values in high school. The main themes that emerged for both parents and older siblings included conversations, emotional support, and coactivity. Moreover, Latina adolescents with high familism values had greater parent and sibling science support compared to Latina adolescents with low familism values. Also, in families where only older siblings had higher education experience, older siblings gave more support than parents for certain types of support. Findings from these dissertation papers not only unpacked family support by examining the extent to which parents and siblings work together to support adolescents, but it also bridged the gap between literatures on Latinx family support and adolescent science intrinsic and utility values.

Latinx adolescents face inequities in their math education that place them at a disadvantage for future STEM pursuits, where only 6% of math-related bachelor’s degrees are earned by Latinx individuals. However, organized afterschool activities have the potential to serve as institutional supports to provide Latinx adolescents with high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrichment learning opportunities. Despite research suggesting that afterschool activities are linked with positive outcomes, meta-analyses have shown that not all afterschool programs are effective, especially for under-represented adolescents. In fact, only high-quality STEM afterschool programs are associated with positive outcomes for under-represented adolescents. Scholars argue that the two key indicators for program quality are youth-staff relationships and program activities. This three paper dissertation focuses on a high-quality math afterschool activity, Math CEO, as an exemplar to learn more about these two key aspects of high-quality programs and best practices utilized by frontline staff. Using quantitative data, Study 1 examined changes in Latinx adolescents’ math motivational beliefs and the extent to which adolescents’ motivational beliefs were associated with their perceptions of culturally responsive practices. Results from multilevel models indicated that adolescents’ math ability self-concept increased over the course of one year and their math interest and importance remained stable. Moreover, adolescents’ perceptions of culturally responsive practices predicted their math ability self-concept and importance at the end of the school year, but did not predict changes over the course of a year. In Study 2, the aim was to qualitatively explore a wide range of adolescent outcomes and how specific aspects of program quality promoted these outcomes. Through Latinx adolescent interviews, findings revealed that adolescents perceived changes in their math-specific outcomes, future STEM pathways, and social-emotional skills. Findings also revealed that youth-staff relationships and program activities are important elements in supporting those changes, such that, incorporating advanced math concepts, engaging in collaborative learning, engaging in campus tours, having informal conversations, and using culturally responsive practices promoted specific adolescent outcomes. For Study 3, the aim was to better understand how to support high-quality frontline staff practices by describing their experiences, particularly the challenges they experienced and how they responded to those challenges. Interview findings from college student mentors, serving as frontline staff, suggested that mentors experienced specific challenges, such as difficulty with teaching math content, promoting motivation, navigating group instruction, developing connections with adolescents from diverse sociocultural backgrounds, and establishing authority and gaining respect. In response to the challenges, findings revealed that mentors leveraged support from other experienced mentors, attended weekly trainings, engaged in collaborative learning, utilized real-world examples in their teaching, provided non-math activities, engaged in informal and structured conversations, and leveraged adolescents’ sociocultural assets. Given that frontline staff are the key to improving program quality, it is important to consider their perspectives and strengthen the quality of programs by designing staff trainings that will better support frontline staff and all that they do. In order to support afterschool programs’ efforts to serve under-represented adolescents, it is important to consider both adolescents’ and frontline staff’s perspectives. Together, this three paper dissertation provides evidence-based recommendations for how afterschool advocates, practitioners, and researchers can continue to design, implement, and improve afterschool program quality by understanding the key program elements and best practices that promote positive adolescent experiences and outcomes, specifically among under-represented adolescents.

Keywords. Latinx, adolescents, frontline staff, STEM, afterschool programs, outcomes

Given that structural and social inequities in the U.S. curtail many developmental opportunities for Latinx adolescents, it is essential to identify and develop supportive infrastructures for Latinx adolescents (National Academy of Sciences, 2019). Families and organized activities have been identified as important developmental contexts for the positive development of adolescents (Mahoney et al, 2009; Simpkins et al., 2015; Vandell et al., 2015). However, further research is needed to understand how the connection between Latinx families and organized activities can support or constrain the positive development of Latinx adolescents. Based on the gaps in the literature, this dissertation aimed to examine the relations between Latinx families, organized activities, and Latinx adolescent development, while considering the heterogeneity in the sociocultural backgrounds of Latinx families. This dissertation specifically focused on families and adolescents of Mexican origin. In Paper 1, we used qualitative interview data to examine Mexican-origin parents’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of participating in organized activities for their families. We also conducted a cross-case analysis to determine whether parents’ perceptions varied based on parents’ level of enculturation. Findings revealed that organized activities positively contributed to family relationships and dynamics and reinforced the ethnic cultural socialization from families. However, constraints on family resources and a cultural mismatch between families and organized activities compromised adolescents’ continued participation in the activity. Parents who had a higher enculturation to the Mexican ethnic culture were more likely to mention adherence to their ethnic culture as a benefit of organized activities and misalignment with their ethnic culture as a challenge. Expanding from Paper 1, Paper 2 captured the college preparation capital that families and organized activities provided to Mexican-origin adolescents during high school. We also examined how the college preparation capital from organized activities complemented the capital from families and whether the forms of college preparation capital that students reported differed based on their parents’ college education. For the method, we qualitatively analyzed retrospective, semi-structured interviews with Mexican-origin college students from a high-ranking, 4-year, public university. The findings show that Mexican-origin families were resourceful in providing different forms of college preparation capital to their adolescents, including aspirational capital grounded in their cultural knowledge, and dominant forms of capital like social capital. Organized activities played a valuable role in complementing the college preparation capital from families with unique forms of navigational and aspirational capital. Lastly, Mexican-origin students with college-educated parents reported receiving more aspirational and social capital from their organized activities compared to students whose parents did not attend college. In the two dissertation papers, we find that cultural socialization and access to skills, knowledge, and resources across families and organized activities shape the developmental opportunities for Mexican-origin adolescents. Moreover, the nature of the relations between families, organized activities, and the development of Mexican-origin adolescents varied based on sociocultural factors. Overall, the findings from this dissertation have valuable theoretical, empirical, and practical implications for scholars, families, organized activities, and other key stakeholders that seek to improve the developmental opportunities for Mexican-origin adolescents.

Introduction

Method

Results and conclusions