UC Irvine

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.