The relations of future expectations (general and academic) to academic outcomes were examined in a sample of 129 African American high-achieving adolescents (majority female participants, n = 92). This study was interested in the multidimensional nature of future expectations. Results from the study confirm the hypothesis that academic future expectations accounted for more variance in the relation to academic outcomes than general future expectations. In addition, the results suggest that the association of academic future expectations to grade point average lessens in the presence of negative friends. Suggestions for future research are offered.
Arnett, J. (1999). Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered. American Psychologist, 54, 317-326.
2.
Baron, R.M., & Kenny, D.A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
3.
Berndt, T.J., & Miller, K.E. (1990). Expectancies, values, and achievement in junior high school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 319-326.
4.
Brown, B.B. (1999). Measuring the peer environment of African American adolescents. In S. L. Friedman, & T. D. Wachs (Eds) Measuring environment across the life span: Emerging methods and concepts (pp. 59-90). American Psychological Association: DC.
5.
Cowen, E.L., Wyman, P.A., Work, W.C., Kim, J.Y., Fagen, D.B., & Magnus, K.B. (1997). Follow-up study of young stress affected and stress resilient urban children. Development and Psychopathology , 9, 565-575.
6.
Crosnoe, R. (2001). High school curriculum track and adolescent association with delinquent friends. Journal of Adolescent Research, 17, 143-167.
7.
Crosnoe, R., Erickson, K.G., & Dornbusch, S.M. (2002). Protective functions of family relationships and school factors on the deviant behavior of adolescent boys and girls. Youth & Society, 33, 515-544.
8.
Cunningham, M. (1999). African American males' perceptions of their community resources and constraints: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Community Psychology, 27, 569-588.
9.
Cunningham, M., Hurley, M., Foney, D., & Hayes, D. (2002). The influence of perceived contextual stress on self-esteem and academic outcomes in AfricanAmerican adolescents. Journal of Black Psychology, 28, 215-233.
10.
Cunningham, M., & Meunier, L.N. (2004). The influence of peer experiences on bravado attitudes among African American males. In N. Way & J. Y. Chu (Eds.), Adolescent boys: Exploring diverse cultures of boyhood (pp. 219-232). New York: New York University Press.
11.
Cunningham, M., Swanson, D.P., Spencer, M.B., & Dupree, D. (2003). The association of physical maturation with family hassles in AfricanAmerican males. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 9, 274-286.
12.
Dubow, E.F., Arnett, M., Smith, K., & Ippolito, M.F. (2001). Predictors of future expectations of inner-city children: A 9-month prospective study. Journal of Early Adolescence, 21, 5-28.
13.
Erikson, E.H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle: Selected papers. Psychological Issues, 1, 1-171.
14.
Fauth, R.C., Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2005). Early impacts of moving from poor to middle-class neighborhoods on low-income youth. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 415-439.
15.
Fauth, R.C., Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2007). Welcome to the neighborhood? Long-term impacts of moving to low-poverty neighborhoods on poor children's and adolescents' outcomes. Journal of Research on Adolescence , 17, 249-284.
16.
Foney, D., & Cunningham, M. (2002). Why do good kids do bad things? Considering multiple contexts in the study of antisocial fighting behaviors in AfricanAmerican urban youth. Journal of Negro Education, 71, 143-157.
17.
Ford, D.Y. (2004). A challenge for culturally diverse families of gifted children: Forced choices between affiliation or achievement. Gifted Child Today, 27, 26-29.
18.
Ford, D.Y., Harris, J.J., III, Tyson, C.A., & Trotman, M.F. (2002). Beyond deficit thinking: Providing access for gifted AfricanAmerican students. Roeper Review, 24, 52-58.
19.
Ford, D.Y., Moore, J.L., III, Milner, H.R. (2004). Beyond culture blindness: A model of culture with implications for gifted education. Roeper Review, 27, 97-103.
20.
Gill, S., & Reynolds, A.J. (1999). Educational expectations and school achievement of urban AfricanAmerican children. Journal of School Psychology, 37, 403-424.
21.
Hayes, D., & Cunningham, M. (2003). Family and school environments working together to impact academic achievement in African American adolescents . In C. C. Yeakey & R. Henderson (Eds.), Surmounting all odds: Education, opportunity, and society in the new millennium (pp. 107-123). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
22.
Honora, D. (2003). Urban African American adolescents and school identification. Urban Education, 38, 58-76.
23.
Howell, D. (2002). Statistical methods for psychology. Pacific Grove, CA: Duxbury Thomson Learning.
24.
Hubbard, L. (1999). College aspirations among low-income African American high school students: Gendered strategies for success. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 30, 363-383.
25.
Huesmann, L.R., Guerra, N.G., Zelli, A., & Miller, L. (1992). Differing normative beliefs about aggression for boys and girls. In K. Björkqvist & P. Niemelä (Eds.), Of mice and women: Aspects of female aggression (pp. 77-87). San Diego, CA : Academic Press.
26.
Israelashivili, M. (1997). School adjustment, school membership, and adolescents' future expectations. Journal of Adolescence, 20, 525-535.
27.
Kao, G. (2001). Race and ethnic differences in peer influences on educational achievement. In E. Anderson , & D. S. Massey (Eds.), Problem of the century: Racial stratification in the United States (pp 437-460). New York: Russell Sage.
28.
Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2005). Neighborhood and gender effects on family processes: Results from the Moving to Opportunity Program . Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 54, 633-643.
29.
Leventhal, T., Fauth, R., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2005). Neighborhood poverty and public policy: A 5-year follow-up of children's educational outcomes in the New York City moving to opportunity demonstration. Developmental Psychology, 41, 933-952.
30.
Luthar, S. (2006). Resilience in development: A synthesis of research across five decades. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology, Vol. 3: Risk, disorder, and adaptation (2nd ed., pp. 739-795). John Wiley.
31.
Luthar, S.S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71, 543-562.
32.
McCabe, K., & Barnett, D. (2000). First comes work then comes marriage: Future orientation among African American young adolescents. Family Relations , 49, 63-70.
33.
Oyserman, D., Terry, K., & Bybee, D. (2002). A possible self's intervention to enhance school involvement. Journal of Adolescence, 25, 313-326.
34.
Slaughter-Defoe, D.T., & Rubin, H.H. (2001). A longitudinal case study of Head Start eligible: Implications for urban education. Educational Psychologist , 36, 31-44.
35.
Spencer, M. (2006). Phenomenology and ecological systems theory: Development of diverse groups. In W. Damon & R. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed.): Vol. 1, Theoretical models of human development (pp. 829-893). John Wiley & Sons.
36.
Spencer, M.B. (1989). Patterns of developmental transitions for economically disadvantaged Black male adolescents. Proposal submitted to and funded by the Spencer Foundation, Chicago, IL .
37.
Spencer, M.B. (1995). Old issues and new theorizing about African American youth: A phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory. In R. L. Taylor (Ed.), Black youth: Perspectives on their status in the United States (pp. 37-70). Westport, CT : Praeger.
38.
Spencer, M.B. (1999). Social and cultural influence on school adjustment: The application of an identity-focused cultural ecological perspective. Educational Psychologist, 34, 43-57.
39.
Stevenson, H.C. (1997). "Missed, dissed, and pissed": Making meaning of neighborhood risk, fear and anger management in urban Black youth. Cultural Diversity and Mental Health, 3, 37-52.
40.
Stevenson, H.C., Herrero-Taylor, T., Cameron, R., & Davis, G.Y. (2002). "Mitigating instigation": Cultural phenomenological of anger and fighting among "big-boned" and "babyfaced" African American youth . Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31, 471-485.
41.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2001). 2001-2002 free and reduced price lunch eligibility. Federal Register, 66, 15827-15829.
42.
Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. (2002). The development of competence beliefs, expectations for success, and achievement values from childhood through adolescence. In A. Wigfield & J. Eccles (Eds.), Development of achievement motivation. A volume in the educational psychology series (pp. 91-120). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
43.
Wood, D., Kaplan, R., & McLoyd, V.C. (2007). Gender differences in the educational expectations of urban, low-income African American youth: The role of parents and the school. Journal of Youth and Adolescence , 36, 417-427.
44.
Wyman, P.A., Cowen, E.L., Work, W.C., & Kerley, J.H. (1993). The role of children's future expectations in self-system functioning and adjustment to life stress: A prospective study of urban at-risk children. Development and Psychopathology , 5, 649-661.
