A multisystem, longitudinal study of resilience factors and positive educational outcomes for Mexican youth

Abstract

This study uses an ecodevelopmental framework to examine factors related to positive educational outcomes for Mexican adolescents. This framework allows exploration of a number of microsystem and mesosystem factors in middle adolescence to explain high school graduation and college graduation. Additional theoretical support for individual factors comes from the developmental assets framework. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) was used to address two primary aims: 1) to determine if high school and college graduation of Mexicans vary as a function of gender and immigrant generation; 2) to determine if individual factors, the family and friend microsystems, and the family-friend mesosystem predict high school and college graduation. No differences in these educational outcomes were found by gender or immigrant generation. An individual's aspirations and expectations about college, parent-child relationship quality, expectations for high school/college graduation, and friends' GPAs were the important predictors of both outcomes and friends' substance use was also significant for college graduation.