Identity-Based Motivation: Implications for Intervention

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89932/1/oyserman__destin__2010.pd

From assets to school outcomes: How finances shape children's perceived possibilities and intentions

People do not always take action to attain their desired possible selves—after all, whether consciously or nonconsciously, taking current action makes sense if there is an open path toward attaining the desired self, but not if paths are closed. Following this logic, children from families with fewer assets may lower their expectations for school success and plan to engage in less effort in school. To test this hypothesis, we examined the impact of experimentally manipulating mind-set about college as either ‘‘closed’’ (expensive) or ‘‘open’’ (can be paid for with needbased financial aid) among low-income early adolescents. Adolescents assigned to an open-path condition expected higher grades than those assigned to a closed-path condition (Study 1, n 5 48, predominantly Hispanic and Latino seventh graders) and planned to spend more time on homework than those assigned to a no-prime control condition (Study 2, n 5 48, predominantly African American seventh graders).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64249/1/From_assets_to_school_outcomes.pd

Parental expectations and educational outcomes for young African American adults: Do household assets matter?

African American children are more likely to be poor and live in households that are ‘‘asset poor,’’ with no or very little net worth. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplement, this article explores whether living in a household with net worth above the sample median seems to promote educational success and the development of human capital over time, irrespective of income. Controlling for parental income and education, as well as gender, household wealth in the form of net worth was the best predictor of parental expectations, high school completion, and college enrollment for young African American adults. A brief discussion of possible asset-building policy options follows.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64276/1/Parental_expectations_and_educational_outcomes_for_young_African_American_adults.pd

Psychological Pathways from Financial Conditions to Outcomes for Youth.

Low-income and minority youth are dramatically less likely to reach a college education than their higher income and White counterparts. The dissertation evaluates how socioeconomic circumstances and family assets come to influence academic motivation and lifetime outcomes for youth. In chapter II, structural equation models, constructed from recent waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, test the proposition that a family’s assets increase a child’s level of subsequent academic attainment in young adulthood by boosting adolescent expectations for college enrollment. The second chapter also shows that assets benefit motivation and achievement for youth in particularly low-income neighborhoods. Primarily through field experiments, chapters III and IV test the specific effects of financial information about college on middle-school youth from low socioeconomic backgrounds. First, college costs information that indicates an open path to college (through financial aid) enhances immediate academic goals and motivation, compared to information that suggests a closed (high costs) path to college. Finally, in chapter IV, information that highlights the high economic returns to a college education increases current plans for academic engagement and actual effort on a school-related task amongst low-income youth, compared to students in a condition who receive information that does not connect college to subsequent income. All participants were fully debriefed with information on the benefits and accessibility of a college education. Taken together, the dissertation outlines general and specific psychological pathways that translate socioeconomic circumstances into patterns of behaviors that lead to significant lifetime consequences. Implications for community and policy interventions also emerge, as the findings provide suggestions for effective ways to frame economic circumstances for young students that may help them to establish a clearer image of their future possibilities.Ph.D.PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77765/1/destin_1.pd