Interaction effect of familism and socioeconomic status on academic outcomes of adolescent children of Latino immigrant families.

INTRODUCTION: Previous research has shown inconsistent findings of the effect of familism on academic outcomes among adolescents from Latino immigrant families. Guided by social capital theory and the concept of gendered familism, the current study examined differential effects of family obligation and family cohesion as subcomponents separately. This study also investigated the moderating effect of familial SES on the association of each component of familism and academic outcomes by gender. METHODS: Participants were 1801 adolescents from Latino immigrant families (Mage = 14.1 years, SD = 0.83, range = 14-17) drawn from the Children of Immigrant Longitudinal Studies. The current study employed a series of multiple regression analyses to examine the effects of familism, assessed by family obligation and family cohesion, on adolescents' grade point average (GPA), educational expectations and aspirations. Multigroup analyses were also conducted to examine gender differences in the effect of familism on adolescents' academic outcomes. RESULTS: Analyses revealed the positive main effect of family cohesion and the negative effect of family obligations on Latino and Latina adolescents' GPA and educational expectations. For Latino adolescents, negative effect of family obligation on GPA was stronger for adolescents from high-SES families than those from low-SES families. CONCLUSION: It is imperative for researchers to conceptualize familism and operationalize the construct clearly. The effect of differences in family context and gender role expectation also needs to be considered in examining the association between familism and the academic outcomes of adolescents from immigrant families.