Factors contributing to academic achievement among recently arrived Chinese adolescents in Australia remain relatively underexplored. Previous studies focused on Asian migrants, including Chinese, but did not distinguish Chinese from other Asian migrants. The current study specifically looks at Chinese migrants who have recently arrived, as opposed to Asian migrants. This study aims to explore the role of social support, school belonging, and acculturative stress on academic achievement of recently arrived Chinese adolescents (n = 55). Questionnaires were administered to this sample. The results indicated that school belonging, interestingly, was negatively associated with academic achievement. Perceived social support and acculturative stress were not significantly associated with academic achievement. The findings provide insights into risk and protective factors influencing academic achievement of Chinese migrants. Implications of the findings are discussed.
AlbegL.J., & Castro-OlivoS.M. (2014). The relationship between mental health, acculturative stress, and academic performance in a Latino middle school sample. Contemporary School Psychology, 18, 171–186. doi:10.1007/s40680-014-0010-1
2.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011). 2011 Census quickstats. Retrieved from http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/0
3.
BerryJ.W. (2005). Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 697–712. doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005. 07.013
4.
Blanco-VegaC., Castro OlivoS., & MerrellK. (2008). Social and emotional needs of Latino immigrant adolescents: An ecological model for developing, planning, and implementing culturally sensitive interventions. Journal of Latinos and Education, 7, 46–61. doi:10.1080/15348430701693390.
5.
BogenschneiderK. (1996). An ecological risk/protective theory for building prevention programs, policies, and community capacity to support youth. Family Relations, 45, 121–138. doi:10.2307/585283
6.
CohenJ. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 151–159. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155
7.
CortinaJ.M. (1993). What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 98–104. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.78.1.98
8.
DandyJ., & NettelbeckT. (2000). The model student? An investigation of Chinese Australian students’ academic achievement, studying, and causal attributions for academic success and failure. Australian Psychologist, 35, 202–215. doi:10.1080/00050060008257480
9.
DandyJ., & NettelbeckT. (2002). A cross-cultural study of parents’ academic standards and educational aspirations for their children. Educational Psychology, 22, 626–627. doi:10.1080/0144341022000023662
10.
DunstC.J., TrivetteC.M., & DealA.G. (1988). Enabling and empowering families: Principles and guidelines for practice. Brookline, MA: Brookline Books.
11.
FanC., & KarnilowiczW. (2000). The mathematics achievement and aspirations of Chinese-Australian girls and Anglo-Australian girls in Australia. Current Research in Social Psychology, 5, 171–190. Retrieved from http://www.uiowa.edu/∼grpproc/crisp/crisp.5.10.htm
12.
FuligniA.J. (1997). The academic achievement of adolescents from immigrant families: The role of family background, attitudes, and behavior. Child Development, 68, 353–363. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01944.x
13.
GonzalezR., & PadillaA.M. (1997). The academic resilience of Mexican American high school students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 19, 301–317. doi:10.1177/07399863970193004
14.
GoodenowC. (1993a). Classroom belonging among early adolescent students relationships to motivation and achievement. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 13, 24–43. doi:10.1177/0272431693013001002
15.
GoodenowC. (1993b). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents: Scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30, 79–90. doi:10.1002/1520-6807(199301)30:1 <79::AID-PITS2310300113>3.0.CO;2-X
16.
GutmanL.M., & MidgleyC. (2000). The role of protective factors in supporting the academic achievement of poor African American students during the middle school transition. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 222–249. doi:10.1023/A:1005108700243
17.
HawleyS.R., ChavezD.V., & RomainT.S. (2007). Developing a bicultural model for academic achievement: A look at acculturative stress, coping, and self-perception. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 29, 282–299. doi:10.1177/0739986307303805
18.
HeaneyC.A., & IsraelB.A. (2002). Social networks and social support. In K.Glanz, B.K.Rimer, & K.Viswanath (Eds.), Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 182–209). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
19.
JibeenT., & KhalidR. (2010). Development and preliminary validation of Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Scale for Pakistani immigrants in Toronto, Canada. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 34, 232–243. doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2009.09.006
20.
Kia-KeatingM., & EllisB.H. (2007). Belonging and connection to school in resettlement: Young refugees, school belonging, and psychosocial adjustment. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 12, 24–43.
21.
LeungC. (2001). The sociocultural and psychological adaptation of Chinese migrant adolescents in Australia and Canada. International Journal of Psychology, 36, 1–19. doi:10.1080/00207590042000047
22.
LiG. (2006). What do parents think? Middle-class Chinese immigrant parents’ perspectives on literacy learning, homework, and school-home communication. School Community Journal, 16, 27–46.
23.
LiuY., & LuZ. (2011). Trajectories of Chinese students’ school belonging and academic achievement over the high school transition period. Learning and Individual Differences, 21, 181–190. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2010.12.007
24.
McKayP. (Ed.). (2007). Introducing the NLLIA ESL Bandscales Version 2. In Assessing, monitoring and understanding English as a second language in schools: The NLLIA ESL Bandscales Version 2 (pp. 12–13. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland University of Technology and Independent Schools Queensland.
25.
MenaF.J., PadillaA.M., & MaldonadoM. (1987). Acculturative stress and specific coping strategies among immigrant and later generation college students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9, 202–225. doi:10.1177/07399863870092006
26.
NiehausK., RudasillK.M., & RakesC.R. (2012). A longitudinal study of school connectedness and academic outcomes across sixth grade. Journal of School Psychology, 50, 444–460. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2012.03.002
27.
OngA.S., & WardC. (2005). The construction and validation of a social support measure for sojourners The Index of Sojourner Social Support (ISSS) Scale. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 636–661. doi:10.1177/0022022105280508
28.
PittmanL.D., & RichmondA. (2007). Academic and psychological functioning in late adolescence: The importance of school belonging. The Journal of Experimental Education, 75, 272–290. doi:10.3200/JEXE.75.4.270-292
29.
ResnickM.D., HarrisL.J., & BlumR.W. (1993). The impact of caring and connectedness on adolescent health and well-being. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 29, 9–9. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1754.1993.tb02257.x
30.
RutterM. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 316–331. doi:10.1111/j.1939-0025.1987.tb03541.x
31.
SánchezB., ColónY., & EsparzaP. (2005). The role of sense of school belonging and gender in the academic adjustment of Latino adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34, 619–628.
32.
SchmittN. (1996). Uses and abuses of coefficient alpha. Psychological Assessment, 8, 350–353. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.8.4.350
33.
SchwartzS.J., ZamboangaB.L., & JarvisL.H. (2007). Ethnic identity and acculturation in Hispanic early adolescents: Mediated relationships to academic grades, prosocial behaviors, and externalizing symptoms. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 364. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.13.4.364
34.
SciarraD.T., & SeirupH.J. (2008). The multidimensionality of school engagement and math achievement among racial groups. Professional School Counselling, 11, 212–228. doi:10.5330/PSC.n.2010-11.218
35.
ShochetI.M., SmythT., & HomelR. (2007). The impact of parental attachment on adolescent perception of the school environment and school connectedness. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 28, 101–118. doi:10.1375/anft.28.2.109
36.
SmerdonB.A. (2002). Students’ perceptions of membership in their high schools. Sociology of Education, 75, 283–305. doi:10.2307/3090280
37.
Stanton-SalazarR.D., ChávezL.F., & TaiR.H. (2001). The help-seeking orientations of Latino and non-Latino urban high school students: A critical-sociological investigation. Social Psychology of Education, 5, 48–82. doi:10.1023/A:1012708332665
38.
Suarez-OrozcoC., & Suarez-OrozcoM. (2001). Children of immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
39.
SueS., & OkazakiS. (1990). Asian-American educational achievements: A phenomenon in search of an explanation. American Psychologist, 45, 913–920. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.45.8.913
40.
VeielH.O. (1987). Buffer effects and threshold effects: An alternative interpretation of nonlinearities in the relationship between social support, stress, and depression. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15, 717–740. doi:10.1007/BF00919800
41.
VialleW. (2013). The ‘Tiger Mother’ factor: Curriculum, schooling and mentoring of Asian students in an Australian context. In S.N.Phillipson, H.Stoeger, & A.Ziegler (Eds.), Exceptionality in East Asia (pp. 147–166). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
42.
WangS.C., SchwartzS.J., & ZamboangaB.L. (2010). Acculturative stress among Cuban American college students: Exploring the mediating pathways between acculturation and psychosocial functioning. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40, 2862–2887.
43.
WatkinsM., & NobleG. (2013). Disposed to learn: Ethnicity, schooling and the scholarly habitus. London, Bloomsbury.
44.
WentzelK.R. (1998). Social relationships and motivation in middle school: The role of parents, teachers, and peers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 202–209. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.90.2.202
45.
WitkowM.R., & FuligniA.J. (2010). In-school versus out-of-school friendships and academic achievement among an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 20, 636–650. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00653.x
