Understanding Interracial Closeness, Racial Policy Attitudes, and Children's Academic Achievement through the Prism of Racial Frameworks

[摘要] Despite their growing presence in the U.S. population, Asians receive little mainstream attention, and the images portrayed of the group reinforce old stereotypes of the ;;model minority” or the ;;perpetual foreigner.” Moreover, due to the inherent difficulties in collecting nationally representative data on Asians, they have frequently been omitted from important research on racial attitudes and child outcomes. Hence, the dissertation aims to understand whether and how racial frameworks of Asian Americans influence 1) interracial closeness; 2) attitudes toward race-conscious policies; and 3) the educational achievement gap among children. The dissertation follows a ;;three-essay” format, where each chapter stands independently but has a shared theme of the relevance of racial frameworks involving Asian Americans. Chapter 2 examines and finds support for the main thesis that the two dimensions of the racial triangulation theory—the superior-inferior and the outsider-insider axes—are associated with the relative affinity individuals feel between two outgroups. Results support the hypothesis that racial stratification is multidimensional and that the relative valorization and exclusion of Asians function to distance and divide minority groups for the sake of preserving the existing racial order. Chapter 3 looks at attitudes toward racial policies such as affirmative action via racial triangulation. It also explores whether feelings of closeness as an outgroup identifier and re-categorization tool encourage cross-racial support for policies that advance minority interests. Results show that symbolic racism and political ideology are the most consistent and salient predictors of people’s opinions on affirmative action policies. There is partial support for the role of legitimizing myths in explaining attitudes toward affirmative action. Chapter 4 draws on knowledge from the theories of stereotype threat and promise to explain how teachers’ evaluation of children and parents’ educational expectations influence children’s self-efficacy and internalizing behaviors, which in turn affect their academic achievement. Results show that adult perceptions were indeed biased in favor of Asian children. However, parental expectations did not explain Asian children’s academic achievement; whereas Black parental expectations were found to be effective in buffering the negative effects of low teacher expectations, reducing the internalizing behaviors of Black children, and raising their academic performance.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Asian American

[关键词] Racial Frameworks;Asian American;Model Minority Stereotype;Social Work;Social Sciences;Social Work & Political Science