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Little empirical attention has been given to the academic stress experienced by Native American undergraduates. This study explored the relation of self-beliefs, ethnic identity, and cultural congruity with academic stress among 158 (65 males and 93 females) Native American university undergraduates. Participants completed instruments assessing self-esteem, academic self-efficacy (grade and task), ethnic identity (centrality, public regard, and private regard), cultural congruity, and academic stress. Hierarchical regressions revealed that self-beliefs (specifically task self-efficacy), ethnic identity (particularly public regard), and cultural congruity predicted academic stress, accounting for 23.7% of the variance. Each of these constructs was negatively related to academic stress. These findings are discussed in light of the literature, and ideas for college-based interventions are given.

Latinos, particularly Mexican immigrants, are the fastest-growing population in the United States but lag behind others in educational attainment. Parent involvement in their child's education has been linked to positive student academic outcomes, but few studies have focused specifically on Latino/a parents. To identify and promote culturally salient parent involvement approaches for Mexican immigrant parents, this qualitative strength-based study investigated motivations, actions, and culture of 11 Mexican immigrant parents of students who attended a selective college preparatory high school. The study found that a parent's effort to help their children succeed is not dependent on high levels of parent education or income. Rather, the home-based strategies, many of which are rooted in the Latino culture, and specific outreach by educators influenced parent involvement.

Based on Tinto's model of academic persistence, this study explored background and personal factors that theoretically impact the academic persistence decisions of college freshmen. The factors studied were (a) parental educational attainment, (b) parental valuing of education, (c) high school grade point average, (d) residential status (on- vs. off-campus), (e) personal valuing of education, (f) perceived academic preparation, (g) academic self-expectancy, (h) educational self-efficacy, and (i) self-esteem. The study sample consisted of 378 (135 male and 243 female) freshmen who were 18 and 19 years old. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that more positive academic persistence decisions were predicted by residential status (living on-campus) and self-beliefs, specifically greater educational self-efficacy, self-esteem, and personal valuing of education. These findings suggest that researchers, counselors, and college policy makers consider residential status as well as students' beliefs about themselves when making decisions related to increasing retention of college freshmen.

This study examined the reliability and validity of scores from the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity with 550 Euro-American, 112 Latino, and 41 Native American undergraduates. Data for the Centrality, Private Regard, and Public Regard scales indicate that these scores have construct validity. Scores have acceptable Cronbach alpha internal consistency reliabilities across the 3 groups. (Contains 2 tables.)

The relationships of four types of career goals (job related, school related, value related, and unknown) with factors of school retention, academic performance, self-esteem, educational self-efficacy, and school and career commitment are studied among 401 first-semester college freshmen. Differences in types of goals based on gender are also considered. Students reporting job-related goals are more likely to make positive persistence decisions than students reporting unknown goals. Men are more likely to report value-related goals than women, whereas women are more likely to report job-related goals than men. Implications of these findings for those working in college settings that help foster students' career development and academic success are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships among suicidality, substance use, self-esteem, family structure, and eight personality characteristics (harm avoidance, impulsivity, aggression, social recognition, cognitive structure, succorance, abasement, and achievement) with 337 talented, at-risk, adolescent girls. Results indicated that girls with histories of suicidal ideations and/or attempts had significantly higher levels of substance use, impulsivity, aggression, and social recognition, and significantly lower levels of self-esteem and harm avoidance than girls without such histories. Girls without suicide histories were also more likely to come from single mother families. Consideration of these factors, by both researchers and clinicians, in assessing suicide risk is encouraged.

Although gifted girls are closing the gap in math and science achievement, they continue to lose interest and drop out of math/science careers. An intervention was developed for talented at-risk young women that emphasized enhancing career identity and exploration, building science self-efficacy and self-esteem and reducing risky behaviors. Self-esteem, school self-efficacy, and future self-efficacy increased from pre-test to the 3- to 4-month follow-up. Girls significantly increased their seeking information about career and were likely to stay with nontraditional choices. The risk factor suicidality also decreased over this period.

Using a five-year longitudinal study, examines psychosocial factors related to the academic persistence of 288 American Indian college students. Findings indicate that academic preparation and aspirations, academic performance, and interactions with faculty and staff best differentiated between students who persisted in school and those who did not. (RJM)