Investigating Predictors of College-Going Self-Efficacy and Educational Goals for Latina/o High School Students

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2013

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This study examined predictors of college-going self-efficacy and educational goals in a sample of Latina/o high school students (N = 119). Specifically, the study investigated the variance accounted for by school performance, ethnic identity, barriers, and family support in college-going self-efficacy and educational goals. Important findings included that school performance was a key predictor of college-going self-efficacy, and this relationship was moderated by family’s college-going support. For students with a high GPA, having support was linked to higher college-going self-efficacy, while students that had a high GPA but low support had lower self-efficacy. Students with lower GPA had lower college-going self-efficacy regardless of the level of support they reported. Another important finding was that school performance was the main predictor of educational goals. In addition, socioeconomic status was related to perceptions of barriers, GPA, and educational goals, such that students with a lower socioeconomic status were more likely to perceive more barriers, have a lower GPA, and lower educational goals. This study advanced knowledge regarding salient variables for Latina/o students, and may contribute to the development of an empirically tested intervention to improve Latina/o students’ academic performance, college-going self-efficacy, and educational goals.

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