Academic achievement of Vietnamese American adolescents

This article investigates influences on academic achievement among Vietnamese American high school students. Theorists have offered a variety of explanations for Asian American academic success, and characteristics of individual families have received particular attention in many of these explanations. Here, it is argued that the academic success of Vietnamese American students may be understood as the product of “social capital,” or tightly integrated sets of associations, within Vietnamese American communities. If this is the case, it is further argued, high levels of scholastic performance among Vietnamese American youth should be proportionate to their involvement with an ethnic community. The article uses data from a specific Vietnamese American community to find whether community involvement by adolescents and their families is in fact associated with academic achievement. Participation in an ethnic church, proportion of friends who are Vietnamese, and attendance at after‐school Vietnamese classes are used as indicators of adolescents’ community involvement. Membership in ethnic community organizations is used as an indicator of parental community involvement. Findings support the contention that the involvement of Vietnamese American adolescents and of their parents in the ethnic community are strong predictors of academic achievement and that the structure of individual families promotes scholastic performance primarily by promoting community involvement

Academic achievement · Attendance · Developmental psychology · Ethnic community · Ethnic group · Immigration · Political science · Social capital · Social science · Sociology · Vietnamese · Early Childhood Education and Development · Parental Involvement in Education · Psychology · School Choice and Performance · Social Psychology

• Sibling Cooperation and Scholastic Performance among Vietnamese-American Secondary School Students

  Open Access•Carl L Bankston•Sociological Perspectives•1998

  Incluir item

• Children of the Boat People

  Open Access•Nathan Caplan, Marcella Choy et al.•Children of the boat people•1991

  Incluir item

• The Boat People and Achievement in America

  Nathan Caplan, John K Whitmore et al.•Boat People and Achievement in…•1989

  Incluir item

• Minority Status and Schooling in Plural Societies

  John U Ogbu•Comparative Education Review•1983

  Incluir item

• Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital

  J S Coleman, J Coleman•Knowledge and social capital•2000

  Incluir item

• Foundations of Hegel’s Social Theory

  Frederick Neuhouser•Foundations of Hegel's Social…•2000

  Incluir item

• The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity

  Edna Bonacich, John Modell•Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity•1980

  Incluir item

• The Boat People and Achievement in America

  Nathan Caplan, John K Whitmore et al.•NEXUS The Canadian Student…•1996

  Incluir item

• Family and Community among Vietnamese Refugees

  D W Haines, David Haines et al.•International Migration Review•1981

  Incluir item

• Social Capital and the Adaptation of the Second Generation

  Min Zhou, Carl L Bankston Iii et al.•International Migration Review•1994

  Incluir item

• Social Capital and the Adaptation of the Second Generation

  Open Access•Min Zhou, Carl L Bankston•International Migration Review•1994

  Incluir item

• Family and Community among Vietnamese Refugees

  Open Access•D W Haines, David Haines et al.•International Migration Review•1981

  Incluir item

• Chinatown

  Peter Kwong, Peter D Kwong et al.•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1993

  Incluir item

• Differential patterns of achievement among Asian-American adolescents

  Open Access•Sylvia Alatorre Alva•Journal of Youth and Adolescence•1993

  Incluir item

• The Vietnamese Experience in America

  James M Freeman, James Freeman et al.•Journal of American History•1993

  Incluir item

• The Case against the SAT

  Rodney T Hartnett, James Crouse et al.•The Journal of Higher Education•1989

  Incluir item

• Asian-American educational achievements

  Stanley Sue, Sumie Okazaki•American Psychologist•1990

  Incluir item

• A Theory of Middleman Minorities

  Edna Bonacich•American Sociological Review•1973

  Incluir item

• The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity

  K Victor Ujimoto, Edna Bonacich et al.•Pacific Affairs•1982

  Incluir item

• Chinatown

  Jan Lin, Jan C Lin et al.•Social Forces•1996

  Incluir item

• Education, Occupational Prestige, and Income of Asian Americans

  Herbert R Barringer, David Takeuchi et al.•Sociology of Education•1990

  Incluir item

• Effects of Minority-Language Literacy on the Academic Achievement of Vietnamese Youths in New Orleans

  Carl L Bankston, Min Zhou•Sociology of Education•1995

  Incluir item

• Achievement Motivation in Children of Three Ethnic Groups in the United States

  Open Access•Manuel Ramírez, Douglass R Price-Williams et al.•Journal of Cross-Cultural…•1976

  Incluir item

• Vietnamese ethnicity and adolescent substance abuse

  Carl L Bankston•Deviant Behavior•1995

  Incluir item