The impact of family and neighbourhood on the academic achievement among African American teenagers

1.0 IntroductionPerformance in educate has for many long time been destructionly attri scarceed to an someones flavour chances. As the need for an idiosyncratic to undergo advanced level of training to be able to transmit basic living become a necessity, the consequence of difficulty in takeing check become imperative (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). However, individuals do not help aims in a vacuum as they come from families, localitys, and various life events that generally impact on their cognitive operation in one carriage, or an new(prenominal).Currently, almost half of the tutor going teenagers ar coloured. Over 70 percent of residents in large cities in the fall in States atomic number 18 withal coloured (Williams et al., 2002). Based on this statistics it is important to construe the specific aspects of schoolman development of coloured plurality in the joined States.According to ecological theory, the environment has a great enchant on the development of adolescents (Steinberg, 2001 Ingoldsby & Shaw, 2002). As lots as the adolescents make their own behavioural choices, societal structures and interpersonal relationships are viewed as imperative aspects that shape the adolescent choices (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Adolescents growing up in the 21st century look beyond their parents and siblings for developmental adjudge. Therefore, the concept of locality comes in when analysing the development of adolescents. The neighbourhood concept in this context refers to some(prenominal) home and school neighbourhood and how it interacts with the teenager.2.0 Problem DefinitionThe discover of educational achievement gap has been documented by various studies (Gutman et al., 2002 Rankin & Quane, 2002). Unfortunately, most of these studies doom that African American learners have the lowest educational standards in the United States (Moore & bob?Lansdale, 2001). Empirical evidences indicate that in comparison to their white counte rparts, the feat of African American children is infra the normal standards (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Many African American learners come from families that are not only economically unstable but also socially underserved. Several reasons have been linked to the sorry schoolman performance of African American teenagers which eventually results to postgraduate rates of school dropout. Common contents that these teenagers face include racism, poverty, and violence (Brody et al., 2001). These looses affect their horny and faculty memberian performance. Due to their poverty ridden home settings and surrounding, African American teenagers fail to show up a link between pedantician excellence and better adult life (Moore & Chase?Lansdale, 2001). The teenagers are also aware of the stereotypic progress linked to their race which affects their self-concept and ultimately educational performance (Gutman et al., 2002).Consequently, it is important to establish family an d neighbourhood factors and how they impact on the academic performance of African American teenagers. This position is vital in the context that the current understanding on the issue is limited and does not consider the modern-day neighbourhood concept, where the United States has embraced mixed racial neighbourhood settings in most places where African Americans reside. more so, most African Americans live in big cities, which expose them to racial settings that may affect academic performance of the teenagers. Specifically, it is important to analyse how parents, peers, close friends, classmates, and teachers invite the performance of the African American teenagers.3.0 Research Aim and ObjectivesTo to the full search this look into issue, the following objectives allow guide this mullTo look into the links between family settings and academic achievement of the African American teenagers To visualise how school and home neighbourhoods influences academic achievement am ong African American adolescents To stand up a way forward regarding family and neighbourhood in managing the poor academic performance among African American teenagers 4.0 Literature ReviewVarious factors have been linked to poor academic performance among students. A teach by Leventhal and Brooks-Gunn, (2000) identified variables within a culture, a family, and the environment to greatly influence the academic achievement of learners as compared to the type of an educational program. The roles of social and individual support in education are prestigious in the academic achievement outcomes. The school environment communicates to the learners on how the school perceives them (Brody et al., 2001). A school that is known to promote collegiality, respect and values has students that are positively attached to better performance (Gutman et al., 2002). African American learners record high levels of school drop-outs due to the possibility that the school environment does not suppor t their needs. Consequently, the school setting as a learners neighbourhood influences the academic achievement of the learners (Rankin & Quane, 2002).Studies have also suggested the existence of other various factors that influence the academic achievement of the learners other than the school curriculum (Ingoldsby & Shaw, 2002). It is essential to understand how these other factors affect the African American adolescent especially those that are facing academic hurdles. Peers have been identified to determine the teenagers deposition towards their breeding institutions (Brody et al., 2001). The fact that African Americans generally have a problem with academic performance the role of peers may in most cases be prejudicious as far as academic performance is concerned. For instance, studies have shown that the untainted lack of approval from peers is substantive enough to negatively influence the academic achievement of the adolescents (Williams et al., 2002).Furthermore, numerou s studies identify parenting as a central sham in academic performance of teenagers (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000 Gutman et al., 2002). Parents that have supportive association with their teenagers melt down to promote a sense of autonomy among the teenagers which allows the teenagers to not only explore their environment but also seek parental emotional support (Steinberg, 2001). Studies have also shown that the role of parent in defining the emotional and academic performance of the teenagers is greater among the minorities in the United States (Moore & Chase?Lansdale, 2001). other issue that was identified in the literary productions review as an influential factor for academic permanence among teenagers was the social support. Specifically, social support was near linked to school retention levels for adolescents (Brody et al., 2001). Specifically four social factors are known to influence the academic performance of African American teenagers, videlicet neighbourhood, pee rs, parents, and the school (Williams et al., 2002).This clearly indicates that there is a link between the investigate issues and the academic performance of African American teenagers. This study will generate to bequeath an in-depth abbreviation of existing information on the look issue in an attempt to establish a gap of knowledge that the study will attempt to seek. Specifically current literature links family and neighbourhood to performance, but it does not provide the exact family and neighbourhood factors that have resulted to poor academic achievement among African American this will be the airfield of interest for this study. To be able to establish a comprehensive investigating into the inquiry issue, it will be important to provide an overview of the general enquiry plan that will be adopted5.0 Research Plan 6.0 planetary methodologyTo conduct the research successfully, it is vital to develop and abide by a working methodology to ensure the outcomes are worthwh ile (Cres advantageously, 2003). This research is an analytic in nature as it will involve the analysis of the existing situation of academic performance of African American teenagers coition to their homes as well as neighbourhoods. This will ultimately allow the research worker to draw conclusions mean(a)d on these analyses pertaining to how much homes and neighbourhoods influence the academic performance of teenage African Americans. The research methodology that will be use will blend quantitative and qualitative research methods as summarized belowLiterature ReviewThe literature review will offer an overview of the research thing at hand using information collected from articles, journals and books. A literature review will be important in the comprehension of the context of the topic (Creswell, 2003). It will also serve as a base in aiding the methods employed in the research. Specifically, this will involve examining articles, books and any other literature that has alr eady been published on the research issueSurveysSince the research issue involves analysing the public opinions, which is vast, survey is an appropriate method for collecting quantitative info (Creswell, 2003). This will be done through creating questionnaires. The questionnaires will then be used for collecting numerical entropy from the participants. The questionnaire will also delay a section that will be used for the collection of demographic data from the participants.InterviewsTo further enhance the effectiveness of the analysis, interviews of a selected few people will be conducted in order to provide qualitative data for analysis. Interviews, unlike surveys require a lot of time but provide more in depth data founded on opinions and hence advert in uncovering specific information relevant to the research issue (Creswell, 2003). Semi structured interviews will be conducted to bodied subjective views of the study participants on the research issue.A combination of quali tative and quantitative data collection methods will be necessary to provide enough data needed for the analysis to ensure the study arrives at a well informed conclusion. Consequently, combining all the data uncovered through the preceding(prenominal) methods, a data analysis will follow. This will be employ through vigilant assessment of qualitative and quantitative data in order to reach an acceptable conclusion. Specifically, the findings from the qualitative part of the study will be used to enrich the quantitative findings (Creswell, 2003)6.1 Research QuestionsThe above research methodology will be used in providing responses to the following research questionsWhat are the links between family settings and academic achievement of the African American teenagers How does school and home neighbourhoods influences academic achievement among African American adolescents What is the way forward regarding family and neighbourhood in managing the poor academic performance among Afr ican American teenagers 7.0 Research Study Stages and Time Lines ReferencesBrody, G. H., Conger, R., Gibbons, F. X., Ge, X., McBride Murry, V., Gerrard, M., & Simons, R. L. (2001). The influence of neighbourhood disadvantage, collective socialization, and parenting on African American childrens affiliation with deviant peers. pip-squeak development, 72(4), 1231-1246.Creswell, J. (2003). Research design Qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE PublicationsGutman, L. M., Sameroff, A. J., & Eccles, J. S. (2002). The academic achievement of African American students during early adolescence An examen of multiple risk, promotive, and protective factors. American journal of community psychology, 30(3), 367-399.Ingoldsby, E. M., & Shaw, D. S. (2002). Neighborhood contextual factors and early-starting antisocial pathways. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 5(1), 21-55.Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2000). The neighbourhoods they l ive in the effect of neighbourhood residence on child and adolescent outcomes. Psychological bulletin, 126(2), 309.Moore, M. R., & Chase?Lansdale, P. L. (2001). Sexual intercourse and pregnancy among African American girls in high?poverty neighbourhoods The role of family and perceived community environment. ledger of Marriage and Family, 63(4), 1146-1157.Rankin, B. H., & Quane, J. M. (2002). favorable contexts and urban adolescent outcomes The interrelated effects of neighbourhoods, families, and peers on African-American youth. affable Problems, 49(1), 79-100.Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things Parentadolescent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of research on adolescence, 11(1), 1-19.Williams, T. R., Davis, L. E., Saunders, J., & Williams, J. H. (2002). Friends, family, and neighbourhood understanding academic outcomes of African American youth. Urban Education, 37(3), 408-431.