Abstract
Asian American students often report lower self-esteem than their peers from other racial groups even though they are doing better academically. The current study attempted to explore this paradox from an attributional perspective. Academic achievement, self-esteem and attributions for academic failures (i.e., low ability and low effort) were examined in an ethnically diverse sample of 3546 White, Black, Latino, and Asian American 8th grade students (Mage = 14.03 years) from California. Results showed that Asians had the highest grade point average but the lowest self-esteem among the four major racial/ethnic groups. Asians and Latinos also endorsed more low ability attributions than Whites and Blacks. The self-esteem gap between Asians and their White and Black peers was partly explained by more endorsement of low ability attributions. Implications for future research and interventions were discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bangston, V., & Zhou, M. (2002). Being well vs. doing well: Self-esteem and school performance among immigrant and nonimmigrant racial and ethnic groups. International Migration Review, 36, 389–415. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2002.tb00086.x.
Barker, G. P., & Graham, S. (1987). Developmental study of praise and blame as attributional cues. Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(1), 62–66. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.79.1.62.
Benner, A. D., & Graham, S. (2009). The transition to high school as a developmental process among multiethnic urban youth. Child Development, 80(2), 356–376. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01265.x.
Blackwell, L., Trzesniewski, K., & Dweck, C. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78(1), 246–263. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00995.x.
Boese, G. D., Stewart, T. L., Perry, R. P., & Hamm, J. M. (2013). Assisting failure-prone individuals to navigate achievement transitions using a cognitive motivation treatment (attributional retraining). Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(9), 1946–1955. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12139.
Chen, C., & Stevenson, H. W. (1995). Motivation and mathematics achievement: A comparative study of Asian-American, Caucasian-American, and East Asian high school students. Child Development, 66(4), 1215–1234. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131808.
Clogg, C. C., Petkova, E., & Haritou, A. (1995). Statistical methods for comparing regression coefficients between models. American Journal of Sociology, 100(5), 1261–1293. https://doi.org/10.1086/230638.
Cvencek, D., Nasir, N. I. S., O’Connor, K., Wischnia, S., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2015). The development of math–race stereotypes: “They say Chinese people are the best at math”. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 25(4), 630–637. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12151.
Fuligni, A. J. (1997). The academic achievement of adolescents from immigrant families: The role of family background, attitudes, and behavior. Child Development, 68(2), 351–363. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01944.x.
Graham, S., Bellmore, A., Nishina, A., & Juvonen, J. (2009). “It must be me”: Ethnic diversity and attributions for peer victimization in middle school. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38, 487–499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9386-4.
Graham, S., & Juvonen, J. (1998). Self-blame and peer victimization in middle school: An attributional analysis. Developmental Psychology, 34(3), 587–599. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.34.3.587.
Graham, S., & Taylor, A. Z. (2016). Attribution theory and motivation in school. In K. Wentzel & D. Wiele (Eds.), Handbook of motivation in school. London: Taylor & Francis.
Grant, H., & Dweck, C. S. (2001). Cross-cultural response to failure: Considering outcome attributions with different goals. In F. Salili, C.-Y. Chiu, & Y.-Y. Hong (Eds.), Student motivation: The culture and context of learning. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Greene, M., Way, N., & Pahl, K. (2006). Trajectories of perceived discrimination among Black, Latino, and Asian American adolescents: Patterns and psychological correlates. Developmental Psychology, 42(2), 218–238. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.218.
Harter, S. (1985). The self-perception profile for children: Revision of the Perceived Competence Scale for Children manual. Denver, CO: University of Denver.
Heine, S. J., Kitayama, S., Lehman, D. R., Takata, T., Ide, E., Leung, C., et al. (2001). Divergent consequences of success and failure in Japan and North America: An investigation of self-improving motivations and malleable selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(4), 599–615. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.4.599.
Hsin, A., & Xie, Y. (2014). Explaining Asian Americans’ academic advantage over Whites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8416–8421. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1406402111.
Hyde, J. S. (2014). Gender similarities and differences. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 373–398. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115057.
Kiang, L., Tseng, V., & Yip, T. (2016). Placing Asian American child development within historical context. Child Development, 87(4), 995–1013. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12578.
Lee, W. O. (1996). The cultural context for Chinese learners: Conceptions of learning in the Confucian tradition. In D. A. Watkins & J. B. Biggs (Eds.), The Chinese learner: Cultural, psychological and contextual influences (pp. 63–67). Hong Kong: HKU Comparative Education Research Centre.
Lee, S. J. (2015). Unraveling the “model minority” stereotype: Listening to Asian American youth. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Lee, J., & Zhou, M. (2014). The success frame and achievement paradox: The costs and consequences for Asian Americans. Race and Social Problems, 6(1), 38–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-014-9112-7.
Marsh, H. W., Kong, C. K., & Hau, K. T. (2000). Longitudinal multilevel models of the big-fish-little-pond effect on academic self-concept: Counterbalancing contrast and reflected-glory effects in Hong Kong schools. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), 337–349. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.2.337.
Marsh, H. W., & O’Mara, A. (2008). Reciprocal effects between academic self-concept, self-esteem, achievement, and attainment over seven adolescent years: Unidimensional and multidimensional perspectives of self-concept. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(4), 542–552. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207312313.
Min, P. G. (Ed.). (2005). Asian Americans: Contemporary trends and issues. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ng, F. F. Y., Pomerantz, E. M., & Lam, S. F. (2007). European American and Chinese parents’ responses to children’s success and failure: Implications for children’s responses. Developmental Psychology, 43(5), 1239–1255. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.5.1239.
Osborne, J. W. (2001). Testing stereotype threat: Does anxiety explain race and sex differences in achievement? Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26(3), 291–310. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.2000.1052.
Perry, R. P., Stupnisky, R. H., Hall, N. C., Chipperfield, J. G., & Weiner, B. (2010). Bad starts and better finishes: Attributional retraining and initial performance in competitive achievement settings. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29(6), 668–700. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2010.29.6.668.
Pomerantz, E. M., Ng, F. F., & Wang, Q. (2008). Culture, parenting, and motivation: The case of East Asia and the United States. Advances in Motivation and Achievement: Social Psychological Perspectives, 15, 209–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-7423(08)15007-5.
Schacter, H. L., & Juvonen, J. (2015). The effects of school-level victimization on self-blame: Evidence for contextualized social cognitions. Developmental Psychology, 51(6), 841–847. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000016.
Stevenson, H. W., Lee, S. Y., Chen, C., Stigler, J. W., Hsu, C. C., Kitamura, S., et al. (1990). Contexts of achievement: A study of American, Chinese, and Japanese children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 5, i-119.
Tan, J. B., & Yates, S. (2011). Academic expectations as sources of stress in Asian students. Social Psychology of Education, 24(3), 389–407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-010-9146-7.
Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. New York, NY: Springer.
Weiner, B. (1988). Attribution theory and attributional therapy: Some theoretical observations and suggestions. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27, 93–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1988.tb00757.x.
Wong, P., Lai, C. F., Nagasawa, R., & Lin, T. (1998). Asian Americans as a model minority: Self-perceptions and perceptions by other racial groups. Sociological Perspectives, 41(1), 95–118. https://doi.org/10.2307/1389355.
Yan, W., & Gaier, E. L. (1994). Causal attributions for college success and failure: An Asian-American comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 25(1), 146–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022194251009.
Yeager, D. S., Romero, C., Paunesku, D., Hulleman, C. S., Schneider, B., Hinojosa, C., et al. (2016). Using design thinking to improve psychological interventions: The case of the growth mindset during the transition to high school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 374–391. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000098.
Yuan, S., Weiser, D. A., & Fischer, J. L. (2016). Self-efficacy, parent-child relationships, and academic performance: A comparison of European American and Asian American college students. Social Psychology of Education, 19(2), 261–280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-015-9330-x.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (5R01HD059882) and the National Science Foundation to Sandra Graham. The first author was also funded by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (16XNLQ05) to prepare the manuscript at University of California, Los Angeles.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, X., Graham, S. Doing better but feeling worse: an attributional account of achievement—self-esteem disparities in Asian American students. Soc Psychol Educ 21, 937–949 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-018-9447-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-018-9447-9