Future outlook among African American students.

Abstract

The study examined attitudes toward the future as a potential contributor to discrepancies in school achievement among 16 low-income, urban African American adolescents. Higher achieving students expressed more positive attitudes toward the future than lower achieving students. Boys, regardless of achievement, reported negative attitudes toward the future of society and were concerned with obstacles to a positive future. Findings suggest that gender based experiences among African American adolescents may shape their attitudes toward the future and contribute to the gender gap in their achievement.

Introduction

Thinking about and planning for future life transitions are major features of personal, career, and academic development among adolescents (Erikson, 1968, 1980; Nurmi, 2004). According to Nurmi (1991), the process of developing a representation of the future occurs in three phases: motivation, planning, and evaluation. First, adolescents develop expectations of the future based on knowledge of anticipated life events. The expectations and knowledge that adolescents develop regarding these anticipated life events motivate them to explore future personal and career options. Second, adolescents attempt to reach their goals through planning activities. The skills that adolescents are exposed to and their perceptions of ability provide a framework for planning. Third, adolescents evaluate opportunities to realize their goals and ambitions. It is the evaluation process that leads to the development of emotional attributions toward the future. Students who are optimistic and manifest positive representations of the future are more motivated to achieve academically and to actively plan for the future than students who manifest negative, pessimistic attitudes toward the future (Nurmi, 1991, 2004; Nuttin, 1985; Savickas, Silling, & Schwartz, 1984; Somers & Gizzi, 2001)).

The current study qualitatively examines attitudes toward the future among low-income, urban African American adolescents and introduces "attitudes toward the future" as a unique, yet potentially persuasive, contributor to discrepancies in school achievement among these youth. The study is guided by the belief that attitudes toward the future motivate current behavior and may serve as a motivating factor for school achievement (Nurmi, 1991; Nuttin, 1974, 1985; Phalek, Andriessen, & Lens, 2004). For the purpose of this paper, attitudes toward the future are defined by personal feelings and expectations regarding one's future and the future of society. The researcher attempted to answer the following question: What is the connection among attitudes toward the future, gender, and achievement? That is, to what extent do African American girls express attitudes toward the future that are qualitatively different from African American boys and to what extent do higher achieving students express attitudes toward the future that are qualitatively different from lower achieving students?

Method

Participants

The study included sixteen low-income, ninth grade African American adolescents from an urban high school in the northeastern region of the country. There were four higher and four lower achieving students from each gender group. Based on a 100-point scale, students earned an average grade point average of 75.29 for the first three quarters of the academic year. The average grade point average for higher and lower achieving students was 82.2 and 68.1, respectively.

Data Sources

Participants completed two semi-structured individual interviews. The first interview (~60 minutes) explored students' goals for and attitudes regarding their personal future and the future of society. Sample questions included: a) What are some of your goals and expectations? b) What feedback have you received regarding your goals and expectations? c) Do you feel you will reach your goals and expectations? d) What would keep you from reaching your goals and expectations? The interview included twenty-eight questions that were asked of all participants. The researcher was also open to ask follow-up questions and questions of clarification during each interview. During the second interview (25-45 minutes), preliminary findings and interpretations were discussed with each student based on information gained from the first interview. The second interview served as a method of data verification and provided an opportunity to clarify unclear responses from the first interview. Maxwell (1996) found the process of receiving feedback regarding data interpretation from study participants, known as member checks, to be an important mechanism to avoid data misinterpretation.

Data Analysis

Analysis relied heavily on the work of Patton (1990, 2001) and Miles and Huberman (1994). These qualitative methodologists suggest the use of matrices to organize data as a means of developing meaning from recurring patterns and themes found in the data. Analysis of the interview transcripts occurred in two phases. In phase one, each interview was analyzed for emerging themes and patterns in the data. Guided by findings from previous research (Nurmi, 1991; Nuttin, 1974, 1985; Poole & Cooney, 1987), phase one of data analysis assessed how the 16 adolescents described their attitudes toward the future and examined how data collected from the first interview supported or failed to support previous research findings. Each transcript was coded for major themes and patterns in the data. In the second phase of data analysis, matrices were developed to assess similarities and differences within and across gender and achievement groups. For instance, were the attitudes expressed toward the future by higher achieving students similar to or different from those of lower achieving students, and what were the similarities and differences in students' attitudes toward the future in each gender and achievement group?

Findings

Future Outlook and Achievement

Attitudes toward the future took on two meanings, personal and societal, and were marked by variations within and across achievement groups. For instance, while higher achieving students expressed attitudes toward the future that were more positive than lower achieving students, higher achieving girls expressed a more positive attitude toward their personal future than their male counterparts. Higher achieving students, particularly higher achieving girls, expected "to work hard, to reach their (my) goals and to have a good life." Monique, a higher achieving girl, stated

   I think I am going to have a good future. Just by going to college,
   doing really well and studying hard the future will be okay. You can
   reach your goals and everything. So I think things are going to be
   good.

Similarly, Issac, a higher achieving boy, stated,

   I have written down some of the things I want to do in the future
   and I think I will get to do them. I look at people and I think I
   can do that. So I work hard and work to stay focused.

Lower achieving students expressed less positive attitudes toward the future than higher achieving students. These students were less certain about their personal future and about the possibility of future success. Jeremy, a lower achieving student stated "you can't really know anything about the future until you know what the future is going to be like--until you experience it for yourself." Sherry, a lower achieving student, further supported this uncertainty regarding the future. Sherry stated,

   I get so confused about the future. So many people are always making
   hypothesis about what is going to happen in the future, what is
   going to happen to me and I just get confused. I get confused about
   the whole thing (the future).

Future Outlook, Achievement and Gender

The differences in students' attitudes toward the future across achievement groups are important and suggest that as educators we should further explore how these differences may have bearing on students' academic success. However, of similar importance are the gender differences found within each achievement group. Although there was evidence of differences in students' attitudes toward the future between higher and lower achieving students, differences were found across gender within each achievement group. Higher achieving girls, relative to higher achieving boys and lower achieving students, were likely to view the future as a place of opportunity and independence. Tasha, a higher achieving girl, stated,

   I think good things are going to happen in my future. Things are
   already starting to brighten up. I am having a good first year at
   this school. I'm making new friends and I made the basketball team.

Similarly, Mary a higher achieving girl stated,

   I look forward to the future. I feel all right about it. I am going
   to be older and can do more things.

Higher achieving boys stated positive attitudes toward the future, but were more likely to express concern for obstacles to a positive future than higher achieving girls. Higher achieving boys were concerned about external factors, such as peer pressure or racism interfering with the opportunity to have a positive future. Marlon a higher achieving boy stated,

   For me--um um things will go how I want it. It will--if I want it
   to--go great. If I want to like pass through all the obstacles that
   I have to pass through it will go the way I want it.

Similarly, Cameron a higher achieving boy expressed positive feelings toward the future but, like Marion, was concerned about obstacles to his personal future. Cameron stated,

   I see good things (in the future) if I keep trying to be what I want
   to be cause than I will become it. So I have to be extra careful and
   don't get tripped up or get into stuff. Cause people keep talking
   about peer pressure and stuff and people can trip you up.

Differences in students' attitudes toward the future were also found across gender among lower achieving students. Attitudes toward the future among lower achieving students ranged from uncertainty to indifference. For lower achieving girls the future was something to which they had given little consideration. Lower achieving girls were uncertain regarding their personal future or indifferent in that they appeared not to have cognitively considered the future. Monica, a lower achieving student stated,

   I really don't think about things like the future. I just take one
   day at a time--that's the way I look at things.

Similarly, Kris a lower achieving girl stated,

   I can't really say what I will be doing in the future. Me and my
   friends talked about it once, but I still can't really say. I have
   to be able to change my mind.

Like lower achieving girls, lower achieving boys expressed less positive attitudes toward the future than higher achieving students, however, the future was something that lower achieving boys were more likely to think about than their female counterparts. In addition, lower achieving boys were similar to higher achieving boys in the likelihood of discussing obstacles that might prevent them from having a positive personal future. For example, Jim stated,

   I think it's (the future) really going to be off and on--I mean I
   expect that I'm going to do good and then I'm going to do bad and
   then I'm going to do good and then I'm going to do bad cause that's
   how it is with me. I do good and then I do bad, so that's how I see
   myself in the future doing good and bad--off and on. I don't think
   you can stay like that (doing good). Its going to be a situation
   that comes up and its going to knock you back--so I just see myself
   being a nice person, but I see myself going through bad situations.

Steve, a lower achieving boy stated,

   I don't know. I don't even look ahead. When I sort of look ahead I
   don't like expect too much from what's in front of me or from what's
   behind me. I just go with what comes--like today whatever happens
   today happens today cause you never know if you are going to see
   tomorrow. So I don't look ahead to tomorrow like people wake up and
   like tomorrow we doing this and doing that I just wake up and like
   well today is another day whatever happens today happens today but
   it doesn't really have to happen today if I don't want it to happen
   today so I don't really look too much into the future

Obstacles to a Positive Future Outlook

Obstacles to a positive future, as described by boys, were external and included societal problems such as the progressive deterioration of society through racism, violence, poverty, and improper use of technology. It was difficult to distinguish between the responses of lower and higher achieving boys regarding their perceptions of the future of society. Independent of achievement, boys held a bleak view of the future of society, a view possibly grounded in the status of African American males in society. Tim, a higher achieving boy stated,

   I don't feel good about the future cause every year things change
   and they get worse and worse so I think about two years from now
   how its going to be its going to get worse--its going to double it
   and in two more years its going to triple it. I don't think it's
   going to be a future because the world just might blow up. Hopefully
   it will be a future if they don't stomp down--stop things from
   happening--but I'm not going to worry about that stuff too
   much--cause if it does (blow up) it does.

Similarly, Anthony, a lower achieving boy, expressed feelings that reflected his concern for the future of society and that mirrored those of Tim. Anthony stated,

   In a way, I don't see myself in ten years from now, people think
   I'm crazy but I think the end of the world is coming. I'm for
   real--I really think cause there is so much stuff going on in this
   world I just don't think its going to last another ten years. So I
   don't really see myself in 10 years.

The negative view of the future of society was not found among girls. When girls were asked about the future of society, their responses were consistent with their attitudes toward their personal future. Higher achieving girls remained positive while lower achieving girls continued to appear uncertain or indifferent about the future. Earlier research by Fordham (1996) found that higher achieving girls are apt to "pretending that the social reality they experience every day is not real" (p.330). For instance, Mary, a higher achieving girl, was aware of the negative feelings that others espoused toward the future of society, but was able to maintain her positive view of the future of society. Mary stated,

   I think the future is going to be okay--some people worry that it's
   going to be a whole bunch of explosives but I really don't think
   World War Ill is going to break out between now and then. I think
   it's going to be basically the same--technology may be a little
   different, but things are going to be basically the same. I think
   it's (the future) going to be good.

Lower achieving girls expressed a similar indifference regarding their attitudes toward the future of society as expressed in their attitudes toward their personal future, an indifference that may influence their academic performance. The indifference of lower achieving girls toward the future of society was evident in the comment of Debra, a lower achieving girl who stated,

   I really don't know really. I haven't really thought about it--how
   the future is going to be. Like my friend she has thought things
   through. She knows what she is going to do and where she want to
   live. I wish I was like her. She is in a lot of stuff. She knows her
   future. I wish I was just--I just never worried about it (the
   future).

Discussion

Findings suggest notable differences across achievement and gender groups. Higher achieving students expressed more positive attitudes toward their personal future than lower achieving students. Boys, regardless of achievement, articulated a more negative attitude toward the future of society and were more concerned with obstacles to their personal future than girls. These findings both support and contradict results from earlier studies that examined attitudes toward the future among mainstream adolescents. First, consistent with research on mainstream adolescents, higher achieving students were more likely to express a positive attitude toward their personal future than their lower achieving counterparts. Earlier studies have found that students who hold positive attitudes toward the future are more likely to outperform students who hold negative attitudes toward the future (Nurmi, 1991; Nuttin, 1985; Savickas, Silling, & Schwartz, 1984). In a study examining the connection between possible self (self in future) and academic achievement, it was found that students who were optimistic about possible self tended to report higher grade point averages than students reporting negative images of possible self (Anderman, Anderman, & Griesinger, 1999).

Second, girls, particularly higher achieving girls, were found to express a more positive attitude toward the future of society than boys. Boys, regardless of achievement, tended to express concern for obstacles that might prevent a positive personal future. Earlier research suggests that girls generally express more negative attitudes toward their personal future than boys (Greene & Wheatley, 1992; Nurmi, 1989; Trommsdorff, 1986). Greene and Wheatley (1992), found that young women expect more interruptions in their future educational and occupational plans to assume family responsibilities and expect to negotiate more responsibilities in the future than young men. Findings from the current study regarding gender differences in students' attitudes toward the future of society and their awareness of obstacles to a positive future may reflect differences in societal and academic experiences among African American students across gender. African American girls may express more positive attitudes toward the future of society and be less concerned with obstacles to a positive future due to their comparatively more elevated status to African American boys in academia and in society in general. In academia, African American girls are viewed in terms that are more favorable by teachers than their male counterparts (Holland, 1991; Ross & Jackson, 1991). Ross and Jackson (1991) asked urban teachers to view student case studies and to predict the current and future achievement of each student and their desire to have the student in their class.

The case studies differed and were counterbalanced by gender only. They found "clear sex bias;" (p. 81) teachers predicted higher current and future academic performance for African American females than males. In addition, African American males are at greater risk than African American females for placement in special education courses and for school suspension and expulsion (Harry & Anderson, 1995; Murrell, 1994; Shaw & Braden, 1990). In larger society, African American males face a similar fate. African American males, in comparison to females, are more likely to be victims of violence, underemployed and to experience discrimination predicated on race (Gordon, Gordon, & Nembhard, 1994; Jones-Johnson, 1989; Smith & Horton, 1997). These are all factors that may help to structure the attitudes that African American adolescent males hold toward the future and may suppress their achievement to a greater degree than African American females. It could be that how these adolescents construct their attitudes toward the future, particularly the future of society, is determined by academic, cultural and societal beliefs about and representations of African Americans, thus creating a gendered culture among African American youths. That is, a gender-specific culture among African American youth that is inherently constructed and defined by the societal and cultural climate within which their attitudes toward the future are nurtured and developed; and that may curb achievement and a positive view of the future among males to a greater degree than females.

Third, students in the current study, particularly higher achieving boys, described their personal future somewhat independent of the future of society. Although higher achieving boys held negative attitudes toward the future of society, they expected to experience a level of personal success in the future. This finding is consistent with earlier studies that suggest adolescents tend to predict positive life transitions for themselves, but when asked about the future of society they tend to be less optimistic (Poole & Cooney, 1987; Sundberg, Poole, & Tyler, 1983). Fordham (1996) found that when lower achieving African American males were asked about their future plans, their responses were not supported by their performance in school, a finding that suggests that although adolescents may express concern about the future of society, they may see these concerns as more distal and can plan for their personal futures in spite of dearth views of global society (Nurmi, 1991).

Implications for Educators

This study provides a number of implications for educators. Namely, that educators should assess students' attitudes toward the future on an on-going basis during elementary and secondary school, and should examine the connection between students' attitudes toward the future and a number of risk and resilience factors. The representations of future that students develop early in their academic lives may inherently shape their academic motivation as well as other areas of development. It has been found that students who express negative attitudes toward the future, who are unable to envision future outcomes and who lack the skills to plan for the future are at greater risk for depression, engaging in risky behavior and exhibiting poor coping strategies (Scheier & Carver, 1985; Somers & Gizzi, 2001; Trad, 1993).

Educators should also address and be aware of cultural and historical factors that may influence students' attitudes toward the future. Understanding the context of the hopes and fears that African American adolescents espouse toward the future and the social forces that shape them may be critical to promoting positive academic and personal development among these youth. Researchers have found that societal problems such as unemployment levels, negative human relations (e.g., racism), and historical views of past experiences (e.g., slavery and oppression) can negatively influence adolescents' attitudes toward the future (Nurmi, 1991; Nuttin, 1985). Encouraging students to connect to society and to understand how changes in society can potentially influence future possibilities may help them consider how current academic behavior, and behaviors in general, can help to shape their future either positively or negatively. Students in the current study, particularly higher achieving boys, expressed attitudes toward their personal future that were somewhat independent of the future of society. On one hand, this cognitive schema may serve as a protective factor for students, protecting them from negative societal images and stereotypes. On the other hand, it may encourage students to believe that they have no control over or influence on societal factors that inform their everyday life experiences. Educators can co-create, with students, a positive image of future life events and transitions through the use of books, guided imagery, role models, career and personal development programs and discussions of students' future goals and expectations.

Conclusion

There appears a connection between academic achievement, gender, and attitudes toward the future for the 16 students included in the study, suggesting the need for educators to consider students' attitudes toward the future as a potential contributory factor to academic achievement. However, this area of research warrants additional study. Future research should empirically examine the connection between student attitudes toward the future and school achievement, and should explore changes in attitudes toward the future across time and varying sociocultural contexts. For example, when do African American adolescents start to develop attitudes toward the future and what are the social factors that inform their attitudes? A major limitation of this study is that findings cannot be generalized to a larger population of African American adolescents. Future studies should include a larger sample size and a more diverse student sample. Another limitation of the study is the small differences between the grade point average of higher and lower achieving students. Selecting higher and lower achieving students with larger discrepancies in achievement may produce even more tangible results.

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Detris Honora Adelabu, Wheelock College

Detris Honora Adelabu, Ed.D., is Assistant Professor of Human Development. She primarily studies factors influencing school achievement among African American youths.