Gender differences in the educational expectations of urban, low-income African American youth: The role of parents and the school

This study examined how youths' gender is related to the educational expectations of urban, low-income African American youth, their parents, and their teachers. As predicted, African American boys (ages 9-16) reported lower expectations for future educational attainment than did their female counterparts. Parents and teachers also reported lower expectations for African American boys (ages 6-16) than for girls. These findings held even when controlling for academic achievement. Contrary to predictions, the magnitude of the difference in expectations for males vs. females did not increase as a function of youths' age. In keeping with our hypotheses, parental expectations fully mediated the relation between youths' gender and youths' expectations. Finally, certain school-based factors (i.e., positive teacher expectations and positive youth perceptions of the school environment) appeared to protect youths' expectations from the deleterious impact of low parental expectations.