Affirming the Interdependent Self: Implications for Latino Student Performance

ABSTRACT

We examined whether culture-relevant affirmations that focus on family (i.e., family affirmation) would enhance performance for Latino students compared to affirmations that focus on the individual (i.e., self-affirmation). In Study 1 (N = 82), Latino middle school students exposed to a family affirmation outperformed Latino students exposed to a self-affirmation. In Study 2 (N = 269), Latino college students exposed to a family affirmation outperformed Latino students exposed to a self-affirmation and outperformed European American students across conditions. European American students performed equally well across conditions. The findings suggest that culture provides a meaningful framework for developing effective classroom strategies.

Notes

For consistency across the two studies, we also calculated percent accuracy (M = 55.68, SD = 24.63, range = 8.33–100) using the same formula as in Study 1. We compared group means for percent accuracy for the 2 (ethnicity: Latino, European American) × 3 (condition: independent affirmation, interdependent affirmation, control) between-subjects design. There were very small differences in group means for ethnicity (d = .10), and the patterns for the main effect were similar to the reported results on “number correct” (i.e., the interdependent condition differed from the independent condition, d = .30; a small to moderate effect) except that students in the control condition demonstrated very small differences from those in the interdependent affirmation condition (d = .05). The interaction findings are also similar to the reported results on “number correct.”