Explaining persistent disparities in educational achievement: a comparative study of Yi minority and Han majority in China

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual model.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics.

	Percentages	Min.	Max.	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
Outcome variable:
Educational achievement		0.00	45.00	19.05	13.46	1178
Explanatory variables:
Father’s profession
peasants and labour workers	73.7					851
merchants and clerks	17.7					205
Professional and administrators	8.6					99
Father’s education
No schooling	15.3					176
Primary school	38.9					448
Junior high school	27.9					321
Senior high or vocational high school	10.9					126
Higher education	7.0					81
School settings
First model schools	20.4					240
Second model schools	29.5					348
Chinese-only schools	50.1					591
Family durable purchase		1.00	3.79	1.59	0.40	1059
Family educational resources		0.00	1.00	0.45	0.26	1111
Parental involvement		1.00	4.00	2.98	0.44	1144
Educational expectations		1	4	3.15	0.53	1153
Educational aspirations
Compulsory education	2.8					32
Vocational secondary schools	4.3					49
General secondary schools	10.6					120
Higher education of 3 years	26.4					299
Higher education of 4 or more years	55.8					632
Demographic variables:
Age		12	21	15.24	1.25	1160
Gender
Female	49.3					562
Male	50.7					579
Residence
Rural	83.8					909
Urban	16.2					176
Ethnicity
Yi	67.0					764
Han	33.0					376

Table 2. Hierarchical multiple regression for educational achievement.

	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3		Model 4		Model 5
	β	a. S. E	β	a. S. E	β	a. S. E	β	a. S. E	β	a. S. E
Constant	B = 8.89	0.24	B = 15.92	2.78	B = 6.14	3.14	B = 3.80	3.26	B = −12.16	3.00
Ethnicity	0.14***	0.42	0.05	0.46	−0.03	0.49	−0.60+	0.52	0.04	0.46
Age			−0.10**	0.17	−0.06+	0.17	−0.05	0.17	−0.01	0.15
Gender			0.09**	0.39	0.08**	0.37	0.08**	0.37	0.07**	0.33
Residence			0.20***	0.55	0.05	0.63	0.05	0.63	0.04	0.55
Family durable purchase					−0.04	0.74	−0.05	0.74	−0.04	0.65
Father’s profession					0.03	0.37	0.03	0.37	−0.01	0.33
Father’s education					0.10**	0.23	0.10**	0.23	0.07*	0.20
Family educational resources					0.28***	1.08	0.27***	1.08	0.14***	0.97
Parental involvement					0.07**	0.42	0.08**	0.42	−0.01	0.38
School settings							0.09*	0.28	0.09**	0.25
Educational expectations									0.21***	0.34
Educational aspirations									0.36***	0.18

a. Dependent variable: educational achievement.

+ p < 0.1, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

Figure 2. Pathways and factor loadings in predicting educational achievement.

Table 3. Standardized total effects of different factors on educational achievement.

	Family backgrounds	Educational expectations	Educational aspirations	School settings
Educational expectations	0.25 (0.06)***
Educational aspirations	0.21 (0.10)***
School settings	0.45 (0.09)***
Educational achievement	0.37 (0.68)***	0.22 (0.31)***	0.36 (0.17)***	0.10 (0.23)***
Parental involvement	0.08 (0.04)**
Family educational resources	0.84 (0.04)***
Family durable purchase	0.87 (0.06)***
Father’s education	0.62 (0.12)***
Father’s profession	0.51

Table 4. Standardized total effects of different factors on educational achievement by ethnicity.

	Family background		School settings		Educational expectations		Educational aspirations
	Yi	Han	Yi	Han	Yi	Han	Yi	Han
Educational expectations	0.22*** (0.07)	0.51*** (0.14)
Educational aspirations	0.19*** (0.13)	0.51*** (0.26)
School settings	0.32*** (0.11)	0.08 (0.07)
Educational achievement	0.26*** (0.82)	0.56*** (1.52)	0.12*** (0.28)	−0.02 (0.76)	0.19*** (0.42)	0.24*** (0.55)	0.38*** (0.22)	0.30*** (0.31)
Parental involvement	0.03 (0.06)	0.45*** (0.10)
Family educational resources	0.81*** (0.04)	0.81*** (0.08)
Family durable purchase	0.85*** (0.07)	0.73*** (0.11)
Father’s education	0.53*** (0.13)	0.60*** (0.21)
Father’s profession	0.52	0.45