Department of Sociology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367;
Institute for Social Research and Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48104; andCenter for Social Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jun 10;111(23):8416-21. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1406402111. Epub 2014 May 5.
The superior academic achievement of Asian Americans is a well-documented phenomenon that lacks a widely accepted explanation. Asian Americans' advantage in this respect has been attributed to three groups of factors: (i) socio-demographic characteristics, (ii) cognitive ability, and (iii) academic effort as measured by characteristics such as attentiveness and work ethic. We combine data from two nationally representative cohort longitudinal surveys to compare Asian-American and white students in their educational trajectories from kindergarten through high school. We find that the Asian-American educational advantage is attributable mainly to Asian students exerting greater academic effort and not to advantages in tested cognitive abilities or socio-demographics. We test explanations for the Asian-white gap in academic effort and find that the gap can be further attributed to (i) cultural differences in beliefs regarding the connection between effort and achievement and (ii) immigration status. Finally, we highlight the potential psychological and social costs associated with Asian-American achievement success.
亚裔美国人的卓越学术成就已是有案可稽的现象，但这一现象缺乏一个广为接受的解释。在这方面，亚裔美国人的优势归因于三组因素：（i）社会人口特征，（ii）认知能力，以及（iii）通过注意力和职业道德等特征衡量的学术投入。我们结合了两项具有全国代表性的队列纵向调查的数据，比较了从幼儿园到高中的亚裔美国学生和白人学生的教育轨迹。我们发现，亚裔美国人的教育优势主要归因于亚裔学生付出了更多的学术努力，而不是在经过测试的认知能力或社会人口统计学方面具有优势。我们测试了学术投入方面的亚裔-白人差距的解释，并发现差距可以进一步归因于（i）在努力与成就之间的联系方面的信念的文化差异，以及（ii）移民身份。最后，我们强调了与亚裔美国人的成就成功相关的潜在心理和社会成本。
