FAMILY, PEER, AND NEIGHBORHOOD INFLUENCES ON ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS - ONE-YEAR PROSPECTIVE EFFECTS

Using a 1-year prospective design, this study examined the influence o f family status variables (family income, parental education, family s tructure), parenting variables (maternal support and restrictive contr ol), peer support, and neighborhood risk on the school performance of 120 African American junior high school students. In addition to main effects of these variables, neighborhood risk was examined as a modera tor of the effects of parenting and peer support. Family status variab les were not predictive of adolescent school performance as indexed by self-reported grade point average. Maternal support at Time 1 was pro spectively related to adolescent grades at Time 2. Neighborhood risk w as related to lower grades, while peer support predicted better grades in the prospective analyses. Neighborhood risk also moderated the eff ects of maternal restrictive control and peer support on adolescent gr ades in prospective analyses. These findings highlight the importance of an ecological approach to the problem of academic underachievement within the African American community.