Pathways to Academic Achievement: Perspectives from Collectivist Cultures and Immigrant Experiences

Academic success is recognized as essential for students' psychosocial development and general welfare both globally and across cultures. Studies on the pathways to academic achievement among students from various non-Western nations are underrepresented in educational psychology research, despite representing an ethical and moral obligation as well as a risk factor in the context of high international migration flows and increasingly multicultural schools. Students who migrate from non-Western to Western societies are at risk of facing challenges associated with inconsistent approaches to learning as they tend to maintain collectivist values and practices that are incongruent with the individualist orientation typically favoured in traditional Western schools. These students are also at-risk of facing cultural challenges stemming from acculturative stress and bicultural identity integration difficulties that can occur during resettlement within an unfamiliar country. The main goal of the two manuscripts in this dissertation is to inform pathways to academic achievement among students who recently immigrated from various non-Western to Western regions of the world by exploring the relationship between psychosocial factors and academic outcomes. Manuscript 1 is a scoping review of the literature on the reciprocal relationship between self-concept and academic achievement among youth in collectivist countries. A total of 27 published empirical articles were included in this review and data regarding the relationship between self-concepts and academic achievement were evaluated qualitatively. The findings indicated that self-concept and academic achievement are mutually related, and more so when measured in relation to a specific academic subject. Manuscript 2 is a study on recently immigrated youth from various non-Western, collectivist countries who attended a Dutch school integration program considered to be rooted in individualistic values and practices. Given the finding from the scoping review that self-concepts relate to academic achievement among youth from collectivist regions, the match or mismatch between their self-construal and the practices typically promoted in Western schools was investigated. The relationship between specific cultural migration challenges and different levels of academic motivation, an indicator of academic achievement, was also assessed. The findings from this manuscript reflected the interdependent cultural heritage of the youth and suggested a mismatch with independent values and practices that are typically promoted within Western schools. In the context of this mismatch, further findings revealed the risk of cultural isolation, discrimination, language challenges, and bicultural identity integration difficulties in fostering external forms of academic motivation that may be detrimental to the long-term academic success of immigrant youth. Overall, the findings from the two manuscripts included in this dissertation emphasize the importance of adapting school curricula and environments in a variety of ways, such as by including initiatives that promote students' academic self-concept, incorporating school-based interdependent values and practices, as well as identifying and intervening on acculturative and bicultural identity integration challenges. By doing so, school practitioners can create inclusive and welcoming schools that embrace diversity and accommodate the unique needs of vulnerable immigrant youth.