The study compared the academic achievement of 59 recent Mexican immigrant and 59 native-born Mexican American junior high school students in Nogales, Arizona. Three different types of variables were investigated: measures of student achievement, family background factors, and acculturative stress variables. Data were obtained from the school records, the Family Background Questionnaire, the Self-Esteem Inventory, and the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire. The study revealed that, contrary to prior research and the general expectation of Southwest educators, the academic achievement of recent Mexican immigrants was not better than that of second or third generation Mexican American students. Furthermore, the recent immigrants experienced more acculturative stress and scored lower on four family background variables (father's educational level and present occupational status, mother's educational level, and parental stress on education). The most consistent predictors of educational level and present occupational status, and student's self-concept. The differences between the groups were not attributable to chronological age or length of schooling in the United States, but sex differences were important to the sociocultural and psychocultural factors. Larger scale studies in urban and rural areas more remote from the Mexican border are recommended as is a study of the extent to which teachers believe recent immigrants achieve better. (SB)