ERIC Number: EJ966485
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-2984
EISSN: N/A
Testing the "Acting White" Hypothesis: A Popular Explanation Runs out of Empirical Steam
Wildhagen, Tina
Journal of Negro Education, v80 n4 p445-463 Fall 2011
According to the "acting White" hypothesis, African American students who do well in school are negatively sanctioned by their peers, leading them to withdraw future academic engagement. No study to date has tested the entire causal process posited by the hypothesis. This article uses the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, nationally representative data, to test the process on high school students. The results lend no support to the process predicted by the "acting White" hypothesis for African American students, but they do show that African American students receive lower academic "payoffs" from their socioeconomic status than do White students. Suggestions for future research and reasons for the persistence of the popularity of the acting White hypothesis, despite the dearth of empirical support, are discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: African American Students, Academic Achievement, White Students, High Achievement, Peer Influence, Longitudinal Studies, High School Students, Socioeconomic Status, Hypothesis Testing, Racial Factors, Homework, Advanced Placement, Course Selection (Students), Student Attitudes, Social Bias
Howard University School of Education. 2900 Van Ness Street NW, Washington, DC 20008. Tel: 202-806-8120; Fax: 202-806-8434; e-mail: journalnegroed@gmail.com; Web site: http://www.journalnegroed.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A