Keeping Latina/o Students in School: Factors Related to Academic Intentions of Students at Risk for School Dropout.

This study examined the relationships between academic self-efficacy, academic motivation, social support, school belonging, home-school dissonance, and academic intentions in a sample of 762 Mexican American 9th graders attending a Midwestern public school. Using Structural Equation Modeling, we examined a model where academic self-efficacy and motivation mediated relations between family, peer, and school support, school belonging, and home-school dissonance to the outcome of academic intentions. We also explored whether relations would differ by gender. Academic motivation functioned as a significant mediator of the effect of family support on academic intentions, and school belonging on academic intentions The relationship between friend support and motivation to achieve varied by gender where the relationship was positive for boys but not for girls. We discuss practical implications for school-based preventive interventions to promote school persistence in Latina/o adolescents.