Explaining Asian Americans’ academic advantage over whites

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1406402111
• Publication Date: 2014-05-06T05:45:42Z
• Authors: Amy Hsin; Yu Xie
• Keywords: Cross-Cultural Comparison; Motivation; Asian; 4. Education; 05 social sciences; Emigrants and Immigrants; Achievement; White People; Cohort Studies; Humans; Educational Measurement; Students; 10. No inequality; 0503 education

Significance

We find that the Asian-American educational advantage over whites is attributable mainly to Asian students exerting greater academic effort and not to advantages in tested cognitive abilities or socio-demographics. We test explanations for the Asian–white gap in academic effort and find that the gap can be further attributed to ( i ) cultural differences in beliefs regarding the connection between effort and achievement and ( ii ) immigration status. Finally, we highlight the potential psychological and social costs associated with Asian-American achievement success.