Introducing the Expectation Gradient: How Family, Social and Personal Resources Influence Psychological Well-Being Outcomes in Children of Black Immigrants

In immigrant households, academic success can represent a path toward upward mobility. For families whose socioeconomic standing are lower, achievement is especially salient, which can result in high expectations that follow immigrant youth. This research explores how academic expectations influence the psychological well-being outcomes of children. Drawing on a cross-sectional analysis from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), this research examines if expectations of educational attainment and academic success contribute to a worsening of the psychological well-being of Black immigrant youth with Caribbean ancestry. Grounded in the stress process perspective—particularly Turner’s iteration of the Pearlin model—the study investigates the role social and personal resources play in mediating and/or moderating the relationship between academic expectations and depressive symptomatology. Other important frameworks referenced and used in this research include the status attainment model and Andersen’s health care utilization framework. Findings suggest that increased expectations are protective against depressive symptomatology, and that social and personal resources both mediate and moderate the relationship between stress and psychological well-being.