A Brief Report: Factors Influencing African American Youth Decisions to Stay in School

The goal of the study was to assess positive factors that contribute to African American students’intentions to stay in school. Two hundred and thirty-one African American students participated in this study. Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a conceptual model, surveys measured student attitudes toward school-year completion, social support for completing the academic year, and their perceptions of personal control over school completion. The contributions of self-esteemand racial self-esteemwere also examined for their influence on academic strivings. The TPB was a better predictor of intentions to complete the school year than student grade point averages (GPAs). Self-esteemadded only slightly to the variance explained in predicting intentions to complete the school year, but neither self-esteemnor racial self-esteemwas a significant predictor of GPAs.