Week 2 - Carissa Fejarang - A02

In Beyond the Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices, OiYan Poon and Ajani Byrd look deeper into how the parents of Asian Americans, potential tiger parents, influence their children's college decisions. The term "tiger mom phenomenon" suggests that moms can cause their children to experience anxiety and pressure due to certain expectations or obligations. Poon and Byrd looked deeper and conducted a study to see just what and how Asian American students are influenced to choose colleges. It was found that depending on your ethnicity, college-going generation, gender, etc. different things and people are more influential than others. For example, it was found that second-generation college students are more likely to say that their parents are the best resource for information about choosing colleges, while first-generation college students are more likely to say that people like their teachers or counselors are the best resources, because their parents just do not know certain things. In this way, second-generation college students are slightly more privileged because they can look towards someone in their family for information, in addition to be able to gain information from outside sources. Privilege, what may be the theme of the week, is like a special advantage that a particular person or group has. As shown in the tables below, certain SES variables affect Asian Americans in different ways. 

Even though tiger moms do exist, and generally, Asian American's parents tend to influence their child's college choice decision the most, there are other factors that impact an Asian American's college choice process. 

Question: Do these same SES variables result in different impacts in students' college choice processes, just like they do with Asian Americans?

References: Byrd, A. & Poon, O. (2013). Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Di7erences in Asian American College Access and Choices. Journal of College Admission