What Research Says About...
What Latino Parents Need to Help
their Children with Postsecondary Planning
In practical terms, Latino parents need to be well-informed about the process by which a young person becomes qualified to go to college. Furthermore, they need to understand that this process should begin in middle school (Wimberly and Noeth, 2005). In a study of first-generation college students, Horn and Nuñez (2000) found that when parents lacked the information and knowledge about what their children need to prepare for college, they were less likely to help them select high school courses or discuss college options. Torrez (2004) found that the parents of Latino high school students often did not understand the importance of advocating for their children to take a college preparatory curriculum, and their lack of understanding of the school system resulted in their children being placed in basic or remedial tracks.
In a study of how Latino parents acquired information about the steps required to go to college, Tornatzky, Cutler, and Lee (2002) found that parents with greater knowledge about the college-going process were more adept at interpersonal networking. That is, they used effective strategies for engaging teachers, counselors, and college representatives in their search for information. A person’s ability to use their relationships, or personal networks, in order to secure valued resources has been described as social capital (Coleman, 1988; Stanton-Salazar, 1997). Scholars have also documented the uneven distribution of social capital across society, with people of lower socioeconomic standing often having less social resources and smaller networks to tap into for help (Lin, 2000; McNamara Horvat, Weininger, and Lareau, 2003). Putnam (2002) has distinguished between “bonding” and “bridging” social capital, with the former fostering ties to people similar to oneself, and the latter fostering relations across social divisions. Latino families whose children would be the first to attend college would especially benefit from opportunities to increase their share of bridging social capital.
