Motivational styles and educational expectations in immigrant families: an analysis based on case studies of Dominican immigrant families

Abstract

In this article, we present the results obtained from a qualitative research project focused on motivational style for study of Dominican immigrant mothers. We study the motivation oriented to learn and the motivation oriented to achievements. We think that this kind of analysis can help to understand the relationship between motivations and school achievement in immigrant family contexts Our unit of analysis was Dominican families, with children who lived in New York or Barcelona: we interviewed 28 mothers and sons and daughters. Our outputs show a high level of parental involvement and the prevalence of motivational models focus on outputs. Also they show the strong influence of educational and social expectations on the motivational ways to study.