Perceived discrimination, parenting, and academic adjustment among racial/ethnic minority adolescents

• We examined race discrimination, parenting practices, and academic adjustment.
• Racial/ethnic minority students completed surveys twice during the school year.
• Path analysis was used to evaluate direct and indirect effects.
• Parental monitoring was directly related to academic adjustment.
• Discrimination was indirectly related to academic adjustment via monitoring.

The present study examined the extent to which perceived racial/ethnic discrimination at school was directly and indirectly (via parenting practices) related to academic adjustment among racial and ethnic minority adolescents. Participants (58% female) were 208 minority students (63% African American, 19% Latino, 18% Multiracial) in grades 6–8 from an urban middle school in the Midwestern United States. In the fall (Time 1) and subsequent spring (Time 2) of the school year, youth completed in-school surveys with items on discrimination experiences, parental monitoring, and academic outcomes (intrinsic motivation, school self-esteem, commitment to learning, school bonding). Results from mediation analyses revealed that experiences with discrimination were in part related to academic outcomes through their effect on parental monitoring, and showed that exposure to discrimination predicted lower levels of parental monitoring, which in turn predicted lower levels of academic motivation and school engagement.