Associations of Future Expectations, Negative Friends, and Academic Achievement in High-Achieving African American Adolescents

Abstract

The relations of future expectations (general and academic) to academic outcomes were examined in a sample of 129 African American high-achieving adolescents (majority female participants, n = 92). This study was interested in the multidimensional nature of future expectations. Results from the study confirm the hypothesis that academic future expectations accounted for more variance in the relation to academic outcomes than general future expectations. In addition, the results suggest that the association of academic future expectations to grade point average lessens in the presence of negative friends. Suggestions for future research are offered.