Background: Parental education is a key determinant of academic performance, yet its protective effects may differ by race and ethnicity. The concept of Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) highlights the weaker association between socioeconomic resources and outcomes for marginalized populations, including Black and Latino youth. Objective: To investigate whether the positive association between parental education and school performance (letter grades) is weaker for Black and Latino youth compared to non-Latino White youth. Methods: Data were drawn from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) 2023 study. The sample included Black, Latino, and non-Latino White youth. The outcome was a nine-level continuous measure of academic performance based on self-reported letter grades, with higher scores indicating better performance. Multivariate regression models tested interactions between parental education and race/ethnicity in predicting grades, adjusting for confounders such as family income, gender, and school characteristics. Results: A total number of 7584 12^th graders entered the study. Parental education was positively associated with school performance across all groups, but the magnitude of this association was significantly smaller for Black and Latino youth compared to non-Latino White youth. Even after controlling for socioeconomic and contextual factors, the racial and ethnic differences in the strength of this association persisted. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence of Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) in the academic domain, with Black and Latino youth experiencing weaker benefits of parental education on school performance. These disparities suggest that structural barriers and systemic inequities undermine the translation of parental educational attainment into academic success for marginalized groups. Policy interventions must address these structural barriers to promote equity in educational outcomes.

Background: School characteristics — including poverty levels, teacher experience, graduation rates, and college enrollment — are essential determinants of students’ academic outcomes and long-term success. Families often use their socioeconomic resources, such as parental education and household income, to secure access to high-quality schools with favorable attributes. However, Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) theory suggests that Black families may not experience the same benefits of high family SES due to structural barriers. This study examines the association between family SES and school characteristics, focusing on racial disparities in access to high-quality educational environments. Objective: To investigate the relationship between family SES (parental education and household income) and multiple school characteristics (poverty, teacher experience, graduation rates, and college enrollment), and to assess racial differences in these associations. Methods: Data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, a national sample of US adolescents, was analyzed. We used multivariate regression models to examine associations between family SES and school characteristics and to test for interactions by race, specifically comparing Black and White adolescents. Results: Higher family SES was associated with positive school characteristics overall, including lower school poverty, greater teacher experience, and increased graduation and college enrollment rates. However, these positive effects of high family SES on school characteristics were significantly weaker for Black adolescents than for White adolescents. Black adolescents from high-income families were more likely than White adolescents from similar backgrounds to attend schools with higher poverty rates, less experienced teachers, and reduced graduation and college enrollment rates. Conclusion: Our findings highlight persistent racial inequities in access to educational opportunities, even among families with comparable socioeconomic resources. The diminished returns of family SES for Black adolescents underscore the role of structural barriers in limiting access to high-quality schools. These findings emphasize the need for policy interventions to address systemic inequalities that hinder Black families from fully leveraging their SES to access favorable educational environments.