Classroom context and school engagement are significant predictors of academic achievement. These factors are especially important for academically at-risk students. Grounded in an ecological systems perspective, this study examined links between classroom context, school engagement, and academic achievement among early adolescents. We took a multidimensional approach to the measurement of classroom context and school engagement, incorporating both observational and self-reported assessments of various dimensions of classroom context (instruction quality, social/emotional climate, and student-teacher relationship) and school engagement (psychological and behavioral engagement). Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we tested whether school engagement mediated the link between classroom context and academic achievement among 5th grade students, and whether these pathways were the same for students with previous achievement difficulties identified in 3rd grade. Participants included 1,014 children (50% female) in 5th grade (mean age = 11). The majority of the participants were white (77%) and 23% were children of color. Results indicated that psychological and behavioral engagement mediated the link between classroom context and academic achievement for students without previous achievement difficulties. However, for students with previous achievement difficulties psychological and behavioral engagement did not mediate the link between classroom context and academic achievement. These results suggest that improving classroom quality may not be sufficient to improve student engagement and achievement for students with previous achievement difficulties. Additional strategies may be needed for these students.

Guided by the integrative model of parenting, the present study investigated the relationship between parental monitoring and racial/ethnic minority adolescents' school engagement and academic motivation as a function of parental warmth, and explored whether these associations varied for boys and girls. Participants (60 % female) were 208 sixth through eighth grade students (63 % African American, 19 % Latino, 18 % Multiracial) from an urban middle school in the Midwestern United States. Youth completed an in-school survey with items on parenting (parental monitoring, mothers'/fathers' warmth), cognitive engagement (school self-esteem), behavioral engagement (school trouble), and academic motivation (intrinsic motivation). As hypothesized, mothers' warmth enhanced the association between parental monitoring and youths' engagement and motivation. No gender differences in these associations emerged. Fathers' warmth strengthened the negative association between parental monitoring and school trouble, and this association was stronger for boys. Implications regarding the importance of sustaining a high level of monitoring within the context of warm parent-adolescent relationships to best support academic outcomes among minority youth are discussed.

suggestions for future work, notably the need to consistently adhere to a clear and appropriate definition of parental involvement.

Student-athletes have to balance their sport, academic, and social lives during the transition to college and parent involvement is an integral, but potentially problematic, aspect of this transition. The present study investigated how key parent involvement factors may be associated with positive developmental outcomes in NCAA Division I student-athletes. Student-athlete participants (N = 514) were 46% male, ranged in age from 18 to 25 years (M = 19.76, SD = 1.43), and were recruited from athletic departments at two NCAA Division I member-institutions. Participants completed online surveys with items assessing their perceptions of parent involvement (support from parents, contact with parents, academic engagement, athletic engagement) and student-athlete development (academic self-efficacy, athletic satisfaction, well-being, individuation). After controlling for individual and family demographic factors, parent academic and athletic engagement positively predicted student-athlete academic self-efficacy and athletic satisfaction; parent athletic engagement negatively predicted student-athlete depressive symptoms; all aspects of parent involvement were strong negative predictors of emotional independence; support from parents and parent academic engagement were strong negative predictors of functional independence; and support from parents was a negative predictor and athletic engagement a strong positive predictor of student-athletes' attainment of adult criteria. The present research enhances understanding of the role parent involvement may play in student-athlete development and thus may inform the creation of evidence-based policy and programming at NCAA Division I member-institutions.

No abstract

This study explored trajectories of African American youths’ academic functioning and assessed whether changes in parent-adolescent relationships were associated with changes in youths’ academic functioning. The data were drawn from a three-year longitudinal study of gender socialization and development in two-parent African American families and included 197 families. Findings revealed gender differences in achievement trajectories and indicated that boys not only had lower levels of academic achievement compared to girls, but also experienced steeper declines in school self-esteem during adolescence. Changes in parent-adolescent relationship quality were linked to changes in academic functioning: Increases in conflict were related to decreases in GPA, school bonding, and school self-esteem and increases in warmth were related to increases in school bonding and school self-esteem.

Although parental psychological control has been consistently linked with negative outcomes in the child and adolescent literature, little is known about how it functions during the developmental time frame of emerging adulthood, which is characterized by increased freedom and instability. Consequently, this study examined the extent to which paternal and maternal psychological controls were directly and indirectly (via self-esteem) related to hallmarks of emerging adult adjustment, notably risky behaviors, life satisfaction, and feelings about adulthood status. Recruited via MTurk, participants were 310 emerging adults ( M age = 25.37; 56% female) across the U.S. who completed an online survey. Results revealed paternal psychological control had a direct effect on risky behaviors and self-esteem, whereas maternal psychological control solely had a direct effect on risky behaviors. Results also indicated indirect effects of paternal psychological control. Increases in paternal psychological control were linked to declines in self-esteem, which in turn was associated with decreased life satisfaction and endorsement of adulthood status. Altogether, findings suggest that even low levels of parental psychological control were linked to detrimental outcomes in an age-representative sample—encompassing the full age range of emerging adulthood from 18 years to 29 years—of emerging adults. Thus, findings contribute to a better understanding of parent–child relationships and the consequences of parental control during the third decade of life, which has important implications for informing parenting strategies across emerging adulthood.

Guided by developmental and sociological frameworks, the present study investigated two interrelated research questions, namely, (a) is helicopter parenting (HP) a unidimensional or multidimensional construct and (b) is parental payment of college education associated with freshmen’s reports of HP? Participants (58% female) included 190 first-semester freshmen (70% Caucasian) who completed a survey with items on parenting (proportion of parental payment for college education, HP behaviors). Results indicated HP was a singular form of overinvolvement and that most freshmen reported low levels of HP. As hypothesized, parental payment of college education was positively associated with HP, and this association was strongest among freshmen without a scholarship. Challenges to the popularized perception that most parents of college students are overinvolved, and implications regarding educational expenses linking parents and emerging adults in the college context are discussed.