Parent involvement (PI) in school is associated with more positive academic performance and social competence in children. However, there are inadequacies in current measures of PI and a need for a better understanding of predictors of PI. In this study, measures were obtained from a normative sample of 387 children in kindergarten and first grade from high-risk neighborhoods in 4 different sites. First, a confirmatory factor analysis of a theoretical factor model of PI identified 6 reliable multiple-reporter PI factors: Parent-Teacher Contact, Parent Involvement at School, Quality of Parent-Teacher Relationship, Teacher's Perception of the Parent, Parent Involvement at Home, and Parent Endorsement of School. Next, the relations among 3 specific family and demographic risk factors-parental education level, maternal depression, and single-parent status-and these 6 PI factors were examined using path analyses in structural equation modeling. Results indicated that the 3 risk factors were differentially associated with the 6 PI factors: Parental education was significantly associated with 4 PI outcomes, maternal depression was significantly associated with 5 PI outcomes, and single-parent status was significantly associated with 3 PI outcomes. No significant ethnic group differences between African American and Caucasian families were found in these relations. KeywordsParent-school relationship; Single parents; Depression; Parent educational background; Racial and ethnic differences Parent involvement (PI) in school is a topic of great interest for researchers and practitioners. At this point, there is substantial evidence that PI is associated with children's academic performance (e.g., Comer, 1988;Epstein, 1991;Reynolds, 1992) and social competence (Henderson, 1987;Kohl, Weissberg, Reynolds, & Kasprow, 1994;Reynolds, Weissberg, & Kasprow, 1992), and policymakers recognized the importance of involving parents in schools by incorporating federal legislation into the Goals 2000 Educate America Act (U.S. Department of Education, 1994). Given the importance of PI, identifying and understanding the variables NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscriptimpacting it is essential in developing interventions to enhance PI. Many family and demographic factors such as ethnicity, family composition, income, education level, and work status are associated with PI (see review, Eccles & Harold, 1996). When these variables are immutable, as in the case of many sociodemographic variables, their identification is useful in determining specific groups at risk for low levels of PI. With proper identification, interventions can target these at-risk populations with more outreach and added support. The goal of this study was to examine the relations between a circumscribed set of family and demographic risk factors and PI. Prior to examining these relations, we conceptualized PI along six dimensions and empirically validated this model. FAMILY AND DEMOGRAPHIC RISK FACTORS AND PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN ...

The present report accomplishes three goals. First, to provide an empirical rationale for placing parental monitoring of children's adaptations as a key construct in development and prevention research. Second, to stimulate more research on parental monitoring and provide an integrative framework for various research traditions as well as developmental periods of interest. Third, to discuss current methodological issues that are developmentally and culturally sensitive and based on sound measurement. Possible intervention and prevention strategies that specifically target parental monitoring are discussed.

Inadequate parental monitoring is widely recognized as a risk factor for the development of child and adolescent conduct problems. However, previous studies examining parental monitoring have largely measured parental knowledge and not the active methods used by parents to track the activities and behavior of their children. The seminal work of Stattin and Kerr (Child Dev 71:1072-1085, 2000; Kerr and Stattin in Dev Psychol 36:366-380, 2000) has challenged the field to reinterpret the construct of parental monitoring, focusing on the active components of this parenting behavior. As a result, this area of research has witnessed a resurgence of activity. The goal of the current paper is to review the evidence regarding the relationship between parental knowledge and monitoring and child and adolescent conduct problems that has accumulated during the past decade. Forty-seven studies published between 2000 and 2010 were identified by searching major databases and bibliographies and were included in this review. This paper will examine the following areas: (a) "parental monitoring" as "parental knowledge"; (b) parental knowledge as driven by child disclosure; (c) the relationship between parental knowledge and monitoring and child and adolescent conduct problems; (d) bidirectional associations between parental knowledge and monitoring and child and adolescent conduct problems; (e) contextual influences on parental knowledge and monitoring; (f) antecedents of parental knowledge and monitoring; (g) clinical implications of research on parental knowledge and monitoring; and (h) limitations of existing research and future directions.