Parent Academic Involvement as Related to School Behavior, Achievement, and Aspirations: Demographic Variations Across Adolescence

Abstract

A longitudinal model of parent academic involvement, behavioral problems, achievement, and aspirations was examined for 463 adolescents, followed from 7th (approximately 12 years old) through 11th (approximately 16 years old) grades. Parent academic involvement in 7th grade was negatively related to 8th-grade behavioral problems and positively related to 11th-grade aspirations. There were variations across parental education levels and ethnicity: Among the higher parental education group, parent academic involvement was related to fewer behavioral problems, which were related to achievement and then aspirations. For the lower parental education group, parent academic involvement was related to aspirations but not to behavior or achievement. Parent academic involvement was positively related to achievement for African Americans but not for European Americans. Parent academic involvement may be interpreted differently and serve different purposes across sociodemographic backgrounds.Adolescence is a critical time for forming aspirations for the future, especially with regard to career aspirations (Schulenberg, Goldstein, & Vondracek, 1991;Vondracek & Lerner, 1982). School performance is a key mechanism through which adolescents learn about their talents, abilities, and competencies, which are an important part of developing career aspirations (Gottfredson, 1981;Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994. Parent academic involvement may ensure that adolescents obtain academic skills and knowledge that prepare them for considering higher level occupations (Young & Friesen, 1992). In fact, school performance and career Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nancy E. Hill, Department of Psychology, Duke University, Box 90085, Durham, NC 27708-0083. Electronic mail may be sent to nancy@duke.edu. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript aspirations in adolescence are often correlated (Abu-Hilal, 2000;Mao, 1995;Trusty, Robinson, Plata, & Ng, 2000), and supportive parents are associated with the development of career aspirations (Hill, Ramirez, & Dumka, 2003;McDonald & Jessell, 1992; McWhirter, Hacket, & Bandalos, 1998; Young & Freisen, 1990; Young, Freisen, & Borycki, 1994). Although research has consistently shown that parent academic involvement is associated with achievement and achievement is related to career and educational aspirations, little is known about whether parental involvement in schooling is ultimately related to adolescents' aspirations for adulthood and the mechanisms of influence, especially across the middle and high school years. Thus, the focus of this study was on the following questions: Is parent academic involvement associated with career and educational aspirations? If so, to what extent is this relation explained by relations to school behavior or academic achievement?Parent academic involvement is largely defined as parents' work with schools and with their children to benefit their children's educational outcomes and futur...

Adolescent goal content and pursuit: A review of the literature from the past 16 years

“…Parents with high SES may serve as role-models for high educational and occupational aspirations (Hill et al, 2004). Conversely, adolescents with few socioeconomic resources may focus on gaining material possessions and improving their situation.…”

“…There is some evidence that adolescents with a low SES endorse materialistic goals to a greater extent than those of a higher SES Kasser et al, 1995). Several studies have suggested that high SES is related to higher educational goals (Hill et al, 2004;Khallad, 2000;Marjoribanks, 2002aMarjoribanks, , 2003dWilson & Wilson, 1992) although findings with regards to occupational aspirations are mixed (Hill et al, 2004;Rojewski & Yang, 1997). The influence of parental SES on adolescents' aspirations may be (partially) mediated by more proximal family factors such as material conditions (Marjoribanks, 1998;Schoon & Parsons, 2002), perception of parental support, involvement and aspirations (Bandura et al, 2001;Marjoribanks, 1999), academic achievement, self-concept (Marjoribanks, 2002b), and parental perceived academic efficacy (Bandura et al, 2001).…”

The Need to Distinguish Between Quantity and Quality in Research on Parental Involvement: The Example of Parental Help With Homework

“…Whatever categorization researchers choose to use, the important thing is that they account for the multidimensional nature of parental involvement and measure each dimension separately. Although most studies have done so (Fan, 2001;Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994;Hill, 2008;Karbach et al, 2013;Shumow, 2010;Waanders, Mendez, & Downer, 2007;Wild & Remy, 2002;Xu, Kushner Benson, MudreyCamino, & Steiner, 2010), there are still studies that have collapsed very heterogeneous aspects of parental involvement into one global measure (e.g., Hawes & Plourde, 2005;Hill et al, 2004;Pelegrina, Garc ıa-Linares, & Casanovam, 2003).…”

“…Although poorly measured parental involvement has been criticized by many researchers, and the need to use multidimensional measures is frequently called for (Fan & Chen, 2001;Jeynes, 2003;Wild & Lorenz, 2010), many studies have continued to use global measures of parental involvement (e.g., Hawes & Plourde, 2005;Hill et al, 2004;Pelegrina et al, 2003), and most studies have continued to focus on how often parents are involved instead of how parents are involved (see meta-analyses by Fan & Chen, 2001;Hill & Tyson, 2009;Jeynes, 2003Jeynes, , 2005Jeynes, , 2007. We believe that our study can advance research on parental involvement by showing the importance of using multidimensional measures and carefully disentangling the different effects that parental involvement can have on children's academic development.…”

Improving workplace learning

“…The type of education accessed by the majority of the network members is a norm for that group, conforming to it being a factor that determines aspirations and behaviors. Children which parents are actively involved in their education have more positive attitudes toward school, come more often to school, and have better academic successes then those with parents that are not actively (Hill et al 2004;Catsambis, 2007). All these are influenced by several factors: the children age, socioeconomic background, race, family relations, family life, school policy, overall wellbeing of the neighborhood (Catsambis & Beveridge 2001;Gonzalez 2004;Catsambis, 2007).…”