Does Parental Involvement Matter for Student Achievement and Mental Health in High School?

Parental involvement in education remains important for facilitating positive youth development. This study conceptualized parental involvement as a multidimensional construct—including school‐based involvement, home‐based involvement, and academic socialization—and examined the effects of different types of parental involvement in 10th grade on student achievement and depression in 11th grade (approximately ages 15–17 years). In addition, this study tested whether parental involvement influenced adolescent outcomes by increasing their academic engagement in school. A total of 1,056 adolescents participated in the study (51% males; 53% European American, 40% African American, and 7% other). Parental involvement was found to improve academic and emotional functioning among adolescents. In addition, parental involvement predicted adolescent academic success and mental health both directly and indirectly through behavioral and emotional engagement.     

The impact of parenting on risk cognitions and risk behavior: a study of mediation and moderation in a panel of African American adolescents

Hypotheses concerning the extent to which adolescents' cognitions mediate the relation between parenting behaviors and adolescent substance use were examined in a panel of African American adolescents (N = 714, M age at Time 1 = 10.51 years) and their primary caregivers. A nested-model approach indicated that effective parenting (i.e., monitoring of the child's activities, communication about substances, and parental warmth) was related to adolescent substance use more than 5 years later. The parenting behaviors protected the adolescent from subsequent alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use through associations with two cognitive elements from the prototype/willingness model: favorable risk images (prototypes) and behavioral willingness. Additional analyses indicated that these protective effects were strongest among families residing in high-risk neighborhoods.     

Longitudinal Links Between Fathers’ and Mothers’ Harsh Verbal Discipline and Adolescents’ Conduct Problems and Depressive Symptoms

This study used cross‐lagged modeling to examine reciprocal relations between maternal and paternal harsh verbal discipline and adolescents’ conduct problems and depressive symptoms. Data were from a sample of 976 two‐parent families and their children (51% males; 54% European American, 40% African American). Mothers’ and fathers’ harsh verbal discipline at age 13 predicted an increase in adolescent conduct problems and depressive symptoms between ages 13 and 14. A child effect was also present, with adolescent misconduct at age 13 predicting increases in mothers’ and fathers’ harsh verbal discipline between ages 13 and 14. Furthermore, maternal and paternal warmth did not moderate the longitudinal associations between mothers’ and fathers’ use of harsh verbal discipline and adolescent conduct problems and depressive symptoms.     

Trajectories of Online Racial Discrimination and Psychological Functioning Among African American and Latino Adolescents

This study investigated trajectories of individual and vicarious online racial discrimination (ORD) and their associations with psychological outcomes for African American and Latinx adolescents in 6th–12th grade (N = 522; M_grade = 9th) across three waves. Data were analyzed using growth mixture modeling to estimate trajectories for ORD and to determine the effects of each trajectory on Wave 3 depressive symptoms, anxiety, and self-esteem. Results showed four individual and three vicarious ORD trajectories, with the majority of participants starting out with low experiences and increasing over time. Older African American adolescents and people who spend more time online are at greatest risk for poor psychological functioning.     

Antecedents and outcomes of joint trajectories of mother-son conflict and warmth during middle childhood and adolescence

This study investigated the development of mother-son relationship quality from ages 5 to 15 in a sample of 265 low-income families. Nonparametric random effects modeling was utilized to uncover distinct and homogeneous developmental trajectories of conflict and warmth; antecedents and outcomes of the trajectory groups also were examined. Four conflict trajectory groups and 3 warmth trajectory groups were identified. Difficult temperament in early childhood discriminated both conflict and warmth trajectory group membership (TGM), and adult relationship quality in early childhood was related to warmth trajectories. In addition, conflict TGM differentiated youth antisocial behavior during adolescence, and warmth trajectories predicted adolescent peer relationship quality and youth moral disengagement. Implications for socialization processes are discussed.     

Mothers' and fathers' racial socialization in African American families: implications for youth

Mothers' and fathers' cultural socialization and bias preparation with older (M=13.9 years) and younger (M=10.31 years) siblings were studied in 162 two-parent, African American families. Analyses examined whether parental warmth and offspring age and gender were linked to parental practices and whether parents' warmth, spouses' racial socialization, or youth age or gender moderated links between racial socialization and youth outcomes. Parental warmth was linked to parents' socialization. Mothers engaged in more socialization with older offspring, and fathers more with sons. Mothers' cultural socialization was positively related to youth ethnic identity and fathers' was negatively related to youth depression symptoms. Youth exhibited a lower locus of control when mothers were high but fathers were low in racial socialization.     

Impact of Parenting Practices on Adolescent Achievement: Authoritative Parenting, School Involvement, and Encouragement to Succeed

This article examines the impact of authoritative parenting, parental involvement in schooling, and parental encouragement to succeed on adolescent school achievement in an ethnically and socio-economically heterogeneous sample of approximately 6,400 American 14-18-year-olds. Adolescents reported in 1987 on their parents' general child-rearing practices and on their parents' achievement-specific socialization behaviors. In 1987, and again in 1988, data were collected on several aspects of the adolescents' school performance and school engagement. Authoritative parenting (high acceptance, supervision, and psychological autonomy granting) leads to better adolescent school performance and stronger school engagement. The positive impact of authoritative parenting on adolescent achievement, however, is mediated by the positive effect of authoritativeness on parental involvement in schooling. In addition, nonauthoritativeness attenuates the beneficial impact of parental involvement in schooling on adolescents achievement. Parental involvement is much more likely to promote adolescent school success when it occurs in the context of an authoritative home environment.     

Parental Efficacy: Predictor of Parenting Behavior and Adolescent Outcomes

Objective. This research study tested a social cognitive model in which family socioeconomic status (SES) and neighborhood quality predicted parental efficacy, which then predicted the academic and social-emotional adjustment of adolescents through 3 parental behaviors (monitoring, parental involvement, and parent-adolescent communication). Design. The study investigated parental efficacy among a stratified random sample of 929 parents and their adolescent children in the United States. Parents and adolescents provided reports through telephone interviews. Structural equation modeling tested the model fit for the overall sample and for European American (n = 387), African American (n = 259), and Latin American (n = 283) subsamples. Results. The model fit for the overall sample and for each racial or ethnic group. Paths within each model also were examined. For the overall sample, neighborhood quality predicted parental efficacy, parental efficacy predicted reported parental involvement and monitoring, both of which predicted academic and social-emotional adjustment of adolescents, and parent-adolescent communication predicted social-emotional adjustment. Some racial or ethnic differences in paths emerged. Conclusions. Overall, the study supported predictions made by social cognitive theory. Given the link between parental efficacy, parenting behaviors, and adolescent outcomes, 1 important goal of programs for parents of adolescents might be to bolster parental efficacy.     

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Mathematics Achievement: Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Modeling

This study focused on comparing the longitudinal associations between two types of parental involvement (i.e., mathematics value and academic reinforcement) and high school students’ mathematics achievement, using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth(LSAY). Results, based on multivariate autoregressive cross-lagged modeling, indicated that parents’ academic reinforcement had no effect on students’ mathematics achievement and vice versa; however, a statistically significant positive reciprocal influence existed between parents’ mathematics value and students’ mathematics achievement throughout high school. This result not only reaffirms that parental involvement is a multidimensional construct but also implies that parental involvement has a domain-specific effect. Results from multigroup analyses revealed that students’ gender did not have a differential effect on these associations.     

Neighborhoods,Social Support,and African American Adolescents' Mental Health Outcomes: A Multilevel Path Analysis

This study explored how neighborhood characteristics may relate to African American adolescents' internalizing symptoms via adolescents' social support and perceptions of neighborhood cohesion. Participants included 571 urban, African American adolescents (52% female; M age = 17.8). A multilevel path analysis testing both direct and indirect effects of neighborhood characteristics on adolescents' mental health outcomes was conducted. Higher neighborhood poverty and unemployment rates predicted greater internalizing symptoms via lower cumulative social support and perceptions of neighborhood cohesion. In contrast, higher concentrations of African American and residentially stable residents in one's neighborhood related to fewer internalizing symptoms among adolescent residents via greater cumulative social support and perceptions of neighborhood cohesion. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Multiple Predictors of Asian American Children's School Achievement

Research Findings: A structural equation model (SEM) and multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) model were used to test family factors, parent psychological well-being, parent–child home activity, and parent school involvement in relation to children's school achievement. Data for this study were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten (ECLS-K), conducted by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The sample for this study was 1,100 Asian American kindergartners and their parents. Practice or Policy: The results of this study are as follows: (a) Family factors, especially parental education levels and family income, were significantly associated with Asian American students' school achievement; (b) parent–child home activity was significantly related to students' school achievement but in a negative direction; (c) parental school involvement was not found to be significant in predicting students' school achievement; (d) parental psychological well-being was significantly associated with both parent–child home activity and students' school achievement; (e) family income was significantly associated with parental psychological well-being, parental school involvement, and children's school achievement; and (f) family structure was not significantly associated with school achievement.     

The role of parents in young people’s education—a critical review of the causal evidence

There is currently a considerable body of research suggesting that parental involvement is linked to young people’s attainment at school. It is also generally agreed that a number of factors such as parental background, attention, warmth and parenting style are associated with children’s later life outcomes. However, although widely assumed on the basis of these associations, the nature of this causal link has not yet been established. This paper summarises what would be needed to demonstrate that enhanced parental involvement produced better attainment and other outcomes, based on establishing an association, the correct sequence of events, sensitivity to intervention and an explanatory mechanism. It then reports on the findings of a systematic review of available and relevant studies, based on this approach. The search for evidence on the impact of attitudes, expectations and behaviour on attainment yielded 1,008 distinct reports. Of these, 77 were directly about the impact of parental involvement. These confirm that parental involvement and attainment are linked, and in the correct sequence for a causal model. There are several plausible mechanisms to explain why parental involvement might have an impact. And most crucially and unlike all other areas linking attitudes and behaviour to attainment, there is promising evidence that intervening to improve parental involvement could be effective.     

Influences of income change and parental acceptance on adolescent transgression proneness and peer relations

The present investigation examined whether the adolescent's involvement in a deviant peer context, proneness to commit transgressions, and perceived peer rejection were influenced by family income change (loss, gain, or no change) and adolescent perceptions of parental acceptance. The sample consisted of 110 families selected from a longitudinal study of adolescents in Berlin, West Germany. A multivariate analysis of covariance, controlling for sex of the adolescent, revealed a significant interaction between income change and perceived parental acceptance. Followup univariate tests showed that adolescents in families experiencing a loss or no change in income were more prone to committing transgressions when there was low parental acceptance. Adolescents who felt accepted by parents were uniformly low on transgression proneness, regardless of income change status. The role of perceived parental acceptance in buffering the adolescent from the potentially adverse effects of economic hardship is discussed.     

Developmental Trajectories of Acculturation in Hispanic Adolescents: Associations With Family Functioning and Adolescent Risk Behavior

This study examined longitudinal acculturation patterns, and their associations with family functioning and adolescent risk behaviors, in Hispanic immigrant families. A sample of 266 Hispanic adolescents (M_age = 13.4) and their primary parents completed measures of acculturation, family functioning, and adolescent conduct problems, substance use, and sexual behavior at five timepoints. Mixture models yielded three trajectory classes apiece for adolescent and parent acculturation. Assimilated adolescents reported the poorest family functioning, but adolescent assimilation negatively predicted adolescent cigarette smoking, sexual activity, and unprotected sex indirectly through family functioning. Follow‐up analyses indicated that discrepancies between adolescent and parent family functioning reports predicted these adolescent outcomes. Results are discussed regarding acculturation trajectories, adolescent risk behavior, and the mediating role of family functioning.     

MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND ITS LINKS TO YOUNG ADOLESCENT SELF‐EVALUATION AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Drawing on early research on parental involvement and its effect on children's school functioning, it was hypothesized in this study that parents’ educational involvement is positively related to two indicators of school functioning: academic self‐competence and academic achievement. However, in light of research on the distinction between parents’ home‐ and school‐based educational involvement in terms of their different provisions of parents’ school‐related support, this study examined the relationship between each of these two bases and two adolescent outcomes: self‐evaluation (consisting of global self‐worth and scholastic self‐evaluation) and school‐reported academic achievement. Analyses using structural equation modeling (SEM) on data collected from 397 (187 girls) Israeli seventh‐graders (first year of junior high school) confirm the distinction between home‐ and school‐based parental involvement and their different links to adolescent outcomes. SEM analyses carried out separately for girls and boys showed positive links between home‐based parental involvement for girls and parent's volunteering for boys and global self‐worth. This analysis also showed direct negative links between school‐based parental involvement and academic achievement for boys. The discussion addresses these differences and their implication for the school experiences of young adolescents in the wake of the transition to junior high school.     

Transactional Links Between Social Anxiety Symptoms and Parenting Across Adolescence: Between- and Within-Person Associations

This 4-year longitudinal multi-informant study examined between- and within-person associations between adolescent social anxiety symptoms and parenting (parental psychological control and autonomy support). A community sample of 819 adolescents (46.1% girls; M_ageT₁ = 13.4 years) reported annually on social anxiety symptoms and both adolescents and mothers reported on parenting. Between-person associations suggested that adolescent social anxiety symptoms were associated with higher adolescent- and mother-reported psychological control and lower mother-reported autonomy support. At the within-person level, however, mothers reported lower psychological control and higher autonomy support after periods with higher adolescent social anxiety symptoms. Our findings illustrate the importance of distinguishing among between-person and within-person associations and including perceptions of both dyad members in longitudinal research concerning parenting and adolescent mental health.     

Maternal psychological functioning and children's school readiness: The mediating role of home environments for African American children

Decades of educational research has documented an achievement gap in kindergarten reading and math achievement between African American children and their European American counterparts. Research has also shown that specific parenting practices (e.g., home literacy involvement) have the potential to narrow school readiness gaps by at least half. The current study examined whether and how maternal depression and parenting stress may influence specific parenting practices, as well as whether maternal warmth, home learning stimulation and cultural socialization mediated the relation between maternal depression, parenting stress, and children's kindergarten reading and math achievement. Path analyses revealed a direct negative effect of maternal depression and parenting stress on maternal warmth, home learning stimulation, and cultural socialization. Home learning stimulation emerged as an important mediator between maternal parenting stress and math achievement. Further, maternal warmth mediated the relation between maternal depression and reading achievement. Implications for early childhood research, practice and policy are discussed.     

School achievement differences among Chinese and Filipino American students: acculturation and the family

The general belief that Asian American adolescents are successful has led researchers to ignore variations in Asian adolescents’ academic success. Using samples of Chinese and Filipino adolescents drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined whether differences between these two groups in acculturation, parent–adolescent attachment, and parental school involvement could account for academic achievement differences. Results revealed that Chinese adolescents generally performed better in school than their Filipino counterparts. Factors that predicted academic achievement were ethnicity, acculturation, and parents’ academic involvement. An interaction was found between ethnicity and acculturation, indicating that acculturation is a predictor of academic performance among Filipino youth but not among Chinese youth. Cultural values in parent–adolescent attachment, acculturation, and parents’ school involvement are discussed.     

Parent involvement in school and Chinese American children's academic skills

The authors examined the concurrent associations of school-based parent involvement (PI), family sociocultural factors, and children's academic skills in a sample of 258 Chinese American children (5–9 years old) in immigrant families. Parents reported their American and Chinese orientations and family socioeconomic status (SES). Parents and teachers rated parents' school-based involvement, and children's English reading and mathematics calculation skills were assessed with standardized tests. Results of path analysis indicated that, controlling for SES, parents' American orientation was positively associated with their self-reported PI. Although parent- and teacher-reported PI were positively correlated with each other, only teacher-reported PI was positively associated with children's English reading. These findings support the benefits of school-based PI for Chinese immigrant children's English reading achievement. Results also highlight the need to consider differences between teachers' and parents' perceptions of PI in developing culturally sensitive interventions to encourage immigrant parents' school involvement.     

Longitudinal Associations of Childhood Parenting and Adolescent Health: The Mediating Influence of Social Competence

The current study examined a process through which parenting during the primary school transition contributes to cardiovascular health in adolescence, a foundational period for adult health trajectories. Using path analyses, social competence was tested as a mediator between parental sensitivity and adolescent health among 884 families. Results indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity was associated with increasing social competence from first grade (age 7) to sixth grade (age 12), which was associated with higher awakening cortisol in ninth grade (age 15) and decreasing blood pressure from sixth to ninth grade. Results suggest that social competence mediates associations between childhood parenting and adolescent cardiovascular risk, and may be protective to children's health over time.