Parents' motivations for involvement in children's education: An empirical test of a theoretical model of parental involvement.

TLDR

Research on parental involvement and school practice informs the discussion of the study's results. The study tests whether a theoretical model can predict types and levels of parental involvement in elementary and middle school. The model uses parents' motivational beliefs, perceived invitations to involvement, and life context variables as predictors. Analyses of 853 parents in a diverse metropolitan public school system showed that the model constructs explained significant variance in home‑ and school‑based involvement, even after controlling for socioeconomic status, with predictive power differing between elementary and middle school parents.

Abstract

This study examined the ability of a theoretical model to predict types and levels of parental involvement during the elementary and middle school years. Predictor variables included parents' motivational beliefs about involvement, perceptions of invitations to involvement from others, and perceived life context variables. Analyses of responses from 853 parents of 1st- through 6th-grade students enrolled in an ethnically diverse metropolitan public school system in the mid-southern United States revealed that model constructs predicted significant portions of variance in parents' home- and school-based involvement even when controlling for family socioeconomic status. The predictive power of specific model constructs differed for elementary and middle school parents. Results are discussed in terms of research on parental involvement and school practice.