Parental Engagement and Contact in the Academic Lives of College Students

Abstract

Information on the various forms of parental involvement in higher education is lacking. This paper investigates parental engagement in college students' academic lives, the mode and frequency of student-parent communications, and how all of this varies across different student populations (by race/ethnicity, social class, parental immigrant status, gender, and year in school). Drawing from the 2006 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES), results revealed parental contact and engagement in college students' academics to be greatest among women, freshmen, and wealthy/upper middle-class students. Comparisons by race, ethnicity, and parental immigration status revealed above-average levels of parental contact among Mexican American, Latino/Other Spanish, Japanese/Japanese American, American Indian/Alaska Native students, and students of foreign-born parents, but below-average ratings of parental engagement in these same students' academic lives.