A STRUCTURAL MODEL OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT WITH DEMOGRAPHIC AND ACADEMIC VARIABLES

Abstract

Parental involvement is well documented as a significant contributor to the self‐efficacy and academic achievement of students. A structural equation model of parent involvement with family socioeconomic status, student gender, parents’ aspirations for their children, mathematics efficacy, and mathematics achievement was tested to examine whether parent involvement in the 10th grade remains relevant to achievement. A sample of data pertaining to 8,673 10th graders from the Educational Longitudinal Study was analyzed. The results indicated that the fit of the measurement model to the data was good (χ 2 = 3081.62, df = 87, p = .0, normed fit index [NFI] = .96, comparative fit index [CFI] = .96, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .064), as was the structural model (χ 2 = 3470.69, df = 94, p = .00, NFI = .96, CFI = .96, RMSEA = .065). Although the effect was small in magnitude, parent involvement in advising had a significant indirect relationship with mathematics achievement via mathematics efficacy of 10th graders.