Parental Involvement in Adolescents’ Learning and Academic Achievement: Cross-lagged Effect and Mediation of Academic Engagement

Abstract

Parental involvement in adolescents' learning has been linked to high academic achievement, yet few studies have examined its reverse relationship at the same time and the potential mechanisms that underly these associations. To address this research gap, this study investigated the reciprocal relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement as well as the mediating role of adolescents' academic engagement among Chinese adolescents. In addition, the current study explored whether these relationships varied by gender. Using a longitudinal design, a total of 2381 secondary school students (48.8% girls, Mage = 13.38 ± 0.59) participated in the study. The results found significant positive directional effects from academic achievement to parental involvement among total sample, but not vice versa. The cross-lagged effect from academic achievement to parental involvement only existed among adolescent girls. Bootstrap analyses in the total sample revealed that parental involvement was related to academic achievement through the indirect effects of adolescents' behavioral engagement. In terms of gender differences, behavioral engagement totally mediated the path from academic achievement to parental involvement for boys, while no significant mediation effect was found for girls. These results have provided empirical evidence of the evocative role of adolescents' academic characteristics on parenting behaviors and the double-edged effect of parental involvement on adolescents' academic performance, they also suggest that further research is needed to explore effective and appropriate ways for parents to get involved in adolescents' learning in order to promote their children's academic achievement.

Relationship between Parental Involvement and Mathematics Achievement of Chinese Early Adolescents: Multiple Mediating Roles of Mental Health and Mathematics Self-Efficacy

“…Studies have found that, compared with the Western countries, there is a strong academic-centered orientation in Chinese schools [58][59][60][61][62], which means students in China with better scores are normally favored by their peers. Therefore, children's academic performance may facilitate parental practices with respect to children's learning [3]. However, personal involvement was not statistically significantly or directly related to mathematics achievement.…”

“…One promising avenue for improving students' academic outcomes is parental involvement [2]. Parents play a vital role in their children's education [3]. Especially, studies have shown that children have higher achievement if their parents are more involved in their education [4,5].…”

School Engagement and Context: A Multilevel Analysis of Adolescents in 31 Provincial-Level Regions in China

“…Adolescents from low-SES families always face more stresses and challenges, such as fewer educational resources and low parental involvement (Duan et al, 2018). Educational resources and parental involvement were positive predictors of engagement (Xiong et al, 2021). The influence of provincial-level factors on school engagement was examined.…”

Perceived parental attitudes of the father and the school achievements of adolescents

“…This means that they may differ between mothers and fathers and also depending on the age of the child (Plopa, 2011). In the research conducted by Xiong et al (2021) differences were found in the influence of parents on children's school achievements depending on gender. A long lasting effect was observed only in the case of girls (cross-lagged effect), whereas a relationship between the behavioural engagement in learning and the influence of the parents was observed only in the case of boys (Xiong et al, 2021).…”

“…Nonetheless, too little space is still dedicated to the role of the father in shaping children's achievements and development (Flouri & Buchanan, 2004;Gordon, 2017;McBride et al, 2005). What is more, it is reported in the literature that the significance of the father for the development of girls and boys may vary (Xiong et al, 2021). Therefore it seems to be justified to include variables connected with the father's educational practices, at the same time moderating it with the gender variable, in research models concerning the conditioning for adolescents' school achievements.…”