The Importance of Family Factors

Abstract

The chapter includes a great deal of meta-analytic research examining the relationship between family factors, such as family structure and parental involvement, and student behavioral outcomes. This chapter examines the role of the family so thoroughly because of an interesting relationship that appears to exist between mass shootings and each shooter’s family situation. That is, if one examines CNN’s list the 27 deadliest shootings in modern American history, from 1949 to present, 26 were committed by a male from a fatherless- or dysfunctional- home. This reality appears to substantiate the statement by former Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman’s that, “It begins with the home.” The meta-analyses in this chapter include the examination of family structure, parental involvement, and father involvement, and key components of each of these variables, to better understand how various family dynamics can play a major role in understanding these school shootings.

Some of the data analysis presented in this chapter originally were published in the following articles: Jeynes, W. (2017). A Meta-Analysis: The Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Latino Student Outcomes. Education & Urban Society, 49 (1), 1–28; Jeynes, W. (2016). A Meta-Analysis: The Relationship Between Parental Involvement and African American School Outcomes. Journal of Black Studies, 47 (3), 195–216; Jeynes, W. (2015). A Meta-Analysis: The Relationship Between Father Involvement and Student Academic Achievement. Urban Education, 50 (4), 387–423; and Jeynes, W. (2000). The Effects of Several of the Most Common Family Structures on the Academic Achievement of Eighth Graders. Marriage and Family Review, 30 (1/2), 73–97.