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Parental involvement and academic achievement among elementary and middle school students

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Abstract

This study investigates the associations between parental involvement and academic achievement across three criteria: school level (elementary and middle school), gender (male and female) and subject (mathematics and science). Additionally, it examines whether students’ attitudes towards a subject and their academic aspirations mediate this relationship. A nationally representative sample of elementary and middle school children in Japan (1884 female fourth-grade students from 140 schools, 1849 male fourth-grade students from 139 schools, 1812 female eighth-grade students from 133 schools and 1789 male eighth-grade students from 131 schools) from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2011 was used for the analysis. The results show that parental involvement is associated with students’ educational outcomes. Students’ attitudes and aspirations mediate the associations between parental involvement and academic achievement. In particular, different associations between parental monitoring involvement and achievement are found for elementary and middle school.

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Notes

  1. Estimation of similar models was also conducted, and the results were consistent with the final model.

  2. Models 1–8 estimated fourth-graders, and Models 9–16 estimated eighth-graders. Models 1–4 and 9–12 estimated mathematics. Models 5–8 and 13–16 estimated science. Odd number models used the four types of involvement (Ask, Talk, Time and Check), and even number models used aggregated parental involvement (Communicating and Monitoring). Models 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13 and 14 estimated males, and Models 3, 4, 7, 8, 11 and 12 estimated females.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Hisakazu Matsushige, Tetsuya Matsubayashi and Tsunehiro Otsuki from Osaka University for their helpful comments.

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  1. Keio University, 2-15-45 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8345, Japan

    Midori Otani

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Otani, M. Parental involvement and academic achievement among elementary and middle school students. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 21, 1–25 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09614-z

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