Skip to main content
Log in

The Nature of Parental Involvement in Middle School: Examining Nonlinear Associations

  • Published:
Contemporary School Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Parental educational involvement during middle school has received increased attention from researchers and policymakers because of its links to a variety of academic outcomes. Despite this increased attention, parental involvement has been inconsistently linked to academic outcomes among adolescents, indicating different types and levels of involvement that may be more beneficial for adolescents. Therefore, this study examined the nonlinear associations between parental involvement (home-based involvement and academic socialization) and academic motivation in an effort to better understand the nature of parental involvement in middle school. Using data from an ethnically diverse (57 % Black/African American, 19 % multiracial, 18 % White/Caucasian, 5 % Hispanic or Latino, and 1 % Asian American) sample of 150 adolescents (56 % female) in grades 6 through 8, findings showed no associations between home-based involvement and intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. There was, however, a significant nonlinear association between academic socialization and both types of motivation. More specifically, the positive association between academic socialization and intrinsic motivation was attenuated at high levels of academic socialization. There was no association between academic socialization and extrinsic motivation at low and moderate levels, but there was a positive association at high levels of academic socialization. These findings suggest that different types of involvement and greater amounts of parental involvement may not always benefit adolescents’ academic motivation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Archibald, A. B., Graber, J. A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2008). Pubertal processes and physiological growth in adolescence. In G. R. Adams & M. D. Berzonsky (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of adolescence (pp. 24–47). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belsley, D. A., Kuh, E., & Velsch, R. E. (1980). Regression diagnostics: identifying influential data and sources of collinearity. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Casey, B. J., Getz, S., & Galvan, A. (2008). The adolescent brain. Developmental Review, 28, 62–77. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.003.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colón, Y., & Sánchez, B. (2010). Explaining the gender disparity in Latino youth’s education: acculturation and economic value of education. Urban Education, 45, 252–273. doi:10.1177/0042085908322688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corpus, J. H., McClintic-Gilbert, M. S., & Hayenga, A. O. (2009). Within-year changes in children’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations: contextual predictors and academic outcomes. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 154–166. doi:10.1016/j.cedpysch.2009.01.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosnoe, R. (2001). Academic orientation and parental involvement in education during high school. Sociology of Education, 74, 210–230. doi:10.2307/2673275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deci, E. L., Vallerand, R. J., Pelletier, L. G., & Ryan, R. M. (1991). Motivation and education: the self-determination perspective. Educational Psychologist, 26, 325–346. doi:10.1207/s15326985ep2603&4_6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DePlanty, J., Coulter-Kern, R., & Duchane, K. A. (2007). Perceptions of parent involvement in academic achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 100, 361–368. doi:10.3200/JOER.100.6.361-368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, J. S., & Harold, R. D. (1996). Family involvement in children’s and adolescents’ schooling. In A. Booth & J. F. Dunn (Eds.), Family-school links: how do they affect educational outcomes? (pp. 3–34). Mahwah: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, J. S., & Roeser, R. W. (2009). Schools, academic motivation, and stage-environment fit. In R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 404–434). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, J., Wigfield, A., Harold, R. D., & Blumenfeld, P. (1993). Age and gender differences in children’s self‐and task perceptions during elementary school. Child Development, 64, 830–847. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02946.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, J. L. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships: preparing educators and improving schools. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fan, W., & Williams, C. M. (2010). The effects of parental involvement on students’ academic self‐efficacy, engagement and intrinsic motivation. Educational Psychology, 30, 53–74. doi:10.1080/01443410903353302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ginsburg, G. S., & Bronstein, P. (1993). Family factors related to children’s intrinsic/extrinsic motivational orientation and academic performance. Child Development, 64, 1461–1474. doi:10.2307/1131546.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-DeHass, A. R., Willems, P. P., & Holbein, M. F. D. (2005). Examining the relationship between parental involvement and student motivation. Educational Psychology Review, 17, 99–123. doi:10.1007/s10648-3949-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottfried, A. E. (1985). Academic intrinsic motivation in elementary and junior high school students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, 631–645. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.77.6.631.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottfried, A. E., Fleming, J. S., & Gottfried, A. W. (2001). Continuity of academic intrinsic motivation from childhood through late adolescence: a longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 3–13. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.93.1.3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayenga, A. O., & Corpus, J. H. (2010). Profiles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: A person-centered approach to motivation and achievement in middle school. Motivation and Emotion, 34, 371–383. doi:10.1007/s11031-010-9181-x.

  • Hill, N. E., & Chao, R. K. (2009). Background in theory, practice, and policy. In N. E. Hill & R. K. Chao (Eds.), Families, schools, and the adolescent (pp. 1–15). New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, N. E., & Taylor, L. C. (2004). Parental school involvement and children’s academic achievement pragmatics and issues. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 161–164. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00298.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, N. E., & Tyson, D. F. (2009). Parental involvement in middle school: a meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement. Developmental Psychology, 45, 740–763. doi:10.1037/a0015362.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, N. E., Castellino, D. R., Lansford, J. E., Nowlin, P., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (2004). Parent academic involvement as related to school behavior, achievement, and aspirations: demographic variations across adolescence. Child Development, 75, 1491–1509. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00753.x.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hoover-Dempsey, K., & Sandler, H. (1995). Parental involvement in children’s education: why does it make a difference. Teachers College Record, 97, 310–331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Ice, C. L., & Whitaker, M. C. (2009). We’re way past reading together: why and how parental involvement in adolescence makes sense. In N. E. Hill & R. K. Chao (Eds.), Families, schools, and the adolescent (pp. 19–36). New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, J. E., Lanza, S., Osgood, D. W., Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Changes in children’s self‐competence and values: gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve. Child Development, 73, 509–527. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00421.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jeynes, W. H. (2003). A meta-analysis the effects of parental involvement on minority children’s academic achievement. Education and Urban Society, 35, 202–218. doi:10.1177/0013124502239392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karbach, J., Gottschling, J., Spengler, M., Hegewald, K., & Spinath, F. M. (2013). Parental involvement and general cognitive ability as predictors of domain-specific academic achievement in early adolescence. Learning and Instruction, 23, 43–51. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2012.09.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepper, M. R., Corpus, J. H., & Iyengar, S. S. (2005). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations in the classroom: age differences and academic correlates. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 184–196. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.97.2.184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe, K., & Dotterer, A. M. (2013). Parental monitoring, parental warmth, and minority youths’ academic outcomes: Exploring the integrative model of parenting. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 1413–1425. doi:10.1007/s10964-013-9934-4.

  • Marchant, G. J., Paulson, S. E., & Rothlisberg, B. A. (2001). Relations of middle school students’ perceptions of family and school contexts with academic achievement. Psychology in the Schools, 38, 505–519. doi:10.1002/pits.1039.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdock, T. B. (1999). The social context of risk: status and motivational predictors of alienation in middle school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 62–75. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.91.1.62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Center for Education Statistics. (2010). CCD public school data 2010–2011. Washington: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (2002) Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, § 115, Stat. 1425.

  • Pomerantz, E. M., Moorman, E. A., & Litwack, S. D. (2007). The how, whom, and why of parents’ involvement in children’s academic lives: more is not always better. Review of Educational Research, 77, 373–410. doi:10.3102/00346530305567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000a). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54–67. doi:10.1006/ceps.1999.1020.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000b). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schunk, D. H., Pintrich, P. R., & Meece, J. R. (2008). Motivation in education: theory, research and applications. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, J. C., Barton-Henry, M. L., & Pruzinsky, T. (1985). Assessing child-rearing behavior: a comparison of ratings made by mother, father, child, and sibling on the CRPBI. Child Development, 56, 462–479. doi:10.2307/1129734.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, K., Bickley, P. G., Trivette, P., Keith, T. Z., Keith, P. B., & Anderson, E. (1995). The effects of four components of parental involvement on eighth-grade student achievement: structural analysis of NELS-88 data. School Psychology Review, 24, 299–317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spera, C. (2006). Adolescents’ perceptions of parental goals, practices, and styles in relation to their motivation and achievement. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 26, 456–490. doi:10.1177/0272431606291940.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steinberg, L., Dornbusch, S. M., & Brown, B. B. (1992). Ethnic differences in adolescent achievement: An ecological perspective. American Psychologist, 47, 723. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.47.6.723.

  • Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., & Darling, N. (1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266–1281. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01694.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, C. O., Greene, B. A., & Mansell, R. A. (2006). Identification with academics, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy as predictors of cognitive engagement. Learning and Individual Differences, 16, 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2005.06.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wehmeyer, M. L., Abery, B. H., Mithaug, D. E., & Stancliffe, R. J. (2003). Theory in self-determination: foundation for educational practice. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth Wehrspann.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wehrspann, E., Dotterer, A.M. & Lowe, K. The Nature of Parental Involvement in Middle School: Examining Nonlinear Associations. Contemp School Psychol 20, 193–204 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-015-0071-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-015-0071-9

Keywords

Navigation