What About Parents' Experiences as Students in Research? Focusing on Gay Fathers

• In Event: Power and Trust in Cultivating Family, School, and Community Partnerships

Abstract

Research has continued to identify positive effects of parent and family engagement on student success in school. One variable in such research, however, often highlights the effects of parent backgrounds on school-to-home relationships—particularly with regard to parent education and parent self-efficacy. An aspect of parent background often overlooked, however, concerns the influence of parents’ personal experiences as students on their interactions with their children’s education as adults. This qualitative, phenomenological study utilizes Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and queer theory to examine the influence of parents’ personal experiences as students on school-to-home relationships, by focusing on 22 sets of gay fathers and their interactions with their children’s education.

Author

• Andrew Leland, Rutgers University - New Brunswick/Piscataway