"Why Can't You Get That?" Sources of Conflict About Homework From Adolescents' and Parents' Perspectives

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: The Role of Family and Community in Student Mastery of K–12 Content

Abstract

On the basis of quantitative survey and qualitative interview data, the present study investigated which specific occasions lead to conflicts about homework according to both parents and children, and whether the perception of parents and children differed. Various sources of conflict were found: Subjects reported occasions in which the cause lied 1)with the child (e.g. child did not do homework properly) and 2)with the parents (e.g. parents explained subject matter differently than the child was used to from school). Third, the environmental conditions of the homework situation were mentioned as a cause for conflict (e.g. parents and children are stressed). The findings also revealed that the perception of the parents can be fundamentally different from the perception of the child.

Authors

• Sandra Catharina Moroni, University of Teacher Education Bern

• Hanna Dumont, University of Potsdam