Parental Homework Assistance and Academic Functioning in Secondary School: Does Grade Level Play a Role?

• In Event: Family Ecosystem and Its Relationship to Positive Adolescent Functioning

Abstract

Need-supportive parental homework assistance is positively associated with students’ academic functioning. However, it is likely that students’ developmental needs change over the course of secondary school, which might have implications for parental homework assistance and its effectiveness. Therefore, we investigated grade-related differences in homework assistance quality and whether these potential differences can explain declines in students’ academic functioning in secondary school. Moreover, we tested interaction effects between homework assistance quality and grade level. We used SEM on the basis of data from 1,782 secondary school students. We found grade-related differences in homework assistance quality which contributed to differences in students’ academic functioning across grades. However, grade level did not moderate the links between homework assistance quality and students’ academic functioning.

Authors

• Lisa Charlotte Benckwitz, Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education

• Katharina Kohl, Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education

• Natalia Suárez Fernández, Universidad de Oviedo

• Jose Carlos Nuñez, University of Oviedo

• Karin Guill, Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education