Gender Differences in Parental Involvement: An Examination of Parents of High School Girls and Boys

• In Event: 054 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 16. Parent-Child and Sibling Relationships

Abstract

Previous studies on parental involvement in their children’s education have suggested that parents often attempt to provide their children with social and cultural capital in order to enhance their school performance and assist in their maturation. The involvement of parents in their children’s academic lives may vary, depending upon a variety of characteristics, including the sex of the child. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study, the factors associated with parental involvement are examined, with particular emphasis upon the structural and behavioral traits which are related to the social capital potential of parents. Within a framework of social capital theory, the analyses suggest that parents with greater socioeconomic status provide higher levels of parental involvement, but the levels of involvement vary in both form and extent by the sex of the child. Parents of daughters are shown to be more likely to attend events and activities together and to have discussions with their teens, while parents of sons are shown to be more likely to assist in school projects and to directly contact schools. Recent immigrant status and foreign language usage in the home are shown to affect levels of parental involvement. Overall, a gendered pattern of parental involvement is shown to exist in U.S. families. The results are discussed with a social capital paradigm, and the potential long-term effects are addressed.

Authors

• Sampson Lee Blair, State University of New York-Buffalo

• Timothy Madigan, Mansfield University