In Thoughts, Words, and Deeds: Social Class Differences in Parental Involvement across Racial/Ethnic and Immigrant Groups

• In Event: 090 - Regular Session. Parenthood

Abstract

Prior work has revealed class-based patterns for parental involvement, arguing that middle-class parents fare better at meeting institutionalized standards of involvement relative to parents with fewer resources. However, such studies have largely neglected the role of race/ethnicity and immigrant status on parental involvement, though empirical and theoretical work shows these characteristics matter. While studies of minority and immigrant parents highlight many barriers to parental involvement, they have generally overlooked social class distinctions within these groups. We address the empirical and conceptual gap between these two bodies of literature by focusing on social class differences in parental involvement by race/ethnicity and nativity of parents. We draw on Bourdieu’s notions of cultural capital and habitus in our analyses using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), a nationally representative study of U.S. high school students, to examine differences on three measures of parental involvement: parental participation in school activities, parent-initiated communication with schools, and parental academic expectations of their children. Results show that social class differences among minority immigrant parent groups are distinctly smaller on all measures of parental involvement than are class differences among native-born White parents. Moreover, it is also not always the case that minority immigrant parents with greater socioeconomic resources are more involved than their counterparts with fewer resources. Results from our study challenge the notion that there is just one class-based model of parental habitus and cultural capital. We conclude by proposing theoretical links between research that examines class, racial/ethnic, and immigrant differences in parental involvement.

Authors

• Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, New York University

• Phoebe Ho, University of Pennsylvania