Parental Involvement in African American and Latino Families and Its Impact on Academic Attainment

• In Event: 42.022 - Knowledge to Action: Academic Journeys in and out of School

Abstract

Parental involvement has been recognized as one of the factors that have impacted academic attainment. However, little attention has been focused on what type of parental involvement makes the most impact. The major purpose of this current study was to examine whether parental involvement significantly impacts educational attainment in African American and Latino families, specifically looking at the social and cultural background factors. In “Examining the Relationship between parental involvement and student motivation” Gonzalez-Dehass et al (2005) argued that “studies of students from the elementary school to high school show a beneficial relationship between parental involvement and the following motivational constructs: school engagement, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, perceived competence, perceived control, self-regulation, mastery goal orientation, and motivation to read.

Authors

• Selena Williams, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York

• Cindy Maria Bautista-Thomas, Columbia School of Social Work