A Typology of Parental Involvement in High School Education and STEM: A Latent Class Analysis

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 65
  In Roundtable Session: Parent Empowerment and Involvement in Secondary and Postsecondary Settings

Abstract

This study aims to identify the extent to which there are significantly different subgroups of parental involvement in education using the nationally generalizable dataset the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002). Prior studies have discussed specific types of parenting in education. However, little is known empirically about the typology of parental involvement in high schools in the US. Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) of n=10,510 parents, we identify four significantly different subgroups: Forbearing, Advocate, Lenient and Helicopter. Parental context and demographic factors, such as gender and ethnicity, are significantly associated with membership across subgroups, which in turn are related to students’ education outcomes, such as STEM major in college, graduation from college, and selection of a STEM career.

Authors

• Xiaoliang Zhou, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Alex J. Bowers, Teachers College, Columbia University