Kusterer,
Katherine DeMeo (4/09) Impact of parenting styles on academic achievement:
Parenting styles, parental involvement, personality factors and peer
orientation (Gary Kose, Ph.D.; Joan Duncan, Ph.D.; Paul Ramirez, Ph.D.)
Research has demonstrated a relationship
between parenting styles and academic achievement in children and young
adolescents. Global measures of parental involvement have also been shown to
mediate this relationship. However, there is little research that examines
these relationships within an older adolescent population or that has studied
specific components of parental involvement. This study evaluated the
relationships between four parenting styles and academic achievement as well as
the mediating effect of three types of parental involvement was assessed. A
total of 136 students, 72 from a university and 64 from a high school,
completed self-report questionnaires. In addition, the relationships between
personality characteristics and academic achievement and peer orientation and
academic achievement were also evaluated. The mediation model proposed was only
partially supported. Only one of the components of parental involvement,
described as parental support of academic endeavors, was found to mediate the
effect of parenting styles on academic achievement. This relationship existed
when school attitudes were used as the outcome. However, these findings were
not significant. Though this study has limitations, the findings provide
another layer of data within this field of research. Implications and future
research directions are also discussed.
