A HEAP of Perceived Parental Expectations: College Students’ Experience of High Expectations

Abstract

It can be beneficial for parents to adopt high expectations for their children in school, however high parental expectations have also been linked with heightened levels of student distress and lower academic achievement among college students. To begin to understand this complex relationship, in Study 1 we first developed and validated the High Expectations for Academic Performance (HEAP) scale in adult students. In this scale we distinguish between college students’ perceptions of three types of objectively high academic expectations held by their parents: (1) their parents’ beliefs about their ability to earn top grades (ability beliefs), (2) their parents’ realistic predictions that they will earn top grades (predictions), and (3) their parents’ imposed demands that they earn top grades (demands). In Study 2 we investigated how each of these perceived expectations related to students’ academic achievement. Notably, different associations emerged. Student performance was most strongly associated with perceived parent predictions that students would earn top grades, followed by perceived parent beliefs that students could earn top grades. In contrast, perceived parental demands for top grades were not significantly associated with performance. Implications of this new taxonomy of perceived parental academic expectations and recommended use of the accompanying scale are discussed.