Children's feelings of school competence and perceptions of parents' work in four socio‐cultural contexts

Abstract

AbstractAssociations between perceived qualities of parents' work and children's sense of competence were examined in four dual‐earner family contexts differentiated by social class, ethnicity, and language background. Measures of perceived general academic and mathematical competence, knowledge of parents' work situations, and family background were group administered to 226 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. In three dual‐earner family contexts, as spillover models would predict, children who felt more academically competent described their mothers' and fathers' jobs as having more positive and fewer negative qualities. However, in the fourth (dual‐earner laboring‐class Spanish‐speaking) context, children who felt more academically competent described mothers' jobs in the least favorable terms. Findings underscore the need to consider whether developmental processes operate differently in different socio‐cultural contexts and to consider both the problems and positive possibilities that may arise from specific conditions of parents' work.