Effect of Parents' Encouragement on Reading Motivation: The Mediating Effect of Reading Self-Concept and the Moderating Effect of Gender.

Tiansheng Xia,Honglei Gu,Weirong Li

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00609

Tiansheng Xia, Honglei Gu + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00609

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Abstract

Previous research has found that parental encouragement is associated with children’s motivation to read. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this association or factors that might strengthen or weaken these processes. The current research scrutinized a moderated mediation model that comprised of parental encouragement (predictor variable), reading self-concept (mediator), gender (moderator), and reading motivation (outcome variable) simultaneously. A total of 254 Chinese students (Mage = 11.35 years, SDage = 0.87) completed the Parents’ Encouragement of Extracurricular Reading Questionnaire, Reading Self-Concept Scale, and Pupil Reading Motivation Scale. Path analysis revealed that parents’ encouragement was associated with children’s reading motivation both directly and indirectly via reading self-concept, and the effect of parents’ encouragement on children’s motivation was more positive for boys than girls, while the effect of reading self-concept on children’s motivation was more positive for girls than boys. Our results highlight the importance of parental encouragement in improving children’s reading motivation, and the findings and their implications are discussed.

Highlights

Reading is a means to understand the external world, the basis for students to learn, and a basic skill for individual survival and development (Smith et al, 2000)
Age was found to be both negatively associated with parent encouragement and reading motivation, indicating that younger students had more parent encouragement and reading motivation
The present study examined whether and how parents’ encouragement affects their children’s reading motivation

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Reading is a means to understand the external world, the basis for students to learn, and a basic skill for individual survival and development (Smith et al, 2000). The promise of a reward leads to improvement in reading scores in the short term, but encouragement has more lasting effects on student performance (Cheo, 2017) Most of these studies have not tested mediators or moderators of the association between parents’ encouragement and children’s reading motivation. A complicated conceptual model, in which reading self-concept mediated the relation between parents’ encouragement and children’s reading motivation, was tested, and gender moderated these direct and indirect relationships. Competent parents provide more direct help, encouragement and positive emotional influence in the interaction with their children (Mondell and Tyler, 1981) Such behaviors could directly influence the relationship between parents’ capacity and the child’s reading self-concept and capacity. Social support–especially from parents–is important for forming selfconcept These studies suggest that parents’ self-efficacy and encouragement help shape children’s reading self-concept and academic achievement.

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