Future orientation links perceived parenting and academic achievement: Gender differences among Muslim adolescents in Israel

Abstract

In light of findings showing that in non-western cultures parenting is not directly related to adolescents' academic achievement, this study examines a multiple-step model linking perceived parenting and academic achievement via self-empowerment and each of two future orientation domains: higher education and marriage and family. Participants were 882 college-bound 11th grade Muslim girls and boys (577 girls) in Israel. Structural equation modeling estimated the model, as well as equivalent models, twice: once for the higher education and once for marriage and family. Analysis shows that while the structure of the model has a satisfactory goodness of fit for girls and boys, the path weights indicate gender differences, and the models explained higher percentage of the academic achievement variance of girls than of boys. Discussion explains the indirect link between perceived parenting and academic achievement in terms of the educational distance between parents and their adolescent children compensated by positive parenting, and the gender differences in terms of the meaning self-empowerment and future orientation about both domains has for Muslim girls and boys in Israel.