Parental influences on student motivation, affect and academic behaviour: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

The study of parental influences on student motivation, learning, and school achievementhas increased recently as researchers attempt to understand contextual influences on learning(see, for example, Gonzalez-DeHass, Willems, & Doan Holbein, 2005; Spera, 2005, for areview). Parental effects on academic learning have been studied mostly in terms of parentalinvolvement in children's schooling or homework and parenting styles (e.g., Barnard, 2004;de Bruyn, Dekovic, & Meijnen, 2003; Englund, Luckner, Whaley, & Egeland, 2004; Glasgow,Dombusch, Troyer, Steinberg, & Ritter, 1997; Gonzalez, Doan Holbein, & Quilter, 2002;Grolnick & Ryan, 1989). However, the effects of other types of parental behaviours (e.g.,scaffolding patterns), as well as parental beliefs and parental affect (see Pomerantz, Grolnick,& Price, 2005, for the taxonomy) on student motivation, affect, and school achievement havealso been examined.In general, studies on the family-school connection have underlined the importantrelationships between parenting factors and school-related outcomes. However, the picture iscomplex regarding how parents can facilitate, strengthen or hinder desired academic outcomes.Factors including parents' and students' age and gender, their socio-economic status, ethnicityand other demographic variables all add complexity to the examination of parental influenceson student motivation and achievement in school (see, for example, Ganzach, 2000; Hill,Castellino, Lansford, Nowlin, Dodge, Bates, & Petit, 2004; Hong & Ho, 2005; Okagaki &Frensch, 1998). Both theoretical and methodological issues in this area still remain unresolvedand much more research is needed in order to advance our knowledge about the network ofrelationships between the multiple facets of parenting and academic attainment.This special issue attempts to shed light on several research issues regarding parenting andacademic attainment. Its focus is on parent and student motivation, affect, and behaviour as wellas on their interaction, aiming at providing a more comprehensive view about how parentsinfluence their children's learning. Specifically, in this issue we focus on five aspects of parentalinfiuence. First, there is a consideration of some of the multiple dimensions of parenting whichinfluence children's learning. The role of parents is examined in terms of parental behaviours(e.g., quality of parental support during homework, scaffolding interaction patterns), parentalbeliefs (e.g., parenting self-efficacy, parent achievement goals, parent expectations and pressure