The Mediating Role of Educational Meaning in the Relationship between Home Academic Culture and Academic Performance

Abstract

Natasha K. Bowen** and Gary L. Bowen This article examines the direct and indirect effects of home academic culture on the academic performance of 538 middle and high school student participants in the Communities In Schools (CIS) program. As hypothesized, and consistent with assumptions from social-cognitive-behavioral theory, home academic culture exerted an indirect effect on academic performance through educational meaning. An indirect path through time on homework was also revealed. Educational meaning and time on homework were positively and directly related to academic performance. Time on television had a small negative direct effect on academic performance. One demographic association found was that non-White students reported greater educational meaning than White students. Implications,for research and practice are discussed. Key Words: achievement, at-risk children, educational meaning, family, school, time use. The study of family and home microsystem variables that promote school success has increasingly come to focus on family process variables instead of socioeconomic status and family structural characteristics (Clark, 1983; Kellaghan, Sloane, Alvarez, & Bloom, 1993; Snow, Barnes, Chandler, Goodman, & Hemphill, 1991). Family process variables focus on family members' interactions, behaviors, and experiences, including parental monitoring of children's activities, homework help, behavior management strategies, parent-child interactions, and the communication of educational values and expectations to children. Many studies have examined the direct relationship between one or more family process variables and student achievement. It is likely, however, that process variables affect school performance indirectly through first influencing the meaning that students assign to the educational process (Antonovsky, 1991; Garbarino, 1992; Scott-Jones, 1995). This view is consistent with social-cognitive-behavioral assumptions (Crosbie-Burnett & Lewis, 1993), which are rooted in Bandura's social learning theory (1977). Students who define their education as meaningful are invested in the learning process and find school a stimulating and rewarding environment. Informed by the social-cognitive-behavioral perspective, this study examines more closely the link between home processes and student achievement. Specifically, the aim was to determine if educational meaning had a mediating role between home academic culture and school performance for a sample of middle and high school students who had been identified by school officials as at risk of school failure. Home academic culture in this study was defined as the degree to which parents demonstrated agreement with and an emphasis on the values of the educational setting by discussing school activities, study topics, and future plans with the child. It was hypothesized that the amount of home educational discussion would be positively associated with educational meaning and that educational meaning would be positively associated with academic performance. Epstein (1992) has researched the many ways in which schools are able to influence home process variables that promote school learning. Because schools and parents share responsibility for developing a positive home academic culture (Epstein, 1992; ScottJones, 1995), findings about the cognitive mechanisms by which home processes affect achievement have implications for practitioners who work with children in schools, in their homes, or in both settings. A Social-Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective The social-cognitive-behavioral perspective is based on triadic reciprocal causation in which environmental factors, behavior, and intrapersonal factors, such as cognitions, all influence and are influenced by each other (Bandura, 1989). According to Bandura, the interplay of environmental stimuli and a variety of cognitive abilities unique to humans (e.g. …