Parental Motivational Beliefs and Involvement in School

Abstract

Despite educational reform efforts to increase parent involvement in the local schools, discrepancies continue to exist between parents� desire to be involved and their actual involvement in the education of their children. Parent involvement is influenced by individual and contextual factors, which may explain this discrepancy. This quantitative study was designed to explore and test a part of the existing research model developed by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (2005) that includes parents� motivational beliefs. Parent motivational beliefs include role construction, valence towards school parental self- efficacy. The current study also examined the contribution of these factors to parental involvement behaviors, such as home-based and school-based involvement. In addition, this study sought to examine demographic factors such as levels of income, education status, and family structure to better understand the contextual influences of the families within the sample. Parents� (n = 107) motivational beliefs and involvement in home- based and school-based activities were examined in this study. Findings revealed significant relationships between role construction and parental self-efficacy. Role construction was also significantly related to all of the parent involvement variables and parents� education level. Findings suggest that higher levels of parent education are associated with higher parent role construction. Findings also suggest associations between higher parental education levels and higher positive valence toward school. In addition, parental self-efficacy was significantly related to parents� education level. Other findings discussed, implications for future studies and practice are discussed.