The purposes of this study were to confirm birth-order and family-size differences in achievement, to confirm birth-order and family-size differences in parenting, and to examine whether parenting style and parental involvement serve as mediators of birth-order and family-size differences in achievement. Subjects were 195 ninth-grade boys and girls and their parents from urban, suburban, and rural communities in the southeast and the midwest. Questionnaire measures of adolescents' and parents' perceptions of parenting style and parental involvement were used. Birth-order and family-size differences were found in adolescents' achievement and perceptions of parenting style and parental involvement but not in parents' perceptions of parenting. However, these parenting characteristics did not mediate the differences seen in achievement by birth order and family size. Implications of these findings are discussed.

This study explored the metaphors 186 students used and the relations these metaphors have to scores on an attitude inventory of parenting, teaching, and schools. Analyses suggested relations among the descriptions used to define parents, teachers, and schools. Generally, when students characterized parents using positive terms, a positive view of teachers was given as well. Likewise, when negative statements were given for parenting, this negativity also was seen in similes used to describe teachers and schools. Responses to the metaphors were predictive of students' ratings on the attitude inventory, suggesting that assessment of metaphors by practitioners might be an effective means of determining students' attitudes about the learning environment. Students' perceptions can have a pronounced effect on performance, therefore, the use of such data could facilitate understanding of the complex interactions of learners with parents, teachers, and schools.