Effect of Trajectories of Friends' and Parents' School Involvement on Adolescents' Engagement and Achievement

Abstract

In a sample of 527 academically at-risk youth, we investigated trajectories of friends' and parents' school involvement across ages 12–14 and the joint contributions of these trajectories to adolescents' age 15 school engagement and academic achievement. Girls reported higher levels of friends' and parents' school involvement than boys. Both parents' and friends' school involvement declined across ages 12–14. Combined latent growth models and structural equation models showed effects of the trajectories of friends' and parents' school involvement on adolescents' age 15 school engagement and academic achievement, over and above adolescents' prior performance. These effects were additive rather than interactive. Strategies for enhancing parent involvement in school and students' affiliation with peers who are positively engaged in school are discussed.

Motivation for Educational Attainment in Grade 9 Predicts High School Completion

“…Gender effects . The finding that females score higher relative to males on both the general motivation factor and the peer aspirations factor is consistent with prior literature that adolescent females have higher academic self‐efficacy in high school (Caprara et al., ) and report greater peer academic support (Im et al, ; Wang & Eccles, ). The MEA was equally predictive of high school graduation versus dropout status for males and females.…”

“…Thus, when youth affiliate with peers who have low educational aspirations, their chances of graduating are lessened, regardless of their level of general motivation for educational attainment. The unique contribution of peer aspirations is consistent with extensive research demonstrating the role of peers’ school engagement and achievement on adolescents’ academic effort and achievement (Altermatt & Pomerantz, ; Im, Hughes, & West, ; Wang & Eccles, ). No evidence was found that the specific factors of valuing of education or teacher educational expectations contributed to the prediction of the high school completion outcomes above the general factor.…”

“…Extracurricular participation is one potential avenue for increasing peer academic support. Of relevance is research finding that the benefits of extracurricular participation on school engagement and achievement is partly explained by access to academically oriented peers (Im et al, ; Ramey & Rose‐Krasnor, ). Furthermore, the benefits of extracurricular participation may be particularly beneficial to the academic success of lower income and ethnic minority students (Mahoney & Stattin, ).…”

Indirect Effects of Extracurricular Participation on Academic Adjustment Via Perceived Friends’ Prosocial Norms

“…This support, in turn, accounts for increases in the youth’s academic competency beliefs, sense of school belonging, course grades, and classroom behavioral engagement. Middle school is typically a time of decreased academic support from peers, especially among ethnic minority and low income youth (Im, Hughes, & West, 2016), which characterizes the current sample. Findings suggest that participation in sports may stem the normative decline in perceived support from friends for prosocial norms, thereby improving youth’s engagement in school and, ultimately, educational attainment.…”

Análise das Propriedades Psicométricas do Questionário de Monitoramento Parental

“…Tanto em crianças como em adolescentes, MP tem sido relacionado a indicadores de desempenho acadêmico (Wang & Sheikh-Khalil, 2014), competência social (Marturano, Elias, & Campos, 2004;Taylor, Conger, Robins, & Widaman, 2015), resiliência (García et al, 2016) e ajustamento pessoal e social Marturano et al, 2004). Pode constituir mecanismos de proteção contra problemas de comportamento para indivíduos em risco (Véronneau & Dishion, 2010) ou expostos aos efeitos adversos da amizade com colegas academicamente desengajados (Im, Hughes, & West, 2016). O efeito protetor para comportamentos de risco está particularmente associado à percepção do adolescente sobre a supervisão dos pais (Clark, Donnellan, Robins, & Conger, 2015;Del Priore, Schlomer, & Ellis, 2017;Low & Espelage, 2014), um dado que reforça a importância da perspectiva dos filhos, assinalada recentemente em estudo sobre envolvimento parental e comportamento oposicional desafiante em crianças mais jovens, de seis a 11 anos (Li, Clark, Klump, & Burt, 2017).…”