The Salience of the Subtle Aspects of Parental Involvement and Encouraging that Involvement: Implications for School-Based Programs

Abstract

Background/Context For many years, educators, parents, and social scientists have conceptualized engaged parents as those who help their children with their homework, frequently attend school functions, and maintain household rules that dictate when their young engage in schoolwork and leisure. Recent meta-analyses on parental involvement confirm the salience of more subtle social variables, which Bandura and Walters asserted may be even more important than overt parental behavior in fostering positive student outcomes. These results indicate that factors such as parental expectations, the quality of parent–child communication, and parental style may be more highly related to student achievement than various more overt expressions of this involvement. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose of the article is to examine what the body of research literature indicates about the role and utility of the subtle aspects of parental involvement. The article first establishes a theoretical framework, using Bandura and Walter's research. Then the article focuses on three issues regarding parental involvement: (1) the salience of subtle aspects of parental involvement; (2) subtle actions are also important to help schools more completely involve parents; and (3) to what extent is it possible to educate parents to become more involved? The article also addresses whether those aspects of parental involvement that are the most efficacious in everyday living are also the most vital in school-based parental involvement programs. Research Design The article is an analytical essay that summarizes the recent research on the influence of subtle aspects of parental involvement. It reaches conclusions based on investigations into family and school practices. Conclusion There are deliberate actions that teachers can take to enhance parental involvement. First, educate parents to comprehend, and then act on, the fact that it is probably some of the more subtle aspects of parental involvement, such as high expectations and communication, that are among the most important. Second, educate school leaders, teachers, and staff to understand that raising parental participation may be more a function of subtle but important demonstrations of love and respect than a matter of instructing parents to apply particular methods of helping children. Naturally, all these factors are important, but the spirit and the attitude of parental involvement may actually be more important than the pedagogy applied at home. As parents, educators, and other leaders apply these principles, it is likely that parental involvement in the early 21st century will be greater than it has been in recent memory. Ultimately, teachers, students, and parents will all benefit from this development.

Direct and indirect effects of strength‐based parenting on adolescents’ school outcomes: Exploring the role of mental toughness

“…Specifically, Jeynes (2015) asserts that if researchers and educators focus on these strengths in children and families of color, they will do a much better job of ensuring positive school outcomes for students. It is particularly suggested that educators need to acknowledge the strengths of expressions of parental involvement among parents of color, which tend to be the subtler yet more important components of parental involvement (Jeynes, 2010(Jeynes, , 2011(Jeynes, , 2017. However, contrary to expectations, strength-based parenting did not exert a significant direct effect on adolescents' school burnout.…”

“…It is likely that adolescents with strength-based parents know and use their personal strengths and show more behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement in school. Another reason why strengthbased parenting could positively influence adolescents' school outcomes stems from the findings of previous studies (e.g., Jeynes, 2010Jeynes, , 2011Jeynes, , 2015 that highlight that religious dedication of the students and their personal ties with parents may be such a notable source of doing well in school. Specifically, Jeynes (2015) asserts that if researchers and educators focus on these strengths in children and families of color, they will do a much better job of ensuring positive school outcomes for students.…”

“…For instance, previous research has shown that while positive parenting strategies (i.e., authoritative style) are related to higher levels of self-esteem, optimism, and school satisfaction (Smokowski, Bacallao, Cotter, & Evans, 2015), negative parenting strategies (i.e., authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful style) are linked with internalizing and externalizing problems (Pinquart, 2017a(Pinquart, , 2017bSmokowski et al, 2015). Results from meta-analysis studies also demonstrate that increased parental involvement in children's educational processes is associated with better academic outcomes (Castro et al, 2015;Jeynes, 2010Jeynes, , 2011Jeynes, , 2015Jeynes, , 2017. However, to date, most of these studies investigating parental influences on children's development have largely focused on Baumrind's (1966) parenting typologies, namely, authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles.…”

Development and Validation of Chinese Parental Involvement and Support Scale for Preschool Children

“…A third component of parental involvement and support is educational support ( Berger, 1991 ; Jeynes, 2010 ). A preschooler’s level of intellect is not yet mature, and they usually are not encouraged to learn academic knowledge.…”

Beyond adoption status: Post-adoptive parental involvement and children’s reading and math performance from kindergarten to first grade.

“…In the general population, parental involvement has been identified as a key contributor to children’s academic outcomes (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995; Jeynes, 2011), and specific types and extent of parental involvement may be influenced by parents’ beliefs on skills that children need to succeed in school (Graue, 1992). Jeynes (2010) has further demonstrated that subtle forms of parental involvement (e.g., expectations) were more impactful than other forms of parental involvement (e.g., attending parent-teacher conference) in children’s academic performance.…”