| This study uses the National Educational Longitudinal Study data to examine the correlates of parental involvement, parents' demographic characteristics (ethnicity/culture, level of acculturation, and socio-economic status), and children's school performance among nationally representative sample of 8 th graders and their parents. Specifically three questions are evaluated: (1) the role of parents' involvement both in school and at home, in predicting children's school performance, (2) the mean difference of children's school performance and parents' involvement among ethnic/cultural groups, and (3) the role of parents' level of acculturation, ethnicity/culture, and SES in predicting parents' involvement. The study focuses on East Asian (Chinese and Koreans) Americans and Mexican Americans and uses Whites as a comparison group, who were registered as 8th graders in both private and public schools in the year 1988. Ecosystems theory and cultural differences theory are used as the conceptual framework for analysis. Regression analysis is performed to determine if parental involvement is a predictor of children's school performance and One Way Analysis of Variance analysis and Chi-Square analysis are conducted to examine the mean difference among Asians, Mexicans, and Whites, in relation to children's school performance and level of parents' involvement. Further, Hierarchical regression analysis is used to examine differential impacts of acculturation, ethnicity/culture, SES on parental involvement. Findings from the study indicate parental involvement has a significant influence on children's school performance. Both Asians and Mexicans had less school involvement (parent-school contacts and parent-school communication) than Whites, but they were involved at home (parent-child communication, parent supervision, and parents' educational expectations) as mush as Whites. Especially, Asians had higher educational expectations for their children than Mexicans and Whites, which appeared to influence Asians' superior school performance as a group. In addition, parents' SES was the most significant predictor of parents' involvement among SES, ethnicity/culture, and the level of acculturation. Based on these findings, implications for social work practice, research and policy to improve the level of parental involvement among Asian Americans and Mexican Americans, were discussed. |
