Publication year
2014
Citation Title
Parental involvement and African American and European American adolescents’ academic, behavioral, and emotional development in secondary school.
Journal Name
Child Development
Journal Volume
85
Issue Number
6
Page Numbers
2151-2168
DOI
10.1111/cdev.12284
Summary
Adolescents experience multiple changes throughout secondary school in academic performance, behavior, and emotion, and it is important for parents to adapt their parental involvement accordingly. The associations between parental involvement and adolescent outcomes were examined at 7th, 9th, and 11th grades. Results revealed that different aspects of parental involvement associated differently with adolescent outcomes, and parental warmth played an important role in the relationship.
Key Findings
Increases in parental involvement were associated with increased grade point average (GPA), and decreased problem behaviors and depressive symptoms.
From 7th grade to 11th grade, communication between parents and schools declined, but parents were more likely to scaffold independence, provide home structure, and link education to children’s future success.
More home structure was related to better adolescent performance only when parental warmth was high.
Compared to White parents, Black parents were more likely to provide structure at home and link students’ educational pursuit to their future success, and less likely to scaffold independence.
Implications for Military Professionals
Educate military parents about their adolescents’ needs at different stages, and teach them parenting strategies for each stage
Encourage communication between teachers and military parents
Implications for Program Leaders
Help military parents develop parenting skills that adapt to adolescents’ development
Offer family activities for military parents and their adolescents to enjoy time together
Implications for Policy Makers
Recommend routine and effective communications between schools and military parents
Promote parent education programs that help military parents adjust their parental involvement according to their adolescents’ needs
Methods
Participants were recruited from 23 public schools in Maryland through letters to 7th graders’ families.
Each participant was assessed in Wave 1 (7th grade), Wave 2 (9th grade), and Wave 3 (11th grade); the retention rates at Waves 2 and 3 were 85% and 78%, respectively.
Data were collected through questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, and school records, and included information such as GPA, problem behaviors, depressive symptoms, parental involvement in education, and parental warmth.
Participants
The sample included 1,452 (51% female) adolescents who were assessed at Waves 1, 2 and 3; their average ages at the three waves were 12.9, 14.3, and 17.2 years, respectively.
Most of the participants were Black (56%), followed by White (39%), and other ethnic minorities (5%).
The socioeconomic distribution was comparable for the Black and White participants.
Limitations
The study solely focused on Black and White families, so the results may not apply to other racial or ethnic groups.
The sample was recruited from a single county in Maryland that is not diverse in socioeconomic status, therefore the findings cannot be generalized to the overall population.
Although the study examined the trajectory of parental involvement through secondary school, the mechanism of such changes was not specified, therefore it is unclear why the changes happen.
Avenues for Future Research
Recruit families from other races and ethnicities to understand how they are similar or different from White or Black families
Recruit participants from several different geographical areas to increase the diversity of the sample
Examine the underlying mechanism of the changes in parental involvement over time, and develop strategies for effective parenting
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
Although much is written about the impact of deployment on nondeployed spouses (NDSs) and couple relationships, few empirical studies address this directly. Using attachment theory as a guiding framework, this study followed 32 NDSs across a military deployment. We examined the prospective association between NDSs’ attachment avoidance and their response to relational challenges (assessed using both correlational and experimental designs) during a deployment. Two weeks before deployment, NDSs provided self-reports of their attachment avoidance and relationship satisfaction. During the deployment, they provided stream-of-consciousness speech samples regarding (a) the deployment and (b) their anticipated reunion with their spouse: after each speech sample they reported on their subjective anxiety. Based on random assignment, NDSs then completed either an experimenter-led “personal” or “relational” memory savoring task, reporting on their emotional state before and after the task. Two weeks after the deployment, NDSs reported on their relationship satisfaction. Higher avoidance was associated with more frequent anxiety word use and higher self-reported anxiety when discussing the anticipated reunion. Avoidance moderated the association between savoring condition and postsavoring negative emotion, such that in the relational condition only, greater avoidance was related to more negative emotion. Postsavoring emotional state moderated the longitudinal association between predeployment attachment avoidance and postdeployment relationship satisfaction. Results are discussed in terms of their contribution to the literature on coping during attachment stressors as well as their implications for treatment with NDSs undergoing deployment.
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