Parent Involvement in School Conceptualizing Multiple Dimensions and Their Relations with Family and Demographic Risk Factors

• Published in: Journal of school psychology Vol. 38; no. 6; pp. 501 - 523
• Main Authors: Kohl, Gwynne O., Lengua, Liliana J., McMahon, Robert J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2000; Pergamon Press
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Depression; Interpersonal Competence; One Parent Family; Parent educational background; Parent Participation; Parent School Relationship; Predictor Variables; Racial and ethnic differences; Single parents; Sociocultural Patterns; Parent educational background; Depression; Racial and ethnic differences; Parent–school relationship; Single parents
• ISSN: 0022-4405; 1873-3506; 1873-3506
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-4405(00)00050-9

Parent involvement (PI) in school is associated with more positive academic performance and social competence in children. However, there are inadequacies in current measures of PI and a need for a better understanding of predictors of PI. In this study, measures were obtained from a normative sample of 387 children in kindergarten and first grade from high-risk neighborhoods in 4 different sites. First, a confirmatory factor analysis of a theoretical factor model of PI identified 6 reliable multiple-reporter PI factors: Parent–Teacher Contact, Parent Involvement at School, Quality of Parent–Teacher Relationship, Teacher's Perception of the Parent, Parent Involvement at Home, and Parent Endorsement of School. Next, the relations among 3 specific family and demographic risk factors—parental education level, maternal depression, and single-parent status—and these 6 PI factors were examined using path analyses in structural equation modeling. Results indicated that the 3 risk factors were differentially associated with the 6 PI factors: Parental education was significantly associated with 4 PI outcomes, maternal depression was significantly associated with 5 PI outcomes, and single-parent status was significantly associated with 3 PI outcomes. No significant ethnic group differences between African American and Caucasian families were found in these relations.