Contextual Influences on Parental Educational Aspirations for Their Children

Background and Purpose

Research shows that community-rich relationships, like those formed between the family and school, result in more favorable child health and well-being outcomes and positive academic attachment. In addition, the literature suggests one parental belief system, parents' educational aspirations for their children, is a particularly important predictor of children's academic achievement. Although the relation of parents' aspirations to student outcomes has been well documented, little research has assessed contextual factors, such as family-school linkages, that might influence parents' aspirations for their children's educational attainment. This study examined parents' educational aspirations for their children as a function of ethnicity, parents' educational level, children's academic performance, and parents' perceptions of school climate, within an ethnically diverse sample of 14,192 families.

Methods

The data were gathered from parents of middle and high school students from a large public school system within a culturally diverse county. One parent in each household was asked to complete a questionnaire, the Parent Satisfaction Survey (PSS), yielding a 71% survey response rate. Parents' perceptions of school climate were measured through six scales: 1) quality of academic instruction; 2) school communication with parents; 3) school empowerment of parents; 4) level of school safety and discipline; 5) quality of health education; 6) quality of guidance counseling.

Results

Hierarchical regression models examined the predictive relationships of parent education, child GPA, and school climate variables on parental educational aspirations for their children. Subsample analyses revealed that among highly educated African American parents (i.e., college degree or higher) parental educational aspirations for their children were higher if parents believed their children's school had high levels of safety/discipline. Among lower educated African American parents (i.e., high school or trade school degree or below), aspirations for their children were higher if parents believed the school had quality health education. For African American and Hispanic parents whose children were doing poorly in school (i.e., C or below), parents' educational aspirations were higher if they believed the school had quality academic instruction. For African American parents with children doing well in school (i.e., most grades A's), parents' educational aspirations for their children were higher if they believed the school had quality health education.

Conclusions/Implications

Study findings showed that parents across ethnicity held high educational aspirations for their children. However, the ethnicity by parent education interaction on aspirations for their children was intriguing. Parents' perceptions of school-related factors were most predictive of African American and Hispanic parents' aspirations for their children. Future studies might examine other community-specific variables, like measures of social capital or examining workplace policies, which may be indirectly related to parents' educational level, and that may influence children's academic attachment through parents' held aspirations. Perhaps stronger linkages among the child, parent and school can be forged early in a child's academic career and in ways that specifically address a family's real and perceived contextual barriers to their children's academic success.