Lamborn, Dornbusch: Article Analysis

The authors raise the importance of using scientific methods of inquiry in non-scientific fields in drawing valid conclusions. This is exemplified by the negligible influence that actions taken by parents have on children's' academic outcomes. Utilizing data from the U.S. Department of Education, the authors examined the correlative relationship between a child's academic success and a plethora of variables related to the child's life; race and economic status of the parents, birth weight, and hours of television watched, to name a few. The authors concluded that the variables most directly correlated with academic success were what the parents were, such as how intelligent they were, and less what the parents did, like reading to children. This conflicts with what normative reasoning would argue: of course parenting should affect a child's outcome. However, the authors used regression analysis, which artificially holds constant every variable except the two they wished to focus on, and it displayed a different story. This illustrates the difference between the analyzing the world as it is and analyzing it with previously held notions of how it should

Parental involvement has been an issue in the United States since before the turn of the nineteenth century. Perhaps one of the most well-known organizations in support of parental involvement in schools was created in 1897. The National Congress of Mothers set up a statement of purposes that created the basis for their organization. The purposes included: “the education of parents for child development; the coöperation of home and school; the promotion of the kindergarten movement; the securing of legislation for neglected and dependent children; and the education of young people for parenthood,” (Butterworth, 7). The Congress of Mothers evolved in 1908 into the National

It is apparent throughout research parents have a high impact on the outcomes of adolescent emotional regulations and the behavior during adolescents (Feldman, 2011; Jabeen, Haque, & Riaz, 2013; Millings et al., 2012). Jabeen et al. (2013) states "parents play a crucial role in the social and emotional development of children" (pg.85). This part parent's play can be effected as stated above and the fluidity of parenting styles and their effects on adolescents should be observed. Through research looking at performance in school by Areepattamannil (2010), finds that supportive parenting yields higher achievement in school and is nearly as close in relationship to socioeconomic status.

We live in a culture where success is increasingly defined by a paycheck and is seemingly as important to the parent as the child. Raising children to be “successful” is increasingly becoming an obsession for upper-middle-class-parents, who encourage certain activities and scores to provide their child with the best chances of attending elite schools. The article focuses on the inherent advantage upper-middle-class parents provide but fails to mention those who the parent’s action affects: their children.

Studies have found that authoritative parents foster an environment that breeds few academic problems and high levels of self-determination to do well in school (Aldhafri, 2011). In fact, it is the biggest predictor of later school success and academic competence. (Sartaj & Aslam, 2010). However, another study conducted on Spanish children found that children with permissive and authoritative parents were equal in personal competence (a combination of social competence and grade point average), but children with permissive parents still received more failing grades than authoritative. And the children of authoritative parents scored higher in personal competence than authoritarian, but received the same amount of failing grades (Garcia & Gracia,

The book Unequal Childhoods explains a study conducted to prove the significance of social class. Annette Lareau presents the study highlighting two primary ways of parenting that ultimately affect how successful the child becomes as they transition into adulthood. These styles of parenting include Concerted Cultivation which is where parents put through kids through structured activities, and Accomplishment of Natural Growth which is emphasized through freedom and directives. While both styles of parenting have their benefits and their weaknesses, the educational system of the United States is built predominantly on Concerted Cultivation and middle class values, which in turn may negatively affect how children prepare for their transitions into adulthood. This imbalance in education can put students farther ahead and at the same time neglect children who don’t have the resources they need to keep up with the other students. There are a multitude of variables involved with helping students reach their full potential and become successful. Some of the big factors to a student’s success include the student 's socioeconomic background, how they “fit” into the educational system, how strong their relationships are with other people, and their ability to access resources. Creating an education that can accommodate students from all different backgrounds will empower students to reach their full potential.

In chapter 5 the author summarizes the results of studies by his coauthors, as well as other studies, that examine the influence demographic, cultural and other variables have on the performance of school-age children on standardized tests. In a now familiar theme, the results are plangently counterintuitive. Based on a mountain of school children’s test scores, a successful child appears to be more “made” than nurtured, more mused than molded. The chapter begins by reviewing how many parents get educated on raising their children and how parenting experts swing from one extreme

School and education happens to be one of the main things affected in the lives of both African American males and females living in single parent households. Parents tend to become less involved in the childs academics and social activities in school from the stress of being a single parent and having so much responsibility on them. It seemingly gets worse by the time the child reaches high school. One survey asked high school students whether their parents helped them with their school work and supervised their social activities. Students whose parents separated between the sophomore and senior years reported a loss of involvement and supervision compared to students whose parents stayed together (Mclanahan, n.d.). This usually leads to the child performing poorly in the classroom and on assignments. The child becomes less motivated to attend school, which leads to poor attendance. Poor attendance and lack of motivation sometimes results in the child dropping out of school. If the parents live apart, the probability that their children will drop out of high school rises by 11 percentage points. And for every child who actually drops out of school, there are likely to be three or four more whose performance is affected even though they manage to graduate (Mclanahan, n.d). Children born to unmarried parents are slightly more likely to drop out of school and become teen mothers than children born to married parents who divorce. But the difference is small compared to the

The adolescents who participated in this study filled out a self-report questionnaire that included their age, ethnicity and grade level along with a questionnaire that measured their parent’s autonomy granting behavior. (p. 821). Supple, Ghazarian, Perterson and Bush (2009) suggested there are positive effects of parental support and autonomy granting behavior across different cultures, especially regarding academic success and motivation. Results showed that regardless of culture, adolescents, on average, showed greater motivation in school when they were given freedom to make their own decisions, while still being guided by a supporting parent (p.829). Another study by Benoit et al. (2016) suggested there is a possible relationship between parental autonomy granting and childhood anxiety, emotional regulation and emotional reactivity, however both parent and child factors must be considered (p. 840). The results from this study showed that along with parental autonomy granting, child perceived control is also a significant factor in reducing the effects of childhood anxiety, and promoting appropriate emotional regulation and reactivity. However, focusing on parental autonomy alone does not provide enough

Teenagers – they may become self-conscious due to their body changing and need reassurance while becoming an adult. They may face some emotional changes or feeling that may be difficult for them to understand or control getting them to shift between childish and adult behaviour and needs. They become independence and gaining it may make them distance and become closer to peers. They start to think for themselves and have their own opinions on things that parents/ others may not agree with. Strong friendships are begin to

They emphasize that “parenting styles for African Americans might be direct results of their experiences as a subordinate group in the United States (1349),” which is to say that parental input contributes to students inadequate achievement gap, especially for the black students. A study conducted for controlling parenting styles as well as demographic factors eliminated the achievement gap between White and Black students and found that this is to be the case or one academic outcome –language and literacy skills in ratings. This, they identified was because of the different measures of education, because the study used slightly differing measures for parenting styles, including indicators which reflected the way that parents talk to their children about school experiences, school work, activities among others. Variables such as these, which capture parent-student interaction, contribute to the response of inadequate achievement. In addition, it also helps children from different social backgrounds to develop an orientation towards

Education and schooling in the United States is an interesting concept. I have always suspected that there are disparities between the quality of education a student receives, and the outside influences that act upon the student in both positive and negative ways. I was fortunate enough during my academic career that I had parents and a social situation that allowed some of the best opportunities for a good education. In the course of events I was afforded the opportunity to attend a private school, get money for a college education via the Army, and always had parents that were involved with my education, ensuring that I meet their expectations. As I look at the education system as a whole in our country, a commonality is seen the socioeconomic (SES) status of a student and the quality of education they receive. I saw this in my own perspective knowing that by attending a private school, I was being offered an education that other peers might not have. However, I also believe that a person’s individual drive and family involvement play a vital role in the education system as well. I know many students that attended the same school as I did, but without a good family structure or involvement, that failed academically in school. On the other side of the spectrum, I also know students that came from disadvantaged schools but had a good amount of family involvement and personal accountability in their own academic careers. These students succeeded, where many of

Typically, these two settings are never intertwined despite that it might be beneficial for the child. Parents who continue education outside of the school setting decrease the division of home and school, providing those children with a higher possibility of improving in an academic setting. While reading Chapter 1, I was shocked to learn how culture influences parental learning. According to one study, Asian and African-American parents tend to have high control which linked to higher scores academically while it decreased scores for White children (Woolfolk & Perry, 2014, p. 16). I found this interesting because I didn’t expect parenting styles and race being so closely connected. Being a mother, I am high on love and control equally which classifies with my culture’s parenting style. In addition to home settings, school settings are a key aspect for children. I have experienced high school at both a Catholic and Public school and they differed in how children were taught. One example was my safety, the catholic school I attended placed high consequences for fighting whereas there were not any set rules or regulations at the public school. Attendance and extracurricular activities were equally important in the catholic school but less in the public school I

Chapter 6 discussed the relationship between parenting styles, parenting involvement and student academic achievement. For example, the author explained that parents who volunteered the most in their child’s school had children who on average scored the worse in reading (Ripley, 2013, p.107. In addition, the chapter shows how the views on education has an impact on student academic achievement. Specifically, the views of education in South Korea, Finland and the U.S were examined.

Collective research focusing on family-school partnerships provide an extensive examination of parent involvement. Smith et al., (2011) referred to parent involvement as school, family, and community partnerships for the purpose of shared expectations, responsibilities, interests, and correlating influences of family, school, and community. Epstein’s (2008) framework of parent involvement approached parent involvement typologies from an institutional perspective; the framework for this literature review was conducted with a parental perspective that may positively affect academic achievement among students in 6th – 12th grades attending high poverty, rural schools. An explanation of Epstein’s six categories of parent involvement follows: