Why Do Parents Become Involved in Their Children’s Education?

Abstract

This article reviews psychological theory and research critical to understanding why parents become involved in their children’s elementary and secondary education. Three major constructs are believed to be central to parents’ basic involvement decisions. First, parents’ role construction defines parents’ beliefs about what they are supposed to do in their children’s education and appears to establish the basic range of activities that parents construe as important, necessary, and permissible for their own actions with and on behalf of children. Second, parents’ sense of efficacy for helping their children succeed in school focuses on the extent to which parents believe that through their involvement they can exert positive influence on their children’s educational outcomes. Third, general invitations, demands, and opportunities for involvement refer to parents’ perceptions that the child and school want them to be involved. Hypotheses concerning the functioning of the three constructs in an additive model are suggested, as are implications for research and practice. Overall, the review suggests that even well-designed school programs inviting involvement will meet with only limited success if they do not address issues of parental role construction and parental sense of efficacy for helping children succeed in school.