Emotional involvement matters, too: Associations among parental involvement, time management and academic engagement vary with Youth's developmental phase

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundPrior studies have emphasized the importance of parents' educational involvement (a type of cognitive involvement) to academic engagement, although little is known about emotional involvement.AimsThis study investigated whether and how different facets of involvement (cognitive vs. emotional, paternal vs. maternal) are differentially related to academic engagement and whether and how the associations among parental involvement, time management and academic engagement vary by adolescents' developmental phases.SamplesThe participants of this large national survey were students in elementary, middle and high school across different regions of mainland China. A total of 2687 adolescents (52.7% females, Mage = 14.07 ± 2.47) participated in this study.MethodsStructural equation models and multigroup analysis were conducted.ResultsWe found that the total effect of paternal and maternal emotional involvement on academic engagement was positive in elementary‐, middle‐ and high school students, and an indirect effect of time management underlying the above paths was found in all three groups. In contrast, the positive effect of maternal cognitive involvement on academic engagement as well as the indirect effects underlying the above pathways was established only in high school students.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the necessity of parents' emotional involvement and the consideration of adolescent developmental characteristics in the design of interventions.