Browsing by Subject "Parental influences"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    An integrative cultural view of achievement motivation in learning math : parental and classroom predictors of goal orientations of children with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds
    (2008-05) Kim, Jung-in, 1978-; Schallert, Diane L.
    With the remarkable increase in immigration since the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act, approximately one in five children in the United States has at least one foreign-born parent (Hernandez & Charney, 1998). This study was an investigation of how students’ perceptions of their parents shaped the kind and degree of motivational goal orientations that they adopted in their mathematics classroom taking students’ different cultural and ethnic backgrounds into account. In this study, students of different ethnic backgrounds enrolled in an American high school reported their achievement goal orientations and self-regulated motivations for their math class, as well as their perceptions of parents’ goals for them, parents’ motivating styles, and the classroom’s goal structures. A total of 138 9th grade Anglo American students and Asian American students were included in the data analyses. In path analyses, Anglo American and Asian American students’ goal orientations were predicted by their perceptions of their parents’ goals for them as well as their parents’ motivating styles, mediated by the students’ self-regulated motivation. For both Anglo American and Asian American students, autonomous self-regulated motivation predicted mastery goal orientation, and less autonomous self-regulated motivation predicted performance goal orientations. However, the students’ perceptions of parental influence from different ethnic/cultural backgrounds were different in predicting students’ self-regulated motivations. Interestingly, Asian American children’s perceptions of parents’ controlling style as well as parents’ autonomy support could predict their mastery goal adoption via identified regulation, and their perception of parental control even predicted their intrinsic regulation. It was also interesting to note that Asian American students’ perceptions of parents’ goal orientations for them predicted their own goals not only directly but also mediated by their self-regulated motivations, unlike Anglo American students whose perceptions of parents’ goals predicted their own goals only mediated by their self-regulated motivations. An integration of self-determination theory and goal theory is offered, broadening the application of these two theories to students of different ethnic/cultural backgrounds.
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    Learning begins at home: The role of Hispanic mothers as their child's first teacher
    (2012-05) Brooks, Augustina; Colwell, Malinda J.; Trejos-Castillo, Elizabeth; Cong, Zhen
    The study of ethnic minority populations can provide valuable information about diverse subgroups within the larger society and clarify the significance of sociocultural factors in child socialization (Vargas & Busch-Rossnagel, 2003). Parental knowledge about child development has been found to influence conceptualizations of acceptable and normative behaviors and could therefore explain why parents from diverse backgrounds differ in childrearing attitudes, beliefs, and practices (Delgado & Ford, 1998; Huang, Caughy, Genevro, & Miller, 2005). Hispanic mothers, in general, have been characterized according to a deficit model in comparative analyses with their Anglo-American counterparts. This deficit model does not account for the cultural influences inherent in the parental schemas of Hispanic mothers (Cardona, Nicholson, & Fox, 2000). The present study aimed to broaden the existing literature on the values that Mexican mothers have concerning their children’s development, the role that culture plays in maternal teaching practices, and to explore the notion of an existing conflict between home and school values in relation to Mexican children’s academic achievement. This study was comprised of a sample of seventy-nine Mexican mothers between the ages of 18-over 40. A questionnaire, designed by the researcher after an examination of the literature and pilot testing, was used to measure maternal values associated with parenting and teaching strategies. In addition to family demographic information (maternal place of birth, education, marital status, family income), the questionnaire included 54 questions and was divided into the following six subscales: child attitude, child learning, teaching, parenting, maternal values about child development, and academic achievement (GPA). Mothers in the study were found to place more emphasis on their values towards child development than their parenting skills. Maternal values were found to be associated with parenting practices. A significant relationship was also found between child learning and GPA.
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    Parent-toddler play interactions with feminine sex-typed toys
    (Texas Tech University, 1996-12) Sciaraffa, Mary Aileen
    Parents and toddlers have been observed in a variety of situations. In this study, forty-two parent-toddler dyads were observed interacting with feminine sex-typed toys. The toys included in the study were two baby dolls and a soft, stuffed clown. It was proposed that the type of toy used during the play session was to be the determining factor in how the parent and toddler played. The baby dolls were expected to elicit more nurturing and caretaking responses from both parents and toddlers; while the soft, stuffed clown was expected to evoke more object type play. Parents and toddlers were observed for their suggestions and/or initiations to their partner for play behaviors. Responses of the parents and toddlers to their partner's suggestions and/or initiations were also observed. In general, parents were found to encourage more feminine sex-typed play behaviors with the baby dolls than with the clown. It was also found that toddlers as young as 18 months of age were able to discriminate between different play behaviors with the baby dolls and clown. In terms of the responses, boys and girls accepted more responses from the same sex parent and rejected more responses from the other sex parent. This study lends evidence that all "dolls" are not alike, with baby dolls being different from a soft, stuffed clown. Children learn about their environment and how to interact with their environment through play. Therefore, parents who provide their child with baby dolls are scaffolding different experiences for their child than those parents who provide their child with a soft, stuffed toy.
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    Parenting style, education specific parenting practices, and adolescent achievement and achievement related factors
    (Texas Tech University, 1996-08) Dawson, Martin
    The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the relationship between global parenting style and education specific parenting practices as processes related to academic achievement and achievement related factors. This study not only assessed the degree of relationship between variables, it also tested a process model in which education specific parenting practices mediated the relationship between global parenting style and academic achievement and achievement related outcomes. Four sets of variables were analyzed: (a) parenting style variables (Authoritative, Authoritarian, and Permissive parenting), (b) education specific parenting practices (Parental Involvement, Encouragement to Achieve, and Response to Grades), (c) achievement related outcomes factors (Achievement Attributions, Study Strategies, and Motivation), and (d) academic achievement (Self-Reported Grade Point Average).
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    Parents as agents of change for the prevention of obesity in young children
    (2004) Klohe, Deborah Marie; Freeland-Graves, Jeanne H.
    The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of a weight loss program on maternal nutrition knowledge and the diet and activity of her 1-3 year old child. In addition, physical, demographic, dietary, and psychosocial factors related to child weightfor-height were examined. All four studies utilized data from one sample of low-income, tri-ethnic mothers and children (n=191). In study 1, a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for 1-3 year olds was developed and validated in 77 tri-ethnic, low-income mothers who completed FFQs and 3-day diet records for their child. Reliability was evaluated by comparing food group servings/day on test- and retest-FFQs. Concurrent validity of the FFQ as compared to 3-day diet records also was determined. Mean coefficients were 0.69 for reliability, 0.41 for validity, and 78% of the children were classified correctly. In study 2, 91 Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian, overweight/obese mothers of a 1-3 year old child participated in an 8-week program emphasizing healthful eating, exercise, and lifestyle changes. Energy intakes of the child were reduced to acceptable levels, and both mothers and children decreased total/saturated fat, high-fat snacks/desserts, sweetened beverages, and fast foods, and increased home-prepared meals. Physical activity also improved in both mothers and children. In study 3, 101 tri-ethnic, low-income 1-3 year old children and their mothers were measured for height and weight and mothers completed demographics, psychosocial, and child dietary data. Multiple regression revealed that the modifiable factors of mother’s weight and child’s inactivity and lower % of energy from carbohydrate, and the non-modifiable factors of family history of diabetes and child’s age were related to greater child weight-for-height. These factors explained 29% of the variance in weight-for-height. In study 4, the relationship of nutrition knowledge to weight loss in 141 low-income, tri-ethnic mothers of children 8-months to 12-years was examined. The intervention improved the nutrition knowledge of mothers in all areas of interest. Participants who achieved successful weight loss (≥ 5 pounds) had greater nutrition knowledge on both pre- and at post-tests than those who did not lose weight. Responders appeared more cognizant of information about diet, health, and weight loss.
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    The role of parental attachment and limit-setting on toddler behavior : separate and combined influences of mothers and fathers
    (2008-12) Higgins, Kristina Nicole, 1981-; Hazen, Nancy Lynn
    Much research has been done in the area of toddler compliance/defiance and emotion regulation from a socialization perspective, and although some of this research has used attachment theory as a theoretical basis, there is little empirical literature that measures both attachment in infancy and parental limit-setting in toddlerhood as predictors of toddler compliance, emotionally negative defiance, or emotion regulation. In addition, few studies include fathers’ attachment and limit-setting along with mothers, or examine the different combinations of parenting units’ influence on toddler behavior. The goals of the current study are to assess how infant-parent attachment and parental limit-setting with mothers and fathers separately predict toddler behavior both with the same parent and with the other parent, and how different combinations of parental units, including mother-infant and father-infant attachment and maternal and paternal limit setting, relate to toddler behavior. This study uses longitudinal data, with the infantparent attachment relationships assessed using the Strange Situation at 12 and 15 months, and at 24-months the toddlers were brought into the lab and videotaped in a 20-minute play session, clean-up, and two teaching tasks with each parent. The parents were rated individually on their use of developmentally appropriate, permissive, and harsh/controlling parenting styles, and the toddlers were rated on compliance and emotionally negative defiance; the toddlers were also rated on emotion regulation in a separate task with an experimenter. Using OLS regression analyses, this study found parental limit-setting to be a stronger predictor of toddler behavior than attachment, and toddler behavior can only be predicted in the interaction with the same parent--maternal limit-setting does not predict toddler behavior with father or vice versa. Combinations of parent-infant attachment classifications were then assessed using ANOVAs, and different combinations of infant-parent attachment were related to toddlers’ emotion regulation. Hierarchical clustering techniques were implemented to determine how to create parenting units based on the different parenting styles, and four distinct clusters emerged: both parents developmentally appropriate, both parents are harsh/controlling and permissive, mother is appropriate and father is permissive, mother is permissive and father is appropriate. ANOVAs were then used to relate these clusters to the toddler behaviors.
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    Socioracial group differences in family and peer influences on adolescents' academic achievement
    (2004) Bates, Stacey Leigh; Carlson, Cindy I.
    This study investigates the relationships between peer and family influences and the academic achievement of adolescents from diverse socioracial backgrounds. Participants were 2,202 White, Hispanic, and African American students attending four public middle schools in Austin, Texas. Participants completed self-report questionnaires that included information about student achievement, family background, family influences (i.e., parental monitoring, parent involvement, family stress), and positive and negative peer influences. The investigation examined whether a comparative model or a moderation model better explains the relationships among peer influences, family influences, and adolescents’ academic achievement. A comparative model was supported for the overall sample. Results indicated that both peer and family influences play a role in achievement; however, compared to family influences, peer influences accounted for twice the amount of variance in achievement. A moderation model of peer and family influences on achievement was partially supported for African American students, as a significant interaction was found between self-enhancing peer behavior and parental monitoring for African American students compared to White students. For African American students, positive peer influences served as a buffer against potential negative effects of low parental monitoring, and high parental monitoring buffered against potential negative effects of having few positive peer influences. No significant interactions were found for White or Hispanic students. When socioracial group differences in the impact of peers and families on achievement were examined, a significant difference was found between White and African American students in the relation of parent involvement and self-destructive peer behavior to academic achievement. Compared to White students, the achievement of African American students was not as strongly related to parent involvement or to negative peer influences. Hispanic students did not differ significantly from White students in peer and family influences on achievement. Findings of this study contribute to the understanding of how developmental contexts outside the classroom work together to influence academic performance of adolescents. Implications of the patterns of peer and family influences on achievement during early adolescence and directions for future research are discussed.