Nancy E. Hill

Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement.

Early adolescence is often marked by changes in school context, family relationships, and developmental processes. In the context of these changes, academic performance often declines, while at the same time the long-term implications of academic performance increase. In promoting achievement across elementary and secondary school levels, the significant role of families, family-school relations, and parental involvement in education has been highlighted. Although there is a growing body of literature focusing on parental involvement in education during middle school, this research has not been systematically examined to determine which types of involvement have the strongest relation with achievement. The authors conducted a meta-analysis on the existing research on parental involvement in middle school to determine whether and which types of parental involvement are related to achievement. Across 50 studies, parental involvement was positively associated with achievement, with the exception of parental help with homework. Involvement that reflected academic socialization had the strongest positive association with achievement. Based on the known characteristics of the developmental stage and tasks of adolescence, strategies reflecting academic socialization are most consistent with the developmental stage of early adolescence.

Parent-school involvement and school performance: Mediated pathways among socioeconomically comparable African American and Euro-American families

Childrens academic and social competencies were examined as mediators to explain the often positive relation between parent-school involvement and achievement. Ethnic variations in the relation between parent-school involvement and early achievement and the mediated pathways were examined. Because much of the comparative research confounds ethnicity with socioeconomic status, the relations were examined among socioeconomically comparable samples of African American and Euro-American kindergarten children and their mothers. For reading achievement, academic skills mediated the relation between involvement and achievement for African Americans and Euro-Americans. For math achievement, the underlying process differed across ethnic groups. For African Americans, academic skills mediated the relation between school involvement and math performance. For Euro-Americans, social competence mediated the impact of home involvement on school achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

A mediational model of the impact of interparental conflict on child adjustment in a multiethnic, low-income sample

Path analysis was used to determine whether the effects of interparental conflict on childrens depression and conduct disorder are mediated by 3 dimensions of parenting: acceptance, inconsistent discipline, and hostile control. The study extends the literature by testing this mediational model with a low-income, predominantly ethnic minority sample of preadolescent children and by examining the effects of multiple dimensions of interparental conflict from the childs perspective. Results supported the mediational model when analyses were based on childs reports of all variables but not when mothers reports were used to assess child depression and conduct problems. Exploratory analyses revealed unique mediational paths associated with conflict frequency and resolution, which were examined along with intensity as distinct dimensions of interparental conflict.

Early Adolescents' Career Aspirations: A Qualitative Study of Perceived Barriers and Family Support among Low-Income, Ethnically Diverse Adolescents

Using qualitative methods and data, this study examined career aspirations, perceived barriers, and family support among low-income, African American, Euro-American, Mexican American, and Mexican Immigrant early adolescents. Based on themes grounded in the narratives, gender and ethnic differences emerged. Girls were more likely to express an understanding of the requirements for reaching their goals than were boys. Mexican girls were more likely to express traditionally female goals than were other girls. Adolescents of Mexican descent perceived fewer barriers for reaching their goals than did African Americans or Euro-Americans. Negative relationships were observed between career aspirations and perceived barriers and between perceived barriers and family support. The implications of the findings were discussed, in addition to directions for future research.

Disentangling ethnicity, socioeconomic status and parenting: Interactions, influences and meaning

Abstract Internationally and domestically there has been increased attention given to the influence of ethnic, cultural, economic and contextual factors as they influence parenting, family dynamics and childrens developmental and mental health outcomes. Increased globalization and migration has heightened concerns about assuring that developmental theories and evidence-based programs and practices are sensitive to variations in parental beliefs, practices and their impact on child outcomes. This article integrates theories and worldviews that undergird research-focused understanding the role of ethnicity, culture and context on family dynamics and childrens developmental outcomes. In addition, limitations in research designs for highlighting the interactive influences of ethnicity, socioeconomic status and community context on families are discussed in light of research designs that are heuristic in disentangling these factors for the purposes of developing culturally sensitive and appropriate theories, programs, policies and practices to benefit children and families.

From Middle School to College: Developing Aspirations, Promoting Engagement, and Indirect Pathways from Parenting to Post High School Enrollment.

Based on a longitudinal sample of 1,452 African American and European American adolescents and their parents, parenting practices (i.e., monitoring, warmth, and autonomy support) at 7th grade had significant indirect effects on college enrollment 3 years post high school, through their effects on aspirations, school engagement, and grade point average (GPA). All 3 parenting practices were related to aspirations and behavioral engagement at 8th grade, with 2 of the 3 parenting practices related to the emotional (monitoring and warmth) and cognitive (autonomy support and warmth) engagement. The reciprocal relations between aspirations and engagement/GPA were significant, although the effects from 8th aspirations to 11th engagement were stronger than the reverse path. Ethnic differences were found only for parenting practices: monitoring had stronger associations with GPA and behavioral engagement for African Americans, whereas autonomy support had stronger associations with GPA for European Americans. For African American parents, a delicate balance is needed to capture the benefits of higher levels of monitoring for promoting GPA and behavioral engagement and the benefits of autonomy support for developing aspirations and cognitive engagement. Parental warmth was equally beneficial for supporting aspirations, engagement, and achievement across ethnicity.

Regulating debilitating emotions in the context of performance: Achievement goal orientations, achievement-elicited emotions, and socialization contexts

A theoretical framework that incorporates emotional responses and emotion regulation into achievement goal theory is proposed as an alternative view to understanding the inconsistent pattern of findings linking achievement goal orientations to academic outcomes. In this critical review and synthesis, the relation of achievement goal orientations to debilitating emotional responses, as well as the use of emotion regulation strategies to alter debilitating emotions, is examined. Although mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goal orientations are considered, the regulation of debilitating emotions is proposed as especially critical for understanding how performance-approach goal orientations relate to academic-related processes and achievement. Finally, this framework is broadened to incorporate research on how the social context and intraindividual factors shape the resultant pattern of achievement goal orientations, emotional responses, and emotion regulation.

Excavating Culture: Disentangling Ethnic Differences From Contextual Influences in Parenting

Historically, much of the research on parenting has not disentangled the influences of race/ethnicity, SES, and culture on family functioning and the development of children and adolescents. This special issue addresses this gap by disentangling ethnic differences in parenting behaviors from their contextual influences, thereby deepening our understanding of parenting processes in diverse families. Six members of the Parenting Section of the Study Group on Race, Culture, and Ethnicity (SGRCE) introduce and implement a novel approach toward understanding this question. The goal of this project is to study culturally related processes and the degree to which they predict parenting. An iterative process was employed to delineate the main parenting constructs (warmth, psychological and behavioral control, monitoring, communication, and self-efficacy), cultural processes, and contextual influences, and to coordinate a data analytic plan utilizing individual datasets with diverse samples to answer the research questions.

Does Parenting Differ Based on Social Class?: African American Women's Perceived Socialization for Achievement

Research has provided some evidence of ethnic group, gender, and class differences in the socialization for achievement. However, there is little research on African American women with the exception of the studies of low-income, single mothers. To understand the similarities and differences in socialization for achievement based on social class, middle-class African American women from working- and middle-class backgrounds were studied using qualitative and quantitative methods to compare them on issues related to achievement socialization. Women from middle-class backgrounds reported that their parents had higher expectations for them and were more involved in their education than did women from working-class backgrounds. More middle-class parents expected their daughters to be successful in careers than did working-class parents. Women from working-class families did receive support from their parents but they did not have as much support as did the women from middle-class backgrounds. Women from working-class families perhaps made use of other sources to support their desire to succeed. There were no differences in perceived race-related socialization based on social class. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

Excavating culture: Summary of results

This is a companion paper to the seven articles also published in this special issue of Applied Developmental Science. This paper summarizes and discusses the results from common analyses that were conducted on different datasets. The common analyses were designed to disentangle contextual and ethnic influences on parenting. Initial ethnic group differences were found in many of the datasets with multiple ethnic groups. Although certain ethnic group differences were explained by contextual influences, some ethnic group differences remained after contextual influences were controlled. Follow-up analyses with datasets containing cultural variables revealed within group differences in the degree to which ethnic differences in parenting may be accounted for by contextual factors versus culturally-specific processes. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed and future directions are offered.