Students’ mediator variables in the relationship between family involvement and academic performance: Effects of the styles of involvement

Abstract

The present study is aimed at observing the degree to which family support and control determine academic performance in Mathematics and Language, and at understanding how this relationship is mediated by a series of factors related to students’ motivation (self-efficacy), their study habits, the learning environment perceived at school, their school satisfaction, and a history of school retention. On this premise, a study was proposed in 44 Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) schools, selecting 1,316 students (938 enrolled in the first, and 378 in the second year). Data confirm that both parental support and control directly influence academic performance in both subjects, but also indirectly through the mediator variables, which in the case of support are environment, satisfaction, study habits and self-efficacy, whereas in the case of control they are habits and retention.