Parents' involvement in their elementary school children's homework

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify factors predicting level of parents' involvement in their elementary school-age children's homework. Parents of 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade children (N = 525) completed questionnaires assessing parental self-efficacy, perception of life context for involvement (time and energy, skills and knowledge, and financial capability), and 4 types of parental involvement. The results revealed that parents' perceptions of the amount of time and energy, or skill and knowledge levels, predicted their level of involvement. This indicates that parents' perceptions of their life context are significant enough to enable a prediction of their involvement. Even when parental self-efficacy was high, if parents perceived low levels of time and energy, or knowledge and skills, that enabled a prediction of a low level of parental involvement. Additionally, the parents who were often absent when their children returned home from school reported low levels of time and energy, and the single mothers reported low levels of financial capability. This suggests that the actual social situation of the parents indirectly affects parental involvement through parents' perceptions.