The Relationships among Parents’ Socioeconomic Status, Parental Involvement and Academic Achievement in Taiwanese Middle School Students

Abstract

The higher academic performance of Chinese students is a subject that raises interest and concern among many educators and psychologists. Parental involvement has been recognized as an important explanation. The present study explored the various types of parental involvement Taiwanese parents have to promote their children’s school success and how parental involvement mediated the indirect effect of socioeconomic status on children’s achievement. Utilizing structural equation modeling, questionnaires were administered to 363 eighth grade students in central Taiwan. The results indicated that Taiwanese parents had high expectations, stress academic pressure, and were willing to make sacrifices for their children’s education. Among the various types of parental involvement, parental encouragement/psychological support was found to be the most significant indicator. Parents’ socioeconomic status has an indirect effect on children’s academic achievement through the mediating effects of parental involvement, and has direct influence on children’s academic achievement. The implications of the findings are explored and suggestions are made for further research regarding related issues