Parental Involvement and University Aspirations of Ethnic Korean Students in China

Abstract

Parental involvement in education is essential in enhancing university enrollment and maximizing the educational potentials for equality and excellence. This study utilized Perna’s (2006) model of parental involvement as social capital in interplay with other types of capital and tested the influence of educational involvement of parents upon university-going aspirations among contemporary Korean youth. A quantitative questionnaire was administered to 298 university students of Korean origin in China. Data analysis revealed that social capital was positively associated with students’ educational aspirations through parental interactions with the student and the school. The findings also confirm the value of economic and cultural capital in affecting the operation of social capital-embedded parental involvement, as manifested by the hypothesized intersecting relationship between social capital and other types of capital in this study. This study provides significant contributions to the prevalence of the interacting patterns between social capital and other types of capital, warranting continued work.