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Perceived parental monitoring and school motivation during adolescence: a bidirectional model

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Abstract

School motivation is key to promoting optimal educational pathways. Some studies suggest that parental monitoring behaviors foster school motivation among adolescents; however, they did not examine the potential role of adolescents’ motivation in shaping parental monitoring behaviors. This longitudinal study aimed to examine the bidirectional associations between three types of school motivation (autonomous, controlled, and amotivation) and two types of perceived parental monitoring behaviors (solicitation and control). The sample consisted of 328 adolescents (212 girls, 116 boys; M = 15.78 years), assessed at the end of their third or fourth year of secondary school, and again, 1 year later. Path analyses revealed that over a 1-year period, bidirectional associations were found between autonomous motivation and perceived parental solicitation. Moreover, parental solicitation as perceived by the adolescents was associated with a decrease in amotivation during the following year. Findings provide support for the dynamic nature of the parent–child relationships and highlight the need to consider child-to-parent effects to promote positive school-related outcomes.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Québec Research Funds–Society and Culture (award number 2021-B2Z-281986) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (award number 207–2021-2022-Q1-02294) to CCP; and the Québec Research Funds–Society and Culture, New Research Professor grant (2013-NP-167302) and Research Team Support grant (2013-SE-164393 and 2018-SE-205454), the Québec Research Funds–Health Research Scholar award Junior 1 and 2 (26858 and 266652), and Young Researcher Establishment grant (28802) to MHV. The authors were also supported by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Québec at Montréal through doctoral fellowships (CCP, OG) and a start-up grant (MHV).

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Correspondence to Marie-Hélène Véronneau.

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Catherine Cimon-Paquet. Department of Psychology, University of Quebec in Montreal, P.O. Box 8888, Station Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada.

Current themes of research:

Parent–child relationships, academic achievement, child development, child sleep, passion, longitudinal studies.

Most relevant publications:

Cimon-Paquet, C., Bernier, A., Matte-Gagné, C., & Mageau, G. A. (2020). Early maternal autonomy support and mathematical achievement trajectories during elementary school. Learning and Individual Differences, 79, 101855. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101855

Bernier, A., Cimon‐Paquet, C., Tétreault, É., Carrier, J., & Matte‐Gagné, C. (2021). Prospective relations between sleep in preschool years and academic achievement at school entry. Journal of Sleep Research, 30(3), e13183. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13183

Olivier Gaudet. Department of Psychology, University of Quebec in Montreal, P.O. Box 8888, Station Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada.

Current themes of research:

Self-esteem, school motivation, social status, longitudinal studies, social experiences, friendships.

Most relevant publications:

Chacon Valdez, Y., Gaudet, O., Verner-Filion, J., & Véronneau, M.-H. (2019). Teacher–student relationship in high school and school motivation: bidirectional analyses. Poster presented at the 41e annual conference of the Société Québécoise pour la Recherche en Psychologie (SQRP), Mont Tremblant, QC, Canada.

Gaudet, O., Véronneau, M-H., Saint-Charles, J. & Mathys, C. (2018). Holding a peripheral position within an unpopular clique: A longitudinal risk factor for early adolescents’ self-esteem. Poster presented at the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) conference, Washington, DC, USA.

Jérémie Verner-Filion. Department of Educational Sciences, University of Quebec in Outaouais, Gatineau, Québec, Canada.

Current themes of research:

Motivation, passion, perfectionism, educational success, psychological well-being, child development.

Most relevant publications:

Verner-Filion, J., Schellenberg, B. J. I., Holding, A. C., & Koestner, R. (2020). Passion and grit in the pursuit of long-term personal goals in college students. Learning and Individual Differences, 83–84, 101939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101939

Bonneville-Roussy, A., Evans, P., Verner-Filion, J., Vallerand, R. J., & Bouffard, T. (2017). Motivation and coping with the stress of assessment: Gender differences in outcomes for university students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 48, 28–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.08.003

Verner-Filion, J., & Vallerand, R. J. (2016). On the differential relationships involving perfectionism and academic adjustment: The mediating role of passion and affect. Learning and Individual Differences, 50, 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.07.01

Marie-Hélène Véronneau. Department of Psychology, University of Quebec in Montreal, P.O. Box 8888, Station Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada. E-mail: veronneau.marie-helene@uqam.ca

Current themes of research:

Educational success, emotional competence, social experiences, mental health, vocational training, longitudinal studies.

Most relevant publications:.

Petit, M.-P., Véronneau, M.-H., & Mathys, C. (2022). A cross-national comparison of school motivation profiles and their associated predictors among French-Canadian and Belgian Adolescents. Current Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02867-9

Véronneau, M.-H., Serbin, L. A., Kennedy-Turner, K., Stack, D. M., Ledingham, J., & Schwartzman, A. (2021). Promoting secondary education in low-income youth: The moderating role of social behavioral and academic skills in the context of a major educational reform. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51, 1317–1332. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01541-w

Vaillancourt, M. C., Oliveira Paiva, A., Véronneau, M.-H., & Dishion, T. J. (2019). How do individual predispositions and family dynamics contribute to academic adjustment through the middle school years? The mediating role of friends’ characteristics. Journal of Early Adolescence, 38(4), 576–602. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431618776124

The last author is the senior author and principal investigator on this study.

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Cimon-Paquet, C., Gaudet, O., Verner-Filion, J. et al. Perceived parental monitoring and school motivation during adolescence: a bidirectional model. Eur J Psychol Educ 38, 819–839 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-022-00633-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-022-00633-w

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