Abstract
There is substantial evidence of the association between multiple parental involvement and mathematical performance, but the long-term features of these links remain unclear, in particular in China. This study investigated the 8-year trajectory of mathematical performance, and its associations with five forms of parental involvement. The sample consisted of 645 adolescents (50.39% girls; Mage = 10.5 years, SD = 0.50). Latent growth curve modeling showed upward linear growth in mathematics performance. Among five forms of parental involvement, parental educational expectation was the most powerful predictor. Gender differences and similarities were also found in the family-education nexus. The parental expectation was positively associated with their initial performance in mathematics across gender. The predicting roles of parent-child discussion about school and parental TV controls on the baseline level of mathematical performance and the association between parental expectation and the slope of mathematical performance were only identified among boys. This study highlighted the varied impacts of parental involvement on schooling at different developmental stages, and provided important implications for optimizing parenting and schooling.
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Notes
Additional forms of parental involvement (e.g. parents’ rules regarding TV program selection) were excluded from this study in CFPS due to their similarities to the selected variables.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Lv, Nan for his feedback on this article.
Funding
This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (22XNF040) to Z.W.; X.T. also received supports from Shanghai Pujiang Program (grant number 22PJC057).
Data Sharing and DeclarationThe datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the China Family Panel Studies, https://www.isss.pku.edu.cn/cfps/en/data/public/index.htm.
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Z.W. proposed the research idea, conceptually designed the study, performed statistical analysis, interpreted the results, and drafted and revised the manuscript; X.T. proposed the research idea, conceptually designed the study, supervised the analyses, interpreted the results, and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Wang, Z., Tang, X. Developmental Trajectories in Mathematical Performance Among Chinese Adolescents: The Role of Multi-Dimensional Parental Involvement. J. Youth Adolescence 53, 877–894 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01893-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01893-5