ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF MATERNAL INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDRENS HOMEWORK - A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS

Many parents are concerned with the desirability of helping their chil dren with homework. Mothers and their children's teachers filled out q uestionnaires twice, when children were in 1st and 3rd grade. The chil dren did so in 3rd grade. Correlation matrices were analyzed by a Line ar-Structural Relations model (LISREL). The predictions of 3rd grade b y 1st grade variables were tested by hierarchical regressions. Materna l help with homework had no effect on the child's academic achievement . Mothers of weaker students helped more with homework, particularly i n the ist grade. In both grades, maternal help was related to her peda gogical belief in the value of helping and to her personal gratificati on from helping. Helping increased maternal emotional costs and caused tensions between her and the child, particularly when the latter was a poor student. Helping decreased with grade, as did maternal gratific ation and pedagogical belief.