LONGITUDINAL EFFECTS OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT ON HIGH-SCHOOL GRADES - SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES ACROSS GENDER AND ETHNIC-GROUPS

The purposes of this research were to determine (a) the longitudinal e ffects of parent involvement on tenth grade students' learning, as mea sured by their grade point average, (b) whether the same pattern of in fluences exist for boys and girls, and (c) whether the same pattern of influences exist for students from different ethnic groups. A series of structural equation models were derived from theory and previous re search and were tested on a national sample of students. Results sugge st that parent involvement has a large and significant effect on stude nts' grade point average in tenth grade. The pattern of influences of the variables in the model were indistinguishable for boys and girls, suggesting that the same model of influences holds across gender. Ther e were differences in the constructs in the model and in their effects across ethnic groups, however. Nevertheless, parent involvement conti nued to have important effects for all groups. Thus interventions desi gned to increase involvement, if successful, should result ill increas es in learning for all groups. (C) 1998 Society for the Study of Schoo l Psychology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.