Parental Involvement, Nationality, and Achievement among Children of Immigrants

Wade Jacobsen, Brigham Young University

Parental involvement as a predictor of student achievement is a widely studied topic and current focus of education reform. However, findings have been inconsistent as researchers have conceptualized parental involvement differently across studies and often failed to account for racial-ethnic background. In addition, little is known about the influence of parental involvement among children of immigrants. Using the model of social and cultural reproduction, I examine student achievement and parental involvement levels across seven immigrant nationalities: Cambodian, Cuban, Filipino, Laotian, Mexican, Nicaraguan, and Vietnamese. I then analyze the relationships between five parental involvement types and GPA, while controlling for student, family, and school characteristics. Finally, I test for interaction effects to examine variations across groups. Results point to parent expectations as a strong predictor of student success, though effects vary with nationality.