The purpose of the study was to test the relationship between parenting style and academic achievement, and to examine the mediating effects of motivation, goal orientation and academic self-efficacy on this relationship. The researcher surveyed 148 high school students from rural, south central Georgia. Demographically, the sample was comprised of 39% male, 61% female, 36% African American and 53% White. In regard to grade level, 68% were eleventh graders, 13% were twelfth graders, and 12% were tenth graders. Approximately, 93% were college-prep and the students came from eight rural counties.
Meassures included the Parenting Style and Parental Involvement Questionnaire (PSPI), the Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Orientation Scale, the Patterns of Adapted Learning Survey (PALS), and a demographic questionnaire. The Parenting Style and Parental Involvement Questionnaire was used to measure students' perceptions of parenting style. The Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Orientation Scale was used to measure students' motivation. The Patterns of Adapted Learning Survey was used to measure both goal orientation and academic self-efficacy.
Correlations, hierarchal multiple regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were the analyses for the study. The researcher found a significant correlation between parenting style and the motivation subscales. The hierarchal regression analysis revealed that only the motivation subscales mediated parenting style in contributing to a significant amount of incremental variance in explaining academic achievement. The analysis of variance indicated that all of the criterion measures of academic achievement differed significantly as a function of plans after high school. Additionally, math GPA, english GPA, science GPA and grade point average differed as a function of race, and only english GPA differed as a function sex.
Recommendations for future practice include more incorporation of intrinsic motivation in teaching strategies, guidance and parenting as a means to improve achievement outcomes. Also, the researcher recommends more collaboration and networking among students, parents, teachers, guidance counselors and peer leaders. For future research, the researcher recommends that school administrators and board members should commit all grades to the research study and follow-up the research utilization effort as a complete system buy-in to the process.
