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Virginia Tech

How can parents affect high school student performance by what they do at home?

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of parental involvement on grades and achievement test scores through the variables time on task, general self-esteem, and student attitude about school. The study controlled for the background characteristics of ethnicity, gender, family background, and ability. To do this, structural models were developed based on theory, logic, prior research, and time precedence and were analyzed using 18,141 subjects from the High School and Beyond data set. Although parental involvement in the home had no direct effect on grades or achievement test scores in high school, it did affect time on task, general self-esteem, and attitude about school in such a way as to indirectly improve grades, especially through student attitude about school. When individual components of parental involvement were analyzed, consistent indirect effects on high school grades were found from fathers and mothers. The study suggests that if parents monitor school work, help with school plans, and talk to their child about personal experiences, their child's time on task, general self-esteem, and attitude about school will improve in a way that improves grades in school at the high school level.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ph. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Educational Research and Evaluation
Department dc:contributor.department
Educational Research and Evaluation
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
1992

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Helmandollar, C. Ben
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Keith, Timothy Z.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Cross, Lawrence H.
  • Engelhard, Judy B.
  • Sawyers, Janet K.
  • Wolfle, Lee M.

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-10142005-103114
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/39882

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Helmandollar, C. Ben. How can parents affect high school student performance by what they do at home?. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/39882