The Effects of Parental Engagement in Early Childhood on Academic Achievement in Adolescence

Parental involvement and engagement have been used interchangeably in research regarding the academic outcomes of children. The current study assessed parental engagement and its relationship to academic achievement in adolescence. Specifically, the study looked at parental engagement with children aged 3 and its effects on academic achievement at age 15 in 1-parent and 2-parent homes. Exploratory analyses were also conducted to examine the effect of ethnicity on the relationship between parental engagement and academic achievement. Data were taken from participants (N = 3350) who were a part of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, a longitudinal dataset. Findings showed that parental engagement was a significant predictor of academic achievement in 1-parent homes, but not in 2-parent homes. Additionally, it was found that ethnicity was a significant factor in the prediction of parental engagement on academic achievement in single parent families. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.