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Citation:

Anguiano, R. P. V. (2004). Families and schools: The effect of parental involvement on high school completion. Journal of Family Issues, 25(1), 61-85.

Annotation:
This study's goal is to examine the effect of parental involvement on high school completion in European American, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American families. The theoretical basis for this study lies in social capital theory and the family ecological approach. Analyses indicated that the influence of different types of parental involvement on completion of high school differed depending on ethnicity. The association between traditional involvement and high school completion was greater for Asian Americans than for European Americans. The correlation between parental advocacy involvement and high school completion was stronger for European Americans than Latinos. Additionally, the relationship between parental advocacy and high school completion was greater for Asian Americans when compared to European Americans. For Native Americans, the relationship between parental advocacy and high school completion was not significant. However, after controlling for traditional parental involvement and parent advocacy involvement at the student level, the relationship between high school completion and school involvement did not depend on ethnicity. Findings from this study demonstrated that social capital provided by parents from various ethnic groups was essential to students' high school completion. This study analyzed data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS: 88) and utilized a hierarchical linear model (HLM) for the statistical analysis. While the NELS: 88 data included 25,000 eighth graders, parents, and school personnel, this study focused on students and parents who met the ethnicity requirements. This study suggests that different types of parental involvement may have different effects on high school completion depending on the ethnicity of the family involved. In addition, this study combines an ecological approach with social capital theory to provide a framework in which future studies can examine relationships between schools and families. One limitation to these findings comes from the focus of the NELS: 88 data on the involvement of mothers in education and the relative absence of data regarding the involvement of fathers. In addition, since the findings come from a correlational analysis of pre-existing data, the results do not imply causation, only an association.