Autonomy-supportive teaching leads to autonomy-supportive parenting: A teacher-to-parent relationship spillover effect

We investigated for a teacher-to-parent relationship spillover effect in which students who received year-long autonomy-supportive teaching at school then received greater year-end autonomy-supportive parenting at home. Using a randomized control trial research design, teachers from 44 physical education classes and their 1185 secondary-grade students either did or did not participate in an autonomy-supportive teaching workshop. Over one academic year, students in the experimental group reported increased autonomy-supportive teaching, need satisfaction, prosocial behavior, and then greater year-end autonomy-supportive parenting. A multilevel structural equation modeling analysis identified the explanatory mechanism: Autonomy-supportive teaching increased students’ mid-year prosocial behavior, which increased end-year autonomy-supportive parenting. •We investigated for a possible teacher-to-parent relationship spillover effect.•We focused on autonomy-supportive teaching and autonomy-supportive parenting.•We used an experimental-intervention research design with longitudinally assessed dependent measures.•Students of highly autonomy-supportive teachers reported many gains during the academic year, including prosocial behavior.•By year-end, students' greater prosocial behavior led parents to adopt a more autonomy-supportive style.