The Evocative Influence of Child Academic and Social-Emotional Adjustment on Parent Involvement in Inner-City Schools

The current study examines 3 alternative conceptual models of the directional associations between parent involvement in schooling (homework assistance, home-school conferencing, school-based support) and child adjustment (academic and social competence, aggressive behaviors). The parent socialization model tests the hypothesis that parent involvement contributes to prospective child adjustment. The child adjustment model examines the proposition that children's adjustment affects prospective parent involvement in schooling. The transactional model tests the hypothesis that parent involvement and child adjustment are reciprocally related over time. These models are tested with a large sample of low-income, racially/ethnically diverse children and their parents who were assessed in the fall and spring of children's 3rd and 4th grades. Overall, consistent support for the child adjustment hypothesis was found. When children were struggling academically, socially, and behaviorally, their parents showed higher prospective levels of homework assistance and home-school conferencing but lower levels of school-based support. Economic hardship also contributed to variation in levels of parent involvement and child adjustment, with child adjustment mediating the effects of economic hardship on parent involvement.