The Contribution of Socioeconomic Status and Sex to Parental Expectations in Relation to Adolescents’ Academic Achievement
University of Amsterdam Marieke Swagemakers 10087753 Assessor: dhr. dr. E. Mulder Date: 24/3/2017 Word count: 5768
Table of contents
Abstract...3
The contribution of SES and sex to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement…………. ...4
Method ...8
Results ...9
The contribution of SES to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement ...9
The contribution of sex to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement ...14
Discussion...18
References ...24
Table 1: Characteristics of included studies regarding SES ...30
Abstract
In this systematic review twenty studies were included to investigate the contribution of SES and sex to parental expectations in relation to academic achievement. Only empirical studies were included that assessed SES or sex to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement. All studies that examined SES found a significant weak correlation between SES and parental expectations. Inconsistent significant results were found regarding the predictive value of SES to parental expectations, due to the fact that SES was found to be the weakest predictor, as well as the strongest predictor of parental expectations. The
majority of the ethnically diverse studies showed significant differences in parental expectations between sex, in favor of female adolescents.
The Contribution of Socioeconomic Status and Sex to Parental Expectations in Relation to Adolescents’ Academic Achievement
How to promote academic achievement for all children has received extensive
attention within the field of education and pedagogy. A lot of emphasis in today’s society has been placed on the accomplishment of academic achievement. However, inequitable and unequal distribution of educational results and benefits, the achievement gap, is still present in the Dutch education system (Schmidt, Burroughs, Zoido, & Houang, 2015). This means that not all children have the same chances to acquire academic achievement through education. PISA results showed that schooling accounts for 58% of the achievement gap in the Netherlands (Schmidt et al., 2015).
One promising path for improving educational prospects of the youth is parental involvement. It is increasingly recognized that the impact of parental involvement in student academic achievement plays a significant positive role (Fan & Williams, 2010; Hill & Tyson, 2009; Wilder, 2014). With the knowledge regarding the importance of parental involvement, educational interventions, policies, and programs have been developed. Recently, the policy ‘Ouders en School Samen’ has been developed by the Dutch government, in order to
stimulate parental involvement in education (Ministry of Education, Culture & Science, 2014).
Educators face various challenges to increase parental involvement as
children transition from elementary to secondary school and enter early adolescence. This transition is characterized by significant change in the parent-adolescent relationship, including autonomy of the adolescent (Van Ryzin, Stormshak & Dishion, 2012). Also, parents need to interact with a larger and increased number of teachers in a more impersonal school environment, which can lead to difficulties in staying involved (Hill & Tyson, 2009). Therefore, this systematic review will focus on adolescents.
Parental involvement is a construct that struggles with a lack of consensus regarding the definition. As Fan and Chen (2001, p.3) stated: “despite its intuitive meaning, the operational use of parental involvement has not been clear and consistent”. Generally, parental involvement can be considered as the participating of parents in all aspects of their child’s emotional, social, and, academic development (Wilder, 2014). From a more narrow perspective concerning academic issues, parental involvement entails a wide range of topics, including monitoring and controlling homework, expectations about the academic future of their child, helping them with assignments or homework, or the participation of parents in school activities (Jeynes, 2010).
Many studies investigated the construct parental involvement as a contributor to adolescents’ academic achievement. A broad scope of issues is covered by these studies, including the most effective types of parental involvement, the various ways to encourage it, influence on minority groups, and the effectiveness of programs (Jeynes, 2005a; Jeynes, 2010; LaRocque, Kleiman, & Darling, 2011; Park, Byun, & Kim, 2011; Strayhorn, 2010). These topics showed that parental involvement is a multidimensional and multifaceted construct. This complex character makes it difficult for a single systematic review to assess all different angles. Nonetheless, meta-analyses showed a strong positive relationship between parental involvement and adolescents’ academic achievement, regardless of the definition of parental involvement (Castro et al., 2015; Wilder, 2014).
The relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement was the strongest if parental involvement was described as parental expectations, which reflects parents’ beliefs and attitudes towards education (Castro et al., 2015; Wilder, 2014). Although parental expectations are sometimes defined within the construct of parental involvement, it is clear that the outcomes of academic achievement is best predicted by parental expectations more so than other measures of parental involvement, such as school attending or checking
homework (Castro et al., 2015; Wilder, 2014). Accordingly, parental expectations can be seen as a strong psychological aspect to parental involvement. Therefore, this research will focus specifically on parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement.
The strong psychological aspect of parental involvement is clearly stated by numerous studies that have found a positive association between parental expectations and adolescents’ academic achievement (Aldous, 2006; Benner & Mistry, 2007; Froiland & Davidson, 2014). This implies that, when parents have high expectations of their child, this leads to an
improvement of academic achievement. Likewise, studies have also showed that low parental expectations can make it difficult for adolescents to see and achieve their full academic potential (Froiland & Davidson, 2014).
Parents who have higher expectations about their adolescents’ academic achievement, tend to be more involved in achievement-related activities, including monitoring their
academic development, and providing extracurricular lessons (Sy & Schulenberg, 2005). Additionally, parents who have high expectations tend to create a different environment and connection with their adolescent in order to achieve these expectations than parents with lower expectations (Sy & Schulenberg, 2005). Thus, the positive influence of parental expectations on adolescents’ academic achievement has been clearly stated by research.
The manner in which parental expectations influence adolescents’ academic achievement is explained by the expectancy-value theory proposed by Wigfield and Eccles (2002). According to this theory, the individuals’ expectations and values are predicted by a broad variety of social, psychological, and cultural determinants. These determinants include socializers’ (peers, teachers, and parents) beliefs and behaviors, and cultural milieu in which they live. Additionally, when these expectations and values are established, this will in turn influence the individuals’ academic achievement (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002). In other words, the expectancy-value theory posits a relationship from parental expectancy and value beliefs
to adolescents’ own expectations and academic achievement. Furthermore, this theory also describes how also parental expectations are developed (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002).
Characteristics of adolescents and parents will shape parental expectations towards their adolescent. Accordingly, various factors can contribute to the process of how parental expectations are formed, which in turn influence the adolescents’ view of their own expectations and their academic achievement (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002).
Despite a substantial foundation of research describing the impact of parental expectations on adolescents’ academic achievement, fewer studies have investigated the development of parental expectations. Two factors that can contribute to the development of parental expectations are Socioeconomic Status (SES) and sex of adolescents. SES is a broad construct that represents the family’s relative position within the social and economic
hierarchy (Bornstein & Bradley, 2014). This construct entails several features, including family income, parent education, wealth, and social economic status (Murdock, 2000). The association between parental expectations and adolescents’ academic achievement appears to vary by SES (Benner, Boyle, & Sadler, 2015). Previous research on the impact of SES has shown different results. Froiland and Davinson (2014) concluded that SES was the strongest predictor of parental expectations, while Neuenschwander, Vida, Garret, and Eccles (2007) found that SES was the weakest predictor of parental expectations.
Sex of adolescents also play a role in shaping parental expectations. However,
literature shows inconsistent findings. For example, Wood, Kaplan, & McLoyd (2007) found that parents reported higher expectations for African American females, whilst the results of Reynolds and Woodham Burge (2008) showed the opposite, within this study higher
expectations were reported for Hispanic males.
This present systematic review will therefore investigate the contribution of the underlying factors SES and sex to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic
achievement. The first research question that will be discussed is: to what extent SES contributes to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement? The second research question that will be assessed is: to what extent does sex contributes to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement?
Method
This systematic review was assessed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) (Moher et al., 2009). Studies were identified through a search of electronic databases Web of Science, PsycINFO, and ERIC. The following search terms were used; parental expectations AND adolescents AND
academic achievement. This was either combined with terms regarding SES (socioeconomic status OR SES) or with terms for sex (sex OR sex differences OR gender OR gender
differences). The search term gender was used because studies frequently assessed gender as a construct that refers to the biological sex regarding the state of being male or female. Inclusion criteria for this systematic review were that articles had to be written in English and published between 2005 and 2017. Another criterion for inclusion was that the participants’ age was between 10 and 25. Only articles concerning empirical data were eligible.
The search of the terms on Web of Science, PsycINFO, and ERIC resulted in thirty articles. By analyzing the abstracts, it was determined that eighteen articles were eligible. Due to the fact that eighteen articles were not enough for a substantial systematic review, the criterion regarding publication year has been adapted. Therefore, articles were included between 2000 and 2017. This resulted in a total of twenty eligible studies. The total number of participants in the twenty studies is 223380, from which 142792 participants regarding SES and 80588 participants regarding sex. The included studies were coded on study site,
population, total of participants, sex, age years, measurements, and descriptive outcomes (Table 1 and Table 2).
Results
Different factors play a role in shaping parental expectations, which in turn contributes to adolescents’ academic achievement. First, the results will be discussed
concerning the contribution of SES to parental expectations regarding adolescents’ academic achievement. After which the results will be assessed concerning the contribution of
biological sex to parental expectations regarding adolescents’ academic achievement.
The contribution of SES to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement
Eleven studies focused on the contribution of SES to parental expectations regarding adolescents’ academic achievement (Benner et al., 2016; Davis-Kean, 2005; Doren, Gau, & Lindstrom, 2012; Froiland & Davinson, 2016; Froiland & Davinson, 2014; Froiland, Peterson, & Davison, 2012; Long & Pang, 2016; Neuenschwander et al., 2007; Tan, 2015; Wang, Deng, & Yang, 2016). The majority of the included studies used a Structural Equation Model (SEM). This model refers to a series of statistical methods that investigate complex relationships between one or more independent variables. This technique combines factor analysis and multiple regression analysis (Bowen & Guo, 2011). All studies assessed parental expectations by a single item measure that measured what level of education parents expected their adolescent to obtain. However, the construct SES was defined in various ways within these studies.
Four of the included studies used only family income to describe SES (Doren et al., 2012; Froiland et al., 2012; Neuenschwander et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2016). Wang, Deng, and Yang (2012) and Neuenschwander et al. (2007), both SEM studies, found a significant weak correlation between family income and parental expectations. The study of Wang et al.
(2012) used a large low-income sample from northwestern China of 12724 parents of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 14 years. Academic achievement was assessed by educational attainment. Family income was found as a significant predictor for parental expectations (Wang et al., 2012). Additionally, similar significant predictive effects were also shown by Neuenschwander et al. (2007), which investigated the relationship between
parental expectations and standardized achievement in German and math. Data were drawn from the Swiss Parents-Teacher-Collaboration Study 1986, that included 454 adolescents (age range: 11-12 years) and 406 parents. Family income and grade were the two predictors within the SEM model. The math achievement model showed that family income was twice as weak as a predictor than math grade for parental expectations. In addition, the German achievement model showed that family income was even three times as weak as a predictor for parental expectations (Neuenschwander et al., 2007). Contrary to previous studies, Froiland, Peterson, and Davinson (2012) found opposite results in their SEM study. SES to parental expectations was the only non-significant arrow in comparison to home literacy and adolescents’ expectations (Froiland et al., 2012). The effects of parental expectations on mathematic, reading, and science grades were examined among 7600 American adolescents (age range: 13-14 years) and their parents. Data were drawn from the Education Statistics Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort 1998.
The only SEM study that examined adolescents with disabilities was conducted by Doren et al. (2012), including 2127 American adolescents (age range: 17-21 years). Data were drawn from National Longitudinal Transition Study 2000, including various ethnicities. Instead of asking parents what level of education they expect their child to obtain, this study assessed parental expectations how likely it is parents think that their child will get a high school diploma. Furthermore, the difference between low and high income families was assessed. Postschool outcomes were used to examine academic achievement and family
income was used as a moderator. Findings suggested that parental expectations of adolescents from lower income families were significantly lower than parental expectations from higher income families (Doren et al., 2012).
Instead of only using family income, two studies assessed family income, parent education, and occupational prestige to define SES (Benner et al., 2016; Froiland & Davinson, 2016). Both studies collected data from the National Center for Education Statistics 2002, containing an ethnically diverse American sample. These two studies found significant weak correlations between SES and parental expectations. The SEM study of Froiland and Davinson (2016) examined the influences of parental expectations on math achievement among 18263 adolescents (age range: 14-18 years) and their parents. Grades of algebraic reasoning were assessed to measure math achievement. The results showed that SES was found as twice as strong as a significant predictor than the other predictors gender and ethnicity (Froiland & Davinson, 2016). Benner, Boyle, and Sadler (2016) investigated the moderating influence of SES between parental expectations and academic achievement (grade point average and educational attainment). This sample included 15240 adolescents (age range: 15-18 years) from the Education Statistics Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort 1998. Only for the outcome measure educational attainment, SES was found as a significant moderator. This means that adolescents from high SES families reaped greater benefits from parental expectation in relation to educational attainment (Benner et al., 2016).
Two SEM studies described SES as family income and highest level of parent education (Davis-Kean, 2005; Froiland & Davinson, 2014). In consistency with previous research, both studies showed significant weak correlations for family income and parent education in relation to parental expectations. Additionally, parent education was stronger correlated with parental expectations than family income. Davis-Kean (2005) assessed family income and parent education as two separate components of SES. Two models were assessed
based on family’s ethnicity (n = 423 African Americans, n = 411 European Americans, age range: 10-12 years) to investigate the difference in influence of family income and parent education regarding the relationship between parental expectations. Data were drawn from the longitudinal dataset Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income 1997. Academic achievement was measured by four scales (reading and math skills) of the
Woodcock-Johnson—Revised Tests of Achievement (α = .78) (Woodcock & Johnson, 1989). The European American model found that the significant predictive effect of parent education was twice as strong as family income. In addition, the African American model showed similar significant predictive effects with a slightly smaller difference (Davis-Kean, 2005). Contrary to Davis-Kean (2005), Froiland and Davinson (2014) first took the constructs family income and parent education separately and then merged these two into a latent variable SES. The associations of parental expectations and school grades were assessed, using an ethnically diverse sample of 5828 families with adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years. Data was used from the National Household Education Surveys 2007. The SEM model showed that SES was four times as strong as a predictor, in comparison with the other investigated variables family structure, gender, and ethnicity (Froiland & Davinson, 2014).
Long and Pang (2016) did not include family income in their research because this was not a viable option, seeing as the information was gathered through students’ self-reports. Therefore, this study included family wealth (e.g. number of computer and TV), home educational resources (e.g. educational software and a dictionary), and parent education as the three components of SES. Furthermore, academic achievement was measured by math scores. The sample included 5066 Chinese adolescents by using data from the Program for International Student Assessment 2006. The results showed that home educational resources was the strongest significant predictor, followed by family wealth, and parent education.
Although parental education and home educational resources were positive predictors, family wealth was found as a negative predictor. This means that parents in wealthier families showed lower parental expectations (Long & Pang, 2016).
Gill and Reynolds (2000) used the eligibility for lunch subsidy as the component to assess SES within their SEM study. Mechanisms were investigated to convey parental
expectations for the academic achievement of 712 low-income African American adolescents (age range: 13-14 years). Data were used from the Chicago Longitudinal Study 1994.
Academic achievement was measured by reading and math achievement. Both reading and math achievement models showed exact similar results that SES was the weakest predictor for parental expectations, followed by sex, and the strongest predictor parent education (Gill & Reynolds, 2000).
One study defined SES as socioeconomic gradients, measured by the correlations between adolescent SES and achievement (Tan, 2015). Data from 10 economies, who participated in the Program for International Student Assessment 2012, were used and divided into two groups based on the magnitude degree of their SES gradients. The groups consisted of 5 medium SES gradient economies and 5 medium SES gradient economies, including 73178 parents and 15-year-old adolescents. Findings, of the hierarchical linear modeling, suggested that the effects of parental expectations on math achievement were significantly lower in medium than high socioeconomic gradient economies (Tan, 2015).
Conclusion
In conclusion, all studies found a significant weak correlation between SES and parental expectations. Parent education was consistently found to be significantly stronger correlated with parental expectations than family income. However, inconsistent significant results were found regarding the predictive value of SES to parental expectations, due to the fact that SES was found to be the weakest predictor (Neuenschwander et al., 2007), as well as
the strongest predictor of parental expectations (Froiland & Davinson; 2014). The effects of parental expectations were significantly lower in medium SES economies than high SES economies (Tan, 2015). Lastly, contradictory findings were found in low SES and high SES families. One study found that parents in wealthier families showed lower parental
expectations (Long & Pang, 2016). Whereas two studies showed exact opposite results that higher expectations were shown in high income families (Benner et al., 2016; Doren et al., 2012).
The contribution of sex to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement
Nine studies assessed the contribution of sex to parental expectations regarding adolescents’ achievement (Carter & Wojtkiewicz, 2000; Davis & Otto, 2016; Flouri & Hawkes, 2008; Hou & Leung; 2011; Gutman & Schoon, 2012; Reynolds, & Burge; 2008; Wood, Kaplan and Mcloyd, 2007; Wood, Kurtz-Costes, & Kopping, 2011; Zang, Haddad, Torres, & Chen, 2011). All studies used gender as a construct that refers to the biological sex (i.e. the state of being male of female). Furthermore, all studies, except Zang, Haddad, and Chen (2011), used a single item to measure parental expectations. However, this item placed emphasis on different aspects of parental expectations across the various studies.
Four American studies measured parental expectations with an item asking parents to report how far they think their child will actually go in school (Carter & Wojtkiewicz, 2000; Davis & Otto, 2016; Wood et al., 2011; Wood et al., 2007). Two studies used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study 1988 (NELS) that assessed students from
adolescence through young adulthood, and contained data on high school achievement (Carter & Wojtkiewicz, 2000; Davis & Otto, 2016). Davis and Otto (2016) examined the reverse gender gap, women surpassing men in college enrollment, and determined whether this differed between sex among 573 African American and 5815 Caucasian American
adolescents between the ages of 14 and 26. Academic achievement was measured by the enrollment of the adolescent in a four-year college. The findings revealed a significant sex difference in parental expectations; the effect was the strongest for African American females, followed by Caucasian males, Caucasian females and lowest for African American males (Davis & Otto, 2016). The study of Carter and Wojtkiewicz (2000) included 25000 adolescents (age range: 13-14 years) and their parents. Sex differences were investigated regarding the relationship between parental expectations and test scores (English,
mathematics, science, and social studies). Ordinary least squares regression was used and demonstrated a significant effect of higher parental expectations in favor of females compared to males (Carter & Wojtkiewicz, 2000).
The other two studies both investigated an all African American sample (Wood et al., 2011; Wood et al., 2007). The experimental anti-poverty study conducted by Wood, Kaplan, and McLoyd (2007) examined whether sex was related to parental expectations during the mid-to late 1990s. A total of 484 low-income adolescents (264 males, age range: 13-18 years) and 308 primary caregivers (7 fathers) were conducted. Academic achievement was assessed with four scales (reading and math skills) from the Woodcock-Johnson Pyscho- educational Battery—Revised (α = .83) (Woodcock & Johnson, 1990). The results showed significant higher parental expectations for females than for males. Furthermore, the difference in parental expectations for males and females did not increase, so it was stable over time (Wood et al., 2007). Additionally, Wood, Kurtz-Costes, and Copping (2011) also found higher parental expectations for African American females than for African American males, though non-significant. This study used data from a longitudinal dataset, Maryland
Adolescent Development in Context Study 1997, and consisted of 424 middle-class African American adolescents (163 males, age range: 16-19 years) and their parents. A path model linking parental expectations to adolescents’ further educational attainment was tested with
the assessment of on-time post-secondary educational progress, one year after high school graduation (Wood et al., 2011).
Instead of emphasizing on how far parents think their child will go in school, two studies assessed parental expectations regarding how far parents want their child to go in school (Zhang et al., 2010; Reynolds & Woodham Burge, 2008). Both American studies used longitudinal data from the NELS. Zhang, Haddad, Torres, and Chen (2011) investigated the reciprocal relationship between parental expectations and adolescents’ achievement by assessing standardized tests in math and reading at age 13 and 18. This ethnically diverse sample included 14376 adolescents (7030 males) and their parents. The analyses based on multi-group analyses revealed no significant differences in reciprocal effects of parental expectations and academic achievement between males and females. Nonetheless, the stability of parental expectations for males was significantly higher than for females.
Contrary to Zhang et al. (2011), the research of Reynolds and Woodham Burge (2008) used, instead of parents reports, adolescents reports to measure how far parents want their child to go in school. Differences in perceived parental expectations regarding post- secondary attainment was investigated among 1944 African American, 1556 Hispanic and 8896 Caucasian adolescents (n = 20947, age range: 13-18 years). The results showed that African American and Caucasian females perceived significant higher expectations than males. However, opposite results were found for Hispanic males (Reynolds & Woodham Burge, 2008).
The study of Gutman and Schoon (2012) measured parental expectations by asking parents what they expected their child to do when reaching school leaving age (after the school year when the young person becomes age 16). The sample was drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 1989, including 5235 Caucasian and 3074 ethnic minorities adolescents (4189 males, age range: 14-18 years) and their parents.
Academic performance at age 16 regarding scores in national curriculum test was used to assessed academic achievement. The results revealed significant sex differences: parents showed higher parental expectations for females compared to males (Gutman & Schoon, 2012).
Flouri and Hawkes (2008) assessed parental expectations reporting at what age
parents think their child will finally leave school. Contrary to previous studies, this study only included mothers’ expectations and used data from the British Cohort Study 1970, to explore the long-term effect of mothers’ expectations for their children’s educational attainment. The sample assessed 3285 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 26 (1520 males) and their parents. Findings stated that only positive effects were found of mothers’ expectations for educational attainment for females and had no effect on males (Flouri & Hawkes, 2008).
Instead of using a single item to measure parental expectations, the study of Hou and Leung (2011) used 126 items representing six Holland Occupational types by the
Occupations List-Chinese Version (Leung & Harmon, 1990). The six types entailed Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Enterprising occupations. This research examined the vocational expectations among of 467 Chinese adolescent males (225 fathers, 239 mothers) and 600 Chinese adolescent females (222 fathers, 372 mothers) between 14 and 18 years. Five of the nine participating high school consisted of high achieving students, while the remaining four high school were qualified as ‘regular achievers’. Findings
suggested that the three most expected occupational fields by parents of male students were investigative, enterprising, and social, and parents of female students expected enterprising, investigative, and artistic. Hence, whilst enterprising occupations were the most expected by parents for females, parents of males expected them to obtain investigative occupations. These investigative occupations were considered of higher prestige (Hou & Leng, 2011).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the majority of the ethnically diverse studies showed significant differences in parental expectations between sex. Overall, the included studies found that higher parental expectations were in favor of female adolescents. Additionally, parental expectations found to be higher for both Caucasian and African American females (Carter & Wojktkiewicz, 2000; Reynolds & Woodham Burge; 2008; Wood et al., 2011; Wood et al., 2007). However, this was contradictory with findings in the Hispanic community, where higher parental expectations were perceived for males (Reynolds & Woodham Burge, 2008). One study showed that mothers’ expectations only had significant positive effects for females (Flouri & Hawkes, 2008). The study of Wood et al. (2011) is the only study that found non-significant higher parental expectations for females. One study (Zhang et al., 2011) found no sex differences, though the stability of parental expectations were significantly higher for males. Hou and Leung (2011) demonstrated that enterprising occupations were most frequently expected by parents of females. Additionally, parents of males expected investigative occupations, which are seen as having the highest prestige levels.
Discussion
Parental expectations is an important aspect of parental involvement. When parents have high expectations, this can lead to an improvement of adolescents’ academic
achievement. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to give more insight into the underlying factors, SES and sex, to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement. Based on the results of the twenty discussed studies, several suggestions can be made. When looked at the contribution of SES, not only was the outcome measure academic achievement was assessed in multiple forms but this also applied for the construct SES. The definition of SES was described in various ways within the studies e.g. only family income, only parent education, family income and parent education, eligibility for lunch subsidy,
family wealth, and home educational resources. Despite this broad range of definitions, all studies found weak correlations between SES and parental expectations. Contradictory results were found in low SES and high SES families. In the study by Long & Pang (2016) the wealthier families expressed lower parental expectations, whereas opposite results were found in high SES families by Benner et al. (2016) and Doren et al. (2012). This could be explained due to the fact that the research of Long and Pang (2016) was conducted in China. Chinese parents put a great emphasis on education and many people, particularly those in less wealthy families, consider education as the key factor to obtaining a better life (Long & Pang, 2016).
Interestingly, parent education turned out to be a crucial component that has a great influence on the predictive value of SES as it was the strongest predictor of parental expectations. Contrarily, family income as SES, was consistently found to be the weakest predictor of SES and thus plays a minor role in parental expectations. This difference is in accordance with the results of Davis-Kean (2005) which demonstrated that the predictive effect of parent education was twice as strong as family income.
The broad scope of SES is clearly represented in the findings among family income and parent education. Conceptually speaking, family income is relatively simple to measure because it requests one exact amount. Despite being relatively easy to assess, family income is quite controversial as a measure of SES. One of the difficulties with family income is the fact that it can be highly unstable and may fluctuate significantly over the length of one year, not to mentioning life-course (Bornstein & Bradley, 2014). Contrary to family income, parent education is relatively constant and carries more weight, which is also shown by the findings of the studies. However, the studies that used parent education as SES are individualistic in approach and do not conduct information about the educational level of other members of the
family. Therefore, it is almost impossible to measure the actual SES: family’s position within the social and economic hierarchy (Bornstein & Bradley, 2014).
The studies that assessed the contribution of sex to parental expectations found contrasting results. The majority of the studies consisted of ethnically diverse samples and showed sex differences among parental expectations. These findings are in accordance with the literature regarding ethnical stereotypes, whereas sex differences varied across various ethnical groups. Parental expectations were higher for African American females than for males (Carter & Wojktkiewicz, 2000; Gutman & Schoon, 2012; Reynolds & Woodham Burge, 2008; Wood et al., 2011; Wood et al., 2007). This could be explained by the fact that African American males tend to be more burdened with negative ethnic stereotypes when it comes to academic achievement than females (Wood et al., 2011; Wood et al., 2007).
However, it should be taken into account, that two studies that investigated African American samples, included predominantly mothers. African American mothers have less traditional gender schemas than fathers, which lead them to value higher expectations for their daughters (Varner & Mandara, 2012). Furthermore, sex differences between parental expectations were greater for African Americans than for Caucasian adolescents (Davis & Otto. 2016). The historical background that encourages self-reliance and independence among African American females could play a role in explaining these findings. In contrast, parental
expectations were found to be higher for Hispanic male adolescents (Reynolds & Woodham Burge, 2008). The sex differences in parental expectations among Hispanic adolescents are rarely considered in research. Nevertheless, a plausible explanation can be that the cultural beliefs are different for females’ and males’ roles in society. The traditional gender role among Hispanic families places less emphasis on females to accomplish academic achievement (Reynolds & Woodham Burge, 2008). Furthermore, Chinese parents had different expectations among the type of adolescents’ occupations. Parents expected
investigative occupations for males and enterprising occupations for females (Hou & Leung, 2011). The investigative occupations were rewarded with the highest prestige levels. Chinese parents consider prestige as the most substantial factor. The cultural portrayal regarding the expectations of Chinese parents for their sons is that they evolve into accomplished and powerful males (Hou & Leung, 2011).
Taken all findings into account, the expectancy-value theory proposed by Wigfield and Eccles (2002) provides a useful conceptual frame to interpret the results regarding SES and sex to parental expectations in relation to adolescents’ academic achievement. Parent education turned out to be a crucial component of SES with a strong predictive power. In the light of the expectancy-value theory, the power of parent education could be explained since parents with more years of education generally put a greater value on education and will transmit this valuation and expectation on to their children. Additionally, parents who put a great emphasis on education, tend to create a richer environment where their children have various opportunities to develop themselves. Also, findings revealed that high parental expectations work both ways since these expectations were found in both high and low income families. In high income families, parents tend to have higher expectations by allocating their income for varied educational activities. While in low income families, parents can value education as the key to success for obtaining a more advantaged life. The findings regarding sex revealed that ethnicity played an important role in the way sex differences occurred in parental expectations. Ethnicity is defined as belonging to a social group of people that identify with each other based on similarities, such as common culture, origin, ancestry, religion, and language (Tonkin, McDonald, & Chapman, 2016). So
according to the expectancy-value theory, ethnicity is embodied with common and shared values and expectations that parents transmit to their children regarding females and males (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002). Each ethnicity has its own values of what girls and boys are
expected to achieve academically. The findings revealed that Hispanic and Chinese parents put more emphasis on their sons to achieve, while African American and Caucasian parents have higher expectations for their daughters. In the light of expectancy-value theory, it could be suggested that more insight into the values that parents express can generate more
knowledge about how parental expectations are shaped and transmitted.
This systematic review has several limitations. Firstly, the majority of the included studies have drawn their data from datasets collected thirty years ago, with adolescents sampled in the studies now being adults. This means that the findings are not representative for adolescents of this current generation. Therefore, future research should be conducted to generate more representative data. Secondly, parental expectations were assessed using a single-item question. Although other research did support the utility of this single-item, future studies should consider the limitations and value of this proxy measure. Thirdly, the
constructs SES, parental expectations, and academic achievement, are measured in different ways by the studies. This means that the conclusions should be interpreted with caution. Lastly, this systematic review only focused on parental expectations in relation to
adolescents’ academic achievement. However, adolescents’ own expectations also play an important role in their academic achievement, stated by the expectancy-value theory of achievement (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002). When children move towards adolescence they do not simply accept their parents’ expectations, instead they construct views of themselves. Consequently, parents’ and adolescents’ expectations can start to show discrepancies. When adolescents experience that they cannot live up to the parental expectations, this may lead to distress and academic maladjustment (Agliata & Renk, 2008). Therefore, future research should also focus on the contribution that adolescents’ own expectations has on their academic achievement in relation to the effect of parental expectations.
In conclusion, the importance of parental expectations on adolescents’ academic achievement should not be underestimated. When it is taken into consideration it can be used in order to give all adolescents the same chances to acquire academic achievement.
Knowledge regarding to what extent the underlying factors SES and sex contribute to
parental expectations could be harnessed to stimulate parental involvement in order to narrow the achievement gap in the Dutch education system.
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Table 1
Characteristics of Included Studies Regarding SES
Citation Year Study site Study design Population N Male/Female Age years (M) Measurements Descriptive outcomes
Benner, Boyle, and Sadler
2016 USA Longitudinal African American
(1981) Caucasian (8687), Hispanic (2286), Asian (1372), and other ethnicity (914) adolescents and parents from the ELS 2002 15240 7620 (50%)/ 7620 (50%) 15-18 (15.8) SES
Family income, parent education, and occupational prestige
Parental expectations
“How far do you think your adolescent to go in education?”
Academic achievement
Grade point average and educational attainment
Significant weak correlation between SES and parental expectations
Significant moderator for educational attainment and not for grade point average
Froiland and Davison 2016 USA Longitudinal SEM European American (9628, Hispanic (4153), African American (2552), Asian (633), and other ethnicity (1477) adolescents and parents from the ELS 2002
18623 9312 (50%)/ 9311 (50%)
14-18 SES
Family income, parent education, and occupational prestige
Parental expectations
“What level of education do you expect your child to obtain?’
Academic achievement Grade of algebraic reasoning
Significant weak correlation between SES and parental expectation
SES strongest significant predictor for parental expectation (compared to gender and ethnicity)
Long and Pang 2016 China PISA 2006
SEM Chinese adolescents and parents (5066) 5066 2546 (52%)/ 2455 (48%) 15-17 SES
Family wealth, parent education, and home educational resources
Parental expectations
Adolescent: “What education do your parents expect you to complete?” Academic achievement Mathematic scores
Home educational resources strongest significant predictor, followed by family wealth, and parent education
Family wealth only negative predictor
Wang, Deng, and Yang
2016 China SEM Chinese parents
(12724) 12724 5980 (47%)/ 6743 (53%) 12-14 SES Family income Parental expectations
“What level of education do you expect your child to pursue?”
Academic achievement Educational attainment
Significant weak correlation SES and family income SES and parental expectations significant predictor
Tan 2015 Hong Kong PISA 2012 Adolescents and
parents from medium gradient economies (Hong Kong, Macao,
73178 - 15 SES
Medium and high socioeconomic gradients Parental expectations
“What level of education do you think your child will attain?”
Significant lower effects in medium than high socioeconomic gradient economies
Mexico, South- Korea) and high gradient economies (Croatia, Chile, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary) Academic achievement Mathematic scores Froiland and Davinson
2014 USA Longitudinal European American
(3439), African- American (932), Hispanic (1014), Asian American (210), and other ethnicity (233) adolescents and parents from the NHES 2007 5828 3030 (52%)/ 2798 (48%) 12-18 (14.6) SES
Family income and highest level of parent education
Parental expectations
“What level of education do you think your child will obtain?”
Academic achievement School grades
Significant weak correlation for family income and parent education in relation to parental expectations SES strongest significant predictor of parental expectations in comparison with family structure, gender, and ethnicity
Doren, Gau, and Lindstrom
2012 USA Longitudinal Caucasian (1540),
African-American (360), Hispanic (210), and other ethnicity (60) adolescents with disabilities from the NLTS2 2000 2127 1387 (65%)/ 740 (35%) 17-21 (20) SES Family income Parental expectations
“How likely do you think that your child will get a standard high school diploma?” Academic achievement
Postschool outcomes
Significant higher parental expectations for low income families than high income families Froiland, Peterson, and Davinson 2012 USA Longitudinal SEM American adolescents and parents from the ECLS-K 1998
7600 13-14 SES
Family income Parental expectations
“What level of education do you expect your child to obtain?”
Academic achievement
Mathematic, reading, and science grades
SES to parental expectations nonsignificant
Neuenschwander, Vida, Garret, and Eccles
2007 Switzerland SEM Swiss adolescents
(454) and parents (406) from the SPTCS 1986 860 218 (48%)/ 236 (52%) 11-12 SES Family income Parental expectations
“What level of education do you expect your child to complete?”
Academic achievement German and math standardized achievement test
Significant weak correlation family income and parental expectations
Mathematic model: SES as twice as weak as a predictor in comparison with predictor math grade German achievement model: SES three times as weak as a predictor in comparison with predictor German grade
Davis-Kean 2005 USA Cross-sectional European American
(423), African American (411) adolescents and parents from the
834 409 (49%)/
425 (51%)
10-12 (11.8)
SES
Family income and highest level of parent education
Parental expectations
“How much schooling do you expect your
Parent education significant stronger correlated than family income with parental expectations (both weak correlations)
PSID-CDS 1997 chill will complete?” Academic achievement
Scores of the Woodcock-Johnson—Revised Tests of Achievement (α = .78)
European model: parent education twice as strong as a significant predictor than family income
Note. ELS 2002= Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, SEM=Structural Equation Model, PISA 2006/2012=Program for International Student Assessment, NHES 2007=National Household Education Surveys, NLTS 2000=National Longitudinal Transition Study, ECLS-K 1998= Education Statistics Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, SPTCS 1986=Swiss Parents-Teacher-Collaboration Study, PSID-CDS 1997=Child Development Supplement of the Panel study of Income Dynamics, CLS= Chicago Longitudinal Study
African-American model: similar significant results but slightly smaller differences Gill and
Reynolds
2000 USA SEM Low-income
African American adolescents and parents from the CLS 1994
712 313 (45%)/
389 (55%)
13-14 SES
Eligibility for lunch subsidy (full subsidy or reduced subsid or not eligible)
Parental expectations
“What level of education do you expect your child to obtain?”
Academic achievement
Reading and math achievement
Both reading and math achievement models: SES weakest predictor, followed by sex, and parent education strongest predictor for parental expectations
Table 2
Characteristics of the Included Studies Regarding Sex
Citation Year Study
site
Study design Population N Male/
Female
Age years (M)
Measurements Descriptive outcomes
Davis and Otto 2016 USA Longitudinal African (573) and
Caucasian (5815) adolescents and parents from the NELS 1988
6388 - 14-26 Parental expectations
“How far do you think your child to go in school?”
Academic achievement
Dichotomous four-year college enrollment at age 26
Significant sex differences: parental expectations was highest for black females, followed by Caucasian male students, Caucasian female, and lowest for black males
Difference between black students was greater than between Caucasian students
Gutman and Schoon
2012 England Longitudinal Caucasian (5235)
other ethnic groups (3074) adolescents and parents from the LSYPE 1989
8309 4189 (50%)/
4120 (49%)
14-18 Parental expectations
“What do you expect your child to do when school leaving age school?” Academic achievement
Academic performance at age 11 and 16 - using scores in national curriculum test
Significant sex differences: higher parental expectations for females than for males
Hou and Leung 2011 China Non-
parametric Asian adolescents and parents (1067) 1067 467 (44%) (225 fathers and 239 mothers)/ 600 (55%) (222 fathers and 372 mothers) 14-18 (15.8) Parental expectations
“What occupations do you expect your child will pursue?”
The Occupations List-Chinese version (OLC) – 126 items
Academic achievement Vocational aspirations student
Significant sex differences: enterprising occupations were the most expected by parents for females, parents of males expected them to obtain investigative occupations; Investigative occupations were considered of higher prestige
Wood, Kurtz- Costes, and Copping
2011 USA Longitudinal Afro American
middleclass adolescents and parents from the MADICS 1991
424 163 (38%)/
261 (62%)
16-19 Parental expectations
“How far do you believe their child would go in school?”
Academic achievement
Educational progress -completion of one year or college
No significant sex differences of parental expectations
Zhang, Haddad, Torres, and Chen
2010 USA Longitudinal Asian (935),
Hispanic (1595), African American (1322), and Caucasian (10524) adolescents and 14376 7030 (49%)/ 7346 (51%) 13-18 Parental expectations
“How far do you want your teenager to go?”
Academic achievement Scores on standardized tests in mathematics and reading
No significant sex differences in reciprocal effects
Stability of parental expectations was significant and slightly higher for males than for females
parents from the NELS 1988
Note. NELS 1988=National Education Longitudinal Study, LSYPE 1989= Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, MADICS 1991= Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study, BCS 1970= British Cohort Study
Flouri and Hawkes
2008 England Longitudinal Caucasian
adolescents and their mothers (3033) from the BCS 1970 3285 1520 (46%)/ 1765 (54%) 13-26 Parental expectations
“At what age do you think your child will finally leave school?” (“16”,”17”, or “18”) Academic achievement
Educational attainment
Significant sex differences: higher parental expectations for females than for males
Reynolds and Woodham Burge
2008 USA Longitudinal African American
(1944), Hispanic (1556), and Caucasian (8896) adolescents from the NELS 1988 20947 - 13-18 Parental expectations
Student: “How far do your mother or father want you to go in school?” Academic achievement
Post-secondary educational attainment
Significant sex differences: Hispanic males perceived higher parental expectations;
African American and Caucasian females perceived higher parental expectations
Wood, Kaplan, and McLoyd
2007 USA Experimental African American
children (484) and primary caregivers (308) 792 264 (55%)/ 220 (45%) 21 fathers (7%)/ 287 mothers (93%) 11 Parental expectations
“How far do you think your child will actually go in school?”
Academic achievement
Reading and math skills by four scales of Woodcock-Johnson Pyscho-educational Battery—Revised (α = .83)
Significant sex differences: parental expectations were higher for females than for males
Carter and Wojtkiewicz 2000 USA Cross- sectional American adolescents and parents from the NELS 1988
25000 - 13-14 Parental expectations
“How far do you expect your child to go in school?”
Academic achievement
English, mathematics, science, and social studies test scores
Significant sex differences: parental expectations higher for females than for boys
