Perceptions of Parental Involvement and Autonomy Support: Their Relations with Self-Regulation, Academic Performance, Substance Use and Resilience among Adolescents

Three important developmental tasks for adolescents in the U.S. are doing reasonably well in schools, behaving in a manner that does not disrupt others, and resisting the urge to use alcohol and other drugs (Masten, 2001; Masten & Reed, 2002). This study examined how parental involvement and parental autonomy support were related to these three psychosocial outcomes in adolescence, i.e., academic performance, disruptive behavior and substance use. Additionally, this study tested whether self-regulation mediated the effects of parental involvement and autonomy support on these outcomes. Moreover, this study examined the relations among parenting practices, self-regulation and resilience, i.e., good adaptation in spite of adversity. Past research has found that perception of parental involvement and autonomy support are positively related to academic performance (Grolnick, Ryan, & Deci, 1991; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2005). Parental involvement is the extent to which parents are interested in, knowledgeable about, and willing to take an active role in the day-to-day activities of their children. Parental autonomy support is the extent to which parents value and use techniques that facilitate independent problem solving, choice, and self-determination in their children. Specifically, perception of greater parental involvement is associated with higher standardized achievement scores, higher teacher rated competence, and better school grade (Grolnick et al., 1991; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994). Perception of greater parental autonomy support is related to higher grade point average, higher teacher-rated competence, more active job search behavior, and a strong vocational identity (Grolnick et al., 1991; Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2005). This study examined the effects of perceived parental involvement and autonomy support on academic performance, classroom disruptive behavior and substance use in adolescence. Classroom disruptive behavior and substance use are two important psychosocial outcomes that have not been studied in previous research on perceived parental involvement and autonomy support (Grolnick et al., 1991; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2005). Additionally, this study examined how perceived parental involvement and autonomy support were related to resilience, i.e., positive adaptation in spite of adversity (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Masten, 2001). I compared the effects of perceived parental involvement and autonomy support on psychosocial outcomes between high-risk and low-risk students: those who were in challenging circumstances (i.e., having low parental education and low parental acculturation) and those who were not. Past research has shown that low parental education and acculturation were correlated with a number of poor outcomes in children and adolescents such as low academic performance (Blair, Blair & Madamba, 1999; Farver, Bhadha, & Narang, 2002), more substance use (Conway, Swendsen, Dierker, Canino & Merikangas, 2007; Rodriguez, Henderson, Rowe, 2007) and a high frequency of sexual behavior (Wills, Gibbons, Gerrard, Murray & Brody, 2003). Parenting practices and characteristics of parent-child interactions have been linked to behavioral problems, substance use (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992; Petraitis, Flay, & Miller, 1995) and resilience (Luthar & Zelazo, 2003; Masten & Reed, 2002). Factors such as parents' permissiveness, inconsistent and unclear behavioral limits, unrealistic parental expectations, negative communication patterns, and lack of parental monitoring were associated with earlier initiation and higher rates of drug use (Baumrind, 1991; Chilcoat & Anthony, 1996). Greater perceived parental support and responsiveness together with high parental expectations were associated with resilience in children and youth (Forgatch & DeGarno, 1999; Masten & Reed, 2002). …