Impact of Parenting Styles on Academic Achievement: Parenting Styles, Parental Involvement, Personality Factors and Peer Orientation

Research has demonstrated a relationship between parenting styles and academic achievement in children and young adolescents. Global measures of parental involvement have also been shown to mediate this relationship. However, there is little research that examines these relationships within an older adolescent population or that has studied specific components of parental involvement. This study evaluated the relationships between four parenting styles and academic achievement as well as the mediating effect of three types of parental involvement was assessed. A total of 136 students, 72 from a university and 64 from a high school, completed self-report questionnaires. In addition, the relationships between personality characteristics and academic achievement and peer orientation and academic achievement were also evaluated. The mediation model proposed was only partially supported. Only one of the components of parental involvement, described as parental support of academic endeavors, was found to mediate the effect of parenting styles on academic achievement. This relationship existed when school attitudes were used as the outcome. However, these findings were not significant. Though this study has limitations, the findings provide another layer of data within this field of research. Implications and future research directions are also discussed.