Session Information
09 SES 11 A, Findings from International Comparative Achievement Studies: Social Disparities and Student Achievement
Paper Session
Contribution
1. Purpose
This study examines the relationship between parent-child communication and academic achievement across SES lines at the within- and between-country level. It addresses two central questions: (within countries) Does the effectiveness of parent-child communication increase across the range of family SES? (between countries) Does the effectiveness of parent-child communication vary by the country’s national income level?
2. Theoretical framework
Research in the U.S. reveals that parent-child communication is more effective in high SES families than in low SES families: students benefit more from interactions with parents when they are more educated (Desimone, 1999; McNeal, 1999; Lee & Bowen, 2006; Park, 2008). Internationally, existing empirical evidence regarding the role of parent-child communication in transferring human capital to children is scarce. At the within-country level, it is expected that the strength of the association between parent-child communication and academic achievement increases with level of family SES.
At the between-country level, three theories frame the effectiveness of parent-child communication by the country’s income level (Baker, Goesling, & Letendre, 2002; Heyneman & Loxley, 1982): the public resources substitution, the social reproduction, and the complementary intangibles theory.
The public resources substitution theory states that the greater quality and quantity of public resources in richer countries reduces the importance of family resources and thereby weakens the association between parent-child communication and student achievement. The social reproduction theory contends that irrespective of public resources, high SES families use their superior resources to create equivalent advantages for their children across countries. The complementary intangibles theory argues that the widespread availability of physical resources in richer countries increases the value of less tangible resources (e.g., parent-child communication and other forms of parental involvement).
Recent studies have evaluated the varied effects of proxies of parental involvement between countries. Chiu and Xihua (2008) found that family structure effects are stronger in individualistic or richer countries. Park (2008) argues that the academic benefits of parent-child communication are greater in standardized educational systems than in nonstandardized systems. The present study draws on the theories above and prior empirical evidence to frame its research question and derive implications for research.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Baker, D. P., Goesling, B., & Letendre, G. K. (2002). Socioeconomic status, school quality, and national economic development. Comparative Education Review, 46(3), 291-312. Blossfeld, H. P., & Shavit, Y. (1993). Persisting barriers. In Y. Shavit, & H. P. Blossfeld (Eds.), Persistent inequality (pp. 1-23). Boulder, CO: Westview. Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research of the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood Press. Chiu, M. M., & Xihua, Z. (2008). Family and motivation effects on mathematics achievement: Analyses of students in 41 countries. Learning and Instruction, 18, 321-336. Coleman, J. (1988) Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95-120. Desimone, L. (1999). Linking parental involvement with student achievement: Do race and income matter? Journal of Educational Research, 93, 11–30. Heyneman, S. P., & Loxley, W. A. (1982). Influences on academic achievement across high and low income countries. Sociology of Education, 55(1), 13-21. Hofstede, G. (2003). Culture’s consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Inglehart, R., & Baker, W. E. (2000). Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values. American Sociological Review, 65, 19-51. Lee, J-K., & Bowen, N. K. (2006). Parental involvement, cultural capital, and the achievement gap among elementary school children. American Educational Research Journal, 43, 193–218. McNeal, R. B. (1999). Parental involvement as social Capital: Differential effectiveness on science achievement, truancy, and dropping out. Social Forces, 78, 117–44. Park, H. (2008). The varied educational effects of parent-child communication: A comparative study of fourteen countries. Comparative Education Review, 52(2), 219-243. Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
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