Parental support, student motivational orientation and achievement : the impact of emotions

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential effects of parental involvement at home on student motivational orientation in school work and achievement and how such effects may be mediated by the perceived emotional quality of parent-student interactions (positive and negative). The participants in the study included 631 students in the 2nd and 3rd cycle of compulsory education (5th to 9th grade) from 6 schools in the Lisbon area in Portugal. Students‟ age ranged from 10 to 16 years (M=12.8; SD=1.64) with 53% being female. Hierarchical analysis using structural equation modeling was carried out, taking into consideration three sets of variables (background, perceived parental involvement and emotions) to predict schoolwork self-regulation and academic achievement. Results emphasized the role of emotions, highlighting the importance of affective components in parent-child interactions in order to understand the students‟ motivational orientation and academic achievement.