Parenting for Success: Exploring the Link Between Parenting Styles and Adolescents’ Academic Achievement Through Their Learning Engagement

Abstract

Adolescents’ interaction with their parents at home is pivotal for their physical and mental health, which can further influence their academic achievement at school. However, every culture has distinctive parenting elements which are distinguishable from other cultures. This study explored the influence of parenting styles on adolescents’ academic achievement through the mediation role of learning engagement in a Chinese cultural context. A questionnaire was distributed among parents and students, and 1,557 valid responses were received and analyzed using SPSS software, PROCESS macro, Microsoft Excel, and JASP. The results indicated a positive and significant effect of parenting styles on students’ academic achievement, with students’ learning engagement partially mediating such relationship. Dimension-wise, parents’ emotional acceptance positively influenced students’ academic achievement, but rejecting and overprotecting them had negative repercussions. A comparison between fathers and mothers showed a higher effect of mothers’ parenting styles compared to that of fathers. Generally, students’ behaviors result from different forces which act in and outside them, making this study a wake-up call for cherishing collective efforts from parents, teachers, and students toward improving academic performance.