The Effects of Parental Involvement on Academic Self-Efficacy Across Racial and Ethnic Groups

In the United States, the institution of education has been framed as a great equalizer by which every child has access to an education and therefore access to financial opportunity and greater subsequent life success. However, the significance of race and ethnicity complicates this idealistic vision of equal opportunity and access for all. In particular, the achievement gap between White and historically disadvantaged minority youth persists even decades after the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. This study explores how different constructs of parental involvement affect academic self-efficacy across three major racial and ethnic groups by specifically focusing on high school students. Survey data for this study comes from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 available through the National Center for Education Statistics. Significant racial/ethnic differences were found for student academic self-efficacy and parental involvement participation. Furthermore, White students were discovered to benefit from parental involvement more consistently than Black and Hispanic students.