The role of parental socialization styles in school engagement and academic performance

Abstract

Many variables have been analyzed in relation to school adjustment. However, only a few studies have explored the relationship between this construct and parental socialization styles, particularly in Spain. This work aims to examine the role played by maternal and paternal socialization styles in school engagement and academic performance. Participants were 737 secondary school students from the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, aged between 11 and 18. All students completed the Affect Scale (EA-H) and the Rules and Demands Scale (ENE-H), as well as the School Engagement Measure (SEM), and performance was calculated on the basis of their average grades in mathematics and Spanish. The results indicate that, in the case of academic performance, a permissive style by both parents has the most positive effect on the grades obtained, while in the case of school engagement, it was both the permissive and democratic styles by both parents (with small variations between maternal and paternal styles in accordance with the dimension analyzed) that were most closely associated with a higher level of engagement. The educational implications of these results are discussed.