DIGEST - Volume 8, Issue 4-FULL

7 TPC Digest The Role of Parenting in Predicting Student Achievement Jeffrey M. Warren, Leslie Locklear, Nicholas A. Watson Considerations for School Counseling Practice and Research A number of factors influence the success of students as they matriculate from elementary school through middle and high school. These student achievement-related factors include homework completion, discipline referrals, and suspension. Literature also suggests that parenting styles, specifically authoritative parenting, is related to student achievement. Authoritative parents are demanding, yet communicative and supportive; their children often are more successful in school. However, according to the tenets of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), the demands expressed by authoritative parents are irrational and counterproductive. REBT posits that irrational beliefs are rigid and dogmatic thoughts that lead to unhealthy negative emotions such as anger or anxiety. These emotions result in dysfunctional behaviors that are self-defeating. On the other hand, rational beliefs and preferential and flexible in nature. REBT suggests that parents who think rationally will respond in a helpful and functional manner when faced with an unruly child, for example. This unexpected theoretical conundrum between parenting style and their beliefs warrants further investigation. The relationship between parenting styles and irrational beliefs and their impact on student success have not been explored. The purpose of this study was to further explore the relationships between student achievement-related factors and student achievement. Additionally, we sought to explore the effects of parenting, including style and beliefs, on student achievement. Using instruments designed to measure rational and irrational beliefs and parenting style, in addition to a demographic questionnaire, data was collected from a sample of parents of K-12 students living in the southeast United States. Correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression modeling were used to analyze the data. Similar to prior research, results of this study indicated that homework completion is positively related and suspensions are negatively related to GPA. Findings suggested that both rational and irrational beliefs are related to authoritative parenting. Counter to prior research, authoritative parenting was not related to student achievement. Parental beliefs were not predictive of student achievement, yet irrational beliefs were positively and significantly related to homework completion. In order to best meet the needs of all students is critical for school counselors to provide evidence-based practice. School counselors are encouraged to consider how the findings of this study may impact the programs they develop, deliver, and evaluate. The results of this study suggest that additional research is necessary to better understand the impact of parenting style on student achievement. Furthermore, the relationship between rational and irrational beliefs and authoritative parenting supports the theoretical underpinnings of these constructs. Additional research is needed, to better understand how a combination of these types of beliefs advance parents efforts to promote academic achievement. School counselors who understand the ways in which these and other factors impact student achievement are best positioned to develop programming that supports students. Jeffrey M. Warren, NCC, is an associate professor and Chair of the Counseling Department at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Leslie A. Locklear is the FATE Director at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Nicholas A. Watson is a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Correspondence can be addressed to Jeffrey Warren, 1 University Drive, Pembroke, NC 28372, jeffrey.warren@uncp.edu. 7 |