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Parenting styles and academic achievement:
A cross-cultural study
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly , Apr 1998 by Leung, Kwok,
Lau, Sing, Lam, Wai-Lim
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The relationships between four parenting styles and academic achievement in school children
were investigated in Hong Kong, the United States, and Australia. Results indicated that
Australian parents were lower than both Chinese and American parents in academic
authoritarianism. Compared to the two English-speaking groups, Chinese parents were higher in
general authoritarianism, but lower in academic and general authoritativeness. In all three
cultures, academic achievement was negatively related to academic authoritarianism, but showed
no relationship with academic authoritativeness. Finally, academic achievement was positively
related to general authoritarianism in Hong Kong and among children from the United States and
Australia whose parents did not have any college education. Academic achievement was
positively related to general authoritativeness only in the two English-speaking groups.
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In the United States, higher academic achievement is typically associated with lower parental
authoritarianism and higher parental authoritativeness (e.g., Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman,
Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987; Steinberg, Elmen, & Mounts, 1989). However, empirical
relationships obtained in one culture may be a product of its cultural milieu and may not
generalize to other cultures (e.g., Van de Vijver & Leung, 1997). Thus, the major purpose of this
paper was to examine the cross-cultural generalizability of the relationships between parental
styles and academic achievement.
Authoritarian Parenting Style and School Performance
In a survey of 7,836 adolescents in the San Francisco Bay area, Dornbusch et al. (1987) found
that Asian American parents were more authoritarian than European American parents, and that
for both European and Asian Americans, the authoritarian parenting style was associated with
lower academic grades. The classification of parenting styles used by Dornbusch et al. (1987)
was based on the scheme proposed by Baumrind and Black (1967). Authoritarian parents attempt
to control their children with absolute standards, and expect obedience, respect for authority, and
preservation of order from children. In contrast, authoritative parents expect mature behavior
from their children, set clear standards, enforce rules and standards firmly, use commands and
sanctions only when necessary, encourage independence, individuality, and open communication,
and recognize the rights of the children. For a review of these two styles, see Maccoby & Martin
(1983).
The findings of Dornbusch et al. (1987) suggest that Asian Americans should have poorer
academic results than European Americans because their parents are more authoritarian.
Paradoxically, Asian Americans generally show better academic results than European
Americans (Sue & Okazaki, 1990). A few attempts have been made to unravel this anomaly. For
instance, Steinberg, Dornbusch, and Brown (1992) have argued that for Asian Americans,
parental influence on school performance is not as important as peer influence, and the negative
effects of authoritarian parents are outweighed by positive peer influence.
A Reconceptualization of Parental Authoritarianism for Asians
Recently, Chao and Sue (1996) have proposed a new approach to this paradox. They argued that
the current conceptualization of parental authoritarianism ignores the purpose of parental control
and fails to capture the essence of the authoritarian behaviors of Asian parents. In support of this
view, Chao (1994) found that Chinese mothers, who immigrated from Taiwan to the United
States, emphasized the "training" of their children more than did European American mothers.
These Chinese mothers believed that children should be trained intensively so that they will
behave well and obtain good school results, and that mothers should try their best to train their
children. Because Chinese mothers typically emphasize educational attainment and set high
standards for their children (e.g., Chao, 1996; Chen & Uttal, 1988), their controlling behavior
and emphasis on obedience from their children should actually push their children toward
educational success.
Chao's (1994) results challenge earlier findings that even for Asian Americans, parental
authoritarianism was related to poor school performance (Dornbusch et al., 1987). To resolve this
inconsistency, we have scrutinized the concept of parental authoritarianism and discerned two
aspects in the items developed to measure parental authoritarianism in the Baumrind and Black
(1967) tradition. The first aspect refers to a controlling and domineering style, which is reflected
by the following three items used by Dornbusch et al. (1987): (a) parents tell the youth not to
argue with adults; (b) children will know better when grown up; and (c) parents are correct and
should not be questioned. This type of parental authoritarianism may be termed general
authoritarianism.
The second aspect is concerned with the overdemanding and nonrewarding behavior of parents
with regard to the academic performance of their children, as defined by the following four items
used by Dornbusch et al. (1987): As a response to poor grades, (a) the parents get upset, (b)
reduce the youth's allowance or "ground" the youth; as a response to good grades, (c) the parents
tell the youth to do even better, and (d) note that other grades should be as good. This type may
be termed academic authoritarianism.
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Tuesday April 28 2009

Home

News The Relationship

About the Collaborative
between Parenting and
Academic Achievement
Governance

Events Calendar

Article by Adam Jeup

Core Activities

Description:
Publications & Research found that one of the most important
Resources indicators of future academic success is prior
academic success. While that is a substantial
USF & Related Links
correlation, it is not a perfect positive correlation, so
Working in the prior academic success cannot be the only indicator of
Community
future success. According to the literature, it is
plausible that parenting style plays a role in future
Social Capital academic success.
Carnegie Initiatives Research shows that parenting style correlates with
academic achievement. Specifically, authoritative
parenting is most strongly related to higher
achievement. Authoritative parenting involves three
components which include acceptance (of failures and
successes), psychological autonomy (freedom to think
what they want), and behavior control (strict rules and
supervision). Students reporting high acceptance from
parents, high psychological autonomy, and moderate
behavior control from parents not only have a higher
perceived academic performance, but have higher
grade point averages as well. Consequently, not only
do the students feel they perform better in school, but
they actually do perform better.
On the other hand, authoritarian parenting (highly
demanding, directive, and disciplinary parenting, but
unresponsive to their child’s needs), permissive
parenting (overly lenient, do not require mature
behavior, allow considerable self-regulation, and
avoid confrontation), and inconsistent parenting (a
mixture of different parenting styles) negatively
correlated with academic achievement. Children of
parents who exhibited these kinds of parenting
behaviors also had a low perceived academic success.
In other words, children who have parents who are
permissive, authoritarian, or inconsistent are more
likely to not only feel they perform poorly in school,
but actually do perform poorly.
Studies have also examined how other variables, such
as parental education, per-capita income level, gender,
and ethnicity correlate with student achievement.
Results showed that parental education was most
strongly correlated with academic achievement. More
specifically, the higher the parents’ education, the
higher their child’s grades were. A possible
explanation for this relationship may be explained by
parents’ prior knowledge of subjects to help their
child on schoolwork. Further research still needs to be
conducted in order to support or refute this
hypothesis. Melby & Conger also found that per-
capita income had a positive correlation with student
achievement. This relationship might be explained by
access to resources that involve money, such as tutors
or studying aids. Finally, neither gender nor ethnicity
was found to be significantly correlated with
achievement in school. A possible explanation for this
is that parenting styles and their effects do not
discriminate between males, females, or various
races.
Research that has closely examined the relationship
between parenting style and academic achievement
found that psychosocial maturity (expansion of social
knowledge and wellbeing) serves to mediate this
relationship. In other words, authoritative parenting
impacts psychosocial maturity, which in turn,
influences how students perform in school.
Psychosocial maturity was measured by self-reliance
(control over life), work orientation (students work
skills & work goals), and self identity (self esteem &
life goals). Each of these variables, both separately
and collectively, positively correlated with higher
grades. Authoritative parenting was also found to
correlate with each of these three indicators of
psychosocial maturity. Extending these results a step
further, it is plausible that acceptance, psychological
autonomy, and low behavior control (from parent to
child) are important for children to succeed
academically, as they likely lead to increased
psychosocial maturity, which has been determined to
correlate with higher academic achievement.
Research has shown that the highest indicator of
children’s academic success from one year to the next
is prior academic achievement (r = 0.66; citation).
These results raise an interesting research question:
do parents become authoritarian or permissive
because of students’ low grades (i.e., students’ low
grades become a stressor for the parent, which cause
them to be authoritarian or permissive) or do students
have low grades because of parental behaviors (i.e.,
pre-established parental behaviors dictate how
students will perform in school)? Regardless of the
answer, it is apparent that authoritarian parenting is
positively correlated with academic success.
References:
Melby, J.N., & Conger, R.D. (1996). Parental behaviors and
 adolescent academic

performance: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of

Research on Adolescents, 6(1),

113-137.

Steinberg, L., Elmen, J.D., & Mounts, N.S. (1989).

Authoritarianparenting, psychosocial

maturity, and academic success among adolescents.

Child Development, 60(6),

1424-1436.

Bradley, Nikki (2006). Permissive Parenting: An Overview.

Retrieved July 9, 2008, from

http://parenting.families.com/blog/permissive-
parenting-an-overview.

Greenberger, E., Josselson, R., Knerr, C. & Knerr, B. (1974).

The measurement and

structure of psychosocial maturity. Journal of Youth

and Adolescence, 4(2), 127-

143.

Contact Person: Cindy J Liberton

Funding for Academic Year: 2008-09

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