Multiple Dimensions of Parental Involvement and their Role in Academic Motivation of Primary School 6th Graders

This study was undertaken to examine the role of parental involvement dimensions in the academic motivation of primary school 6th graders in Babol. This research had a descriptive, correlational design. The statistical population of the study was comprised of 6th graders, along with their parents in school year 2017-18. The sample was drawn via one-stage cluster sampling method and based on Miles and Shevlin graphs and it included 273 students and their parents. For the purpose of data collection, Family Involvement Questionnaire (Grover, 2015) and the Elementary School Motivation Scale (Guay et al., 2005) were utilized. The results demonstrated that the two dimensions of home-based involvement and school-based involvement were positively associated with intrinsic motivation in reading, writing, and mathematics; however, the  home-school dimension had no meaningful relationship with internal motivation. Home-based involvement was negatively correlated with external regulation in writing. All three dimensions of parental involvement had a positive relationship with identified regulation in reading and writing; nevertheless, this association was not observed in math. The results of the model revealed that parental involvement has a positive effect on intrinsic motivation as well as identified regulation. Results of regression analysis indicated that none of the parental involvement dimensions could predict external regulation; nonetheless, home-based involvement emerged as the predictor of intrinsic motivation and identified regulation. Given the positive impact of parental involvement on students’ academic motivation, it can be concluded that enhancing parental involvement can help improve students’ learning.