Parents are the first influences on their children, and as such their behaviour and communication with children has the power to potentially shape children’s attitudes across multiple domains.  The aim of this paper is to investigate how parental support for education in middle school relates to student motivation and language arts achievement and socio-emotional wellbeing of Swedish youth.

The importance of parental engagement in education has been well studied in the literature (e.g. Boonk et al., 2018) and it is thought to bolster social, emotional and academic growth in their students (e.g. Green et al., 2007). In a study of high school students in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the USA), Al-Hassan et al. (2024) found that parental support for education influenced students’ academic identity but not their academic performance.  Plunkett et al. (2009) modelled the contribution of various parental support elements through student academic engagement and on to achievement amongst immigrant background youth in the USA. Schoolwork monitoring, academic advice, and schoolwork help, particularly from mothers were found to positively impact students’ academic achievement.

Discussions between parents and children related to schooling has previously shown a positive association with academic outcomes (e.g. Gordon & Cui, 2012) and reduced problematic behaviour such as truancy (e.g. McNeal, 2012). The relationship between parental communication with children and achievement varies between both countries, and socioeconomic groups (Park, 2008). Understanding the role of parental communication in shaping children’s outcomes is not only a concern for educational scientists, as previous meta-analyses have shown that parental communication with their children has a significant relationship with outcomes across various health concerns (see Grey et al., 2022).

As Park (2008) asserts, communication between parents and children can be viewed as a form of enacted social capital. One of the three forms of capital identified by Bourdieu (1986), social capital is best understood as the social positioning achieved by whom one knows and interacts with in the social space. Social capital begins with the immediate network, the family, and is gained and reproduced as an individual interacts with society around them. The function of the education system as an engine of social reproduction (as expanded upon by Bourdieu, 1998) is in this study questioned by examining the relationship between social capital in the form of parent-student behaviours and outcomes indicative of embodied cultural and social capital, that is academic achievement and contentment in the social space of the school. As such, this study investigates the following research questions:

1. How does the domestic climate around education influence cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes in Grade 6 and Grade 9 in Sweden?
2. Does the domestic climate around education influence achievement and student satisfaction over time?

This study applies structural equation modelling to the analysis of data from the Evaluation Through Follow-up (UGU) study. UGU is a cohort-sequential, longitudinal database which combines survey-data with register-data to make the largest educational database in Sweden. UGU contains nationally representative panels for eleven birth-cohorts (1948, 1953, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2004, 2010), which sampled 10% of youth born in each cohort who were resident in Sweden during grade 3 (see Härnqvist, 2000), and tracks the educational careers of Swedish youth from early grades in compulsory school to adulthood. The 2004 UGU birth cohort is selected for this study, and the sample includes 9773 individuals. The sample was 51% male, 79% Swedish born, and 50% had 2 or more years of higher education. The sample was drawn in 2014 when the students were in Grade 3 (SCB, 2018). The data used in this analysis was gathered at two timepoints, Grade 6 and Grade 9. These Grades are the end of the middle and upper phase of compulsory education in Sweden respectively. The data used in the study comes from the parent questionnaire in Grade 6, the student questionnaires in Grades 6 and 9, and register and school administrative data. Latent variables for motivation, student engagement with parents, and satisfaction with school at the two timepoints are identified from items in the Grade 6 and Grade 9 student questionnaire, and a latent factor of parental-child educational discussions is identified from items in the parental questionnaire administered in Grade 6. Socio-demographic background is controlled for in the analysis using three variables which are gathered though register data: student sex, immigration background, and parental education level (used as a proxy for socioeconomic status). Finally, student achievement in Swedish in Grade 6 and 9 comes from school administrative data. There are three stages to the modelling procedure: Model A examines the predictive relationship between parental-child educational discussions, student engagement with parents, and motivation on the cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes in Grade 6; Model B examines student engagement with parents, and motivation on the cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes in Grade 9; and Model C combines Model A and B, with variables in grade 9 regressed on their counterparts in grade 6. Separate structural equation models are specified using the cognitive (Swedish language grades) and non-cognitive outcomes (satisfaction with school).

Preliminary results suggest that parents can set a climate for school success in middle school aged Swedish youth without directly influencing outcomes. Parental-child educational discussions in grade 6 are positively associated with student engagement with parents at both Grade 6 and 9, but that such behaviour does not predict cognitive or non-cognitive outcomes. For both set of models, student engagement with their parents and student motivation were indicative predict cognitive or non-cognitive outcomes at Grade 6 and 9. When examining the sociodemographic control variables, sex, migration background and SES were all predictors of Swedish performance, whereas only sex predicted students’ contentment with school.

Al-Hassan, S. M., Duell, N., Lansford, J. E., Dodge, K. A., Gurdal, S., Liu, Q., Long, Q., Oburu, P., Pastorelli, C., Skinner, A. T., Sorbring, E., Steinberg, L., Tapanya, S., Tirado, L. M. U., Yotanyamaneewong, S., Alampay, L. P., Bacchini, D., Bornstein, M. H., Chang, L., . . . Di Giunta, L. (2024). Parents’ learning support and school attitudes in relation to adolescent academic identity and school performance in nine countries. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 39(4), 3841-3866. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00827-4 Boonk, L., Gijselaers, H. J. M., Ritzen, H., & Brand-Gruwel, S. (2018). A review of the relationship between parental involvement indicators and academic achievement. Educational Research Review, 24, 10-30. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.02.001 Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. E. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research in the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). Greenwood Press. Bourdieu, P. (1998). Practical reason: on the theory of action. Oxford : Polity. Gordon, M. S., & Cui, M. (2012). The Effect of School-Specific Parenting Processes on Academic Achievement in Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Family Relations, 61(5), 728-741. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00733.x Green, C. L., Walker, J. M. T., Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., & Sandler, H. M. (2007). Parents' Motivations for Involvement in Children's Education: An Empirical Test of a Theoretical Model of Parental Involvement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 532-544. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.3.532 Grey, E. B., Atkinson, L., Chater, A., Gahagan, A., Tran, A., & Gillison, F. B. (2022). A systematic review of the evidence on the effect of parental communication about health and health behaviours on children's health and wellbeing. Preventive Medicine, 159, 107043. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107043 Härnqvist, K. (2000). Evaluation through follow-up. A longitudinal program for studying education and career development. In C.-G. Janson (Ed.), Seven Swedish longitudinal studies in behavioral science (pp. 76-114). Forskningsrådsnämnden. McNeal, R. B. (2012). Checking In or Checking Out? Investigating the Parent Involvement Reactive Hypothesis. The Journal of Educational Research, 105(2), 79-89. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2010.519410 Park, H. (2008). The Varied Educational Effects of Parent‐Child Communication: A Comparative Study of Fourteen Countries. Comparative Education Review, 52(2), 219-243. https://doi.org/10.1086/528763 Plunkett, S. W., Behnke, A. O., Sands, T., & Choi, B. Y. (2009). Adolescents' Reports of Parental Engagement and Academic Achievement in Immigrant Families. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(2), 257-268. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9325-4 Statistika Centralbyrån (SCB). (2018). Teknisk Rapport. En beskrivning av genomförande och metoder. Enkäter skolår 6 till UGU 2017 https://www4.gu.se/compeat/FUR/UGU/Rapporter/UGU2004_SCB_2018_Teknisk%20rapport_elever_ak6.pdf