Background 

Among different forms of parental involvement in schooling, learning at home with parents (e.g., homework assistance, parent-child educational discussion) is recommended as the most important aspect that directly fosters students’ learning outcomes (Sacher, 2008). Although learning at home seems to be beneficial for students, research on this aspect is still scarce, particularly an investigation into the quality of parental instruction at home (Wild & Lorenz, 2010).

According to self-determination theory (SDT), the present study operationally characterized the quality of parental instruction at home (QPI) by two forms of instruction (e.g., Grolnick & Ryan, 1989) – authoritative (autonomy-support, responsiveness) and authoritarian (control, structure). Research guided by SDT has suggested that authoritative parental instruction (ATTT) encourages a variety of students’ learning outcomes, for instance, academic achievement, learning motivation, and self-regulated learning strategies. In contrast, authoritarian parental instruction (ATTR) seems to weaken these outcomes. Despite the fact that ATTT seems to be more desirable compared to ATTR, little is known about the reasons why parents endorse different forms of instruction.

Rudy and Grusec (2006) stated that collectivist parents endorse more authoritarian parenting practice because they see it as normative and necessary for supporting optimal development in children. Nevertheless, there has been a lack of findings about how determinants of ATTT vs. ATTR differ across cultural groups.

Thus, the present study focused on two research questions: 1) what are the significant determinants of ATTT vs. ATTR and 2) how do they differ across cultural groups. We were particularly interested in exploring differences between German and Thai cultures.

To theoretically explore determinants of ATTT vs. ATTR, we took into account the theoretical model of parental involvement process (PIP) and its extended version (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995; 1997). The PIP model proposes that the quantity of parental involvement is associated with the levels of parental attitudes (conceptions of responsibility), teaching efficacy beliefs, invitations to involvement from the child and school, and parental life context (personal time and energy, valence toward school). To expand the PIP model, we assumed that all determinant factors proposed in the PIP model may also predict differences in the quality of parental instruction at home (ATTT vs. ATTR).

Although our main hypotheses were based on the PIP model, we included another two variables– role conceptions (process vs. product-oriented goals) and social background of family. Renshaw and Gardner (1998) found that process-oriented parents who interpreted a learning task of their children as having a learning goal were less directive, whereas those product-oriented parents who interpreted a learning task as having a performance goal were more directive and controlling. Furthermore, numerous studies revealed that differences in social background of family (e.g., parental education, parental occupation) may result in variations of parental involvement.

In sum, we hypothesized that the higher levels of the theoretically derived determinant factors would contribute to ATTT and not to ATTR. Cultural differences were also taken into account.

Aim of Study

The present study aimed to examine determinants of ATTT vs. ATTR across German and Thai cultures.

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