Mediating effects of mathematics self efficacy and adolescents' motivation towards schooling on the relationship between parental involvement and mathematics achievement

The present study investigated whether both mathematics self efficacy and adolescents' educational motivation toward schooling mediate the relationship between different dimensions of parental involvement and mathematics achievement of tenth grade students. The two dimensions of parental involvement incorporated were parents' advice on adolescents' schooling and parent-school contact. A nationally representative sample from ELS: 2002 with 2002 base year data was utilized. The results of the study suggest that mathematics self efficacy fully mediated only the relationship between parents' advice on adolescent schooling and mathematics achievement. It was not a significant mediator of the relationship between parent school-contact and mathematics achievement. Adolescents' educational motivation toward schooling did not significantly mediate the relationship between mathematics achievement and either parent-school contact or parents' advice on adolescents' schooling. Different theoretical frameworks on parental involvement and recommendations for future studies are discussed.