Hmong American Children's Perceptions of Parents' Influence on Their Education

Abstract

Previous research on children’s academic outcomes has often highlighted parent involvement behaviors as key predictors of students’ academic outcomes, but previous research has typically neglected Hmong American children. Using a sample of N = 423 Hmong American elementary students from Hmong-focused charter schools, the present study seeks to understand the ways in which various parent involvement behaviors (including parent involvement in schooling at home, parent involvement in schooling at school, and parent communication about the importance of education) relate to these students’ perceived academic abilities in reading and math. The present study also investigates whether or not students’ English proficiency moderates these relationships. Findings from regression analyses indicate that English proficiency is the strongest predictor of students’ perceived math and reading abilities. Parent involvement in schooling at school also significantly predicts students’ perceived abilities in both content areas, and parent communication about the importance of education significantly predicts students’ perceived abilities in math but not reading. Parent involvement in schooling at home was not a significant predictor of outcome. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.