The Mediating Role of Gender in the Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Childrens Academic Achievement

This study examined parental involvement and its impact on the academic achievement of primary school students in Chinese families, focusing on the influence of child gender. Five family groups from Shandong Province, each with boys and girls aged 7 to 12 enrolled in primary school, participated to assess the moderating effect of gender. One-on-one semi-structured interviews with the parents revealed that parental involvement had a greater impact on childrens academic performance, and that children of parents who were able to secure sufficient and high-quality involvement performed well on two consecutive years of academic ratings. In addition, in-depth analyses of the interview data show that the gender of the child and parental expectation greatly influence the length and type of parental involvement, which in turn affects the childs academic achievement. However, gender is not the only influence, participants in this research widely indicated that their childrens personality traits and grades were the main factors influencing their determination of participation styles, duration, and adjustment strategies.