Academic Achievement of College Underclassmen as a Function of Student Ethnicity and Parenting Style

One hundred and fifty-seven (N = 157) undergraduate students rated their mothers' and fathers' parenting styles (i.e., authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting). Information on GPA, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES) was also obtained. Based on the literature, it was hypothesized that African American students from lower SES backgrounds would report lower GPAs than White college students from higher or lower SES backgrounds. Second, it was hypothesized that White and African American students from lower SES backgrounds would report lower GPAs. Third, it was hypothesized that African American students would report lower GPAs than White students. It was also hypothesized that participants' recollections of parenting would be related to college GPA such that respondents who reported their mothers and fathers as more authoritative, less authoritarian, and less permissive would report higher GPAs. Participants' recollection of mothers' parenting was related to GPA. As expected, participants who recalled their mothers as more permissive reported lower GPAs than those who reported less permissive parenting. Significant correlations were found between the parenting styles of mothers and fathers. That is, mothers and fathers used similar levels of authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting, respectively. There was a tendency for African American students to report mothers as more authoritarian than White students. Results suggest that the parenting styles of mothers and fathers may be less related to GPA for young adult college students than for children.