Parental academic involvement and academic engagement in adolescence: moderating effects of growth mindset across diverse educational contexts

Parental academic involvement is an important correlate of students’ academic engagement, yet evidence from diverse and non-traditional educational contexts remains limited. In particular, little is known about whether this association generalizes to secondary vocational students in ethnic minority regions or whether it is contingent on students’ motivational beliefs. The present study examined the association between parental academic involvement and academic engagement and tested growth mindset as a moderating factor, drawing on converging evidence from distinct educational settings. Two complementary studies were conducted. Study 1 used a self-report survey design to assess parental academic involvement, growth mindset, and academic engagement among 1,000 secondary vocational students from ethnic minority regions in China. Study 2 analyzed data from 6,037 middle school students in Hong Kong using the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), incorporating parent-reported indicators to replicate and validate findings in a different educational and cultural context. Moderation analyses were conducted in both samples. Across both studies, parental academic involvement was positively associated with students’ academic engagement. Growth mindset significantly moderated this association in both samples, but the conditional patterns differed across contexts: in Study 1, the association was stronger among students with lower growth mindset, whereas in Study 2, it was stronger among students with higher growth mindset. Using data from secondary vocational students in ethnic minority regions of China and middle school students in Hong Kong, this study provides converging evidence that the association between parental academic involvement and academic engagement is robust across diverse educational contexts and is conditional on students’ growth mindset. These findings highlight the context-sensitive nature of motivational processes in shaping how family involvement translates into academic engagement.