Parenting and Children's School Achievement

Parenting and Children's School Achievement: A Multiethnic Perspective
Author(s): Lynn Okagaki and Peter A. Frensch

Source: American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Spring, 1998), pp. 123-144
Published by: American Educational Research Association
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AmericanEducationalResearchJournal
Spring1998, Vol.35, No. 1, pp. 123-144
Parenting and Children's School

Achievement:A Multiethnic Perspective
Lynn Okagaki
Purdue University
Peter A. Frensch
Max Planck Institute for
Human Development and Education
Thepresentstudy is an examinationof the relationsbetweenparentingand
the schoolperformanceoffourth- and fifth-gradechildren(mean age = 10
years, 2 months) in 75 Asian-American,109 Latino, and 91 EuropeanAmericanfamilies. Five aspectsof parenting werestudied:(a) expectations
for children's educational attainment, (b) grade expectations,(c) basic
childrearingbeliefs(i.e., developmentof autonomy,developmentof conformity to externalstandards,and importanceof monitoringchildren'sactivities), (d) self-reportedbehaviors(i.e., creating an academicallyenriching
environmentand helpingwith homework),and (e) perceptionsof parental
efficacy.Schoolperformancewas measuredby schoolgrades and achievement testscores.Ethnicgroup differencesemergedin parents' expectations
for children'seducationalattainment,grade expectations,childrearingbeliefs,perceptionsof parental efficacy, and in the relations between these
beliefs and children's school achievement. These resultsprovide further
evidenceof the importanceof consideringtheconstellationofparents'beliefs,
goalsfor theirchildren,and the typeof helpparents can offerchildrenwhen
workingwithparents tofacilitate their children'sschool experiences.
LYNNOKAGAKI
is an Associate Professor, Department of Child Development and
Family Studies, 1267 CDFS Building, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 479071267. Her specialization is cognitive development.
A. FRENSCH
is a Senior Research Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Human
PETER
Development and Education, Lentzeallee 94, D-14195, Berlin, Germany. His specialization is cognitive psychology.

Okagakiand Frensch
inoritystudentshave experiencedvaryinglevels of success in schools
in the UnitedStates.Althoughthereis greatdiversityamongLatinoand
Asian-American
subgroups,on average,Latinostudentshave not faredwell
in school, while Asian-American
studentshave tended to succeed in school
(e.g., Fernandez,Paulsen, & Hirano-Nakanishi,1989; Humphreys,1988;
Rumberger,1987; Sue & Okazaki, 1990). A number of factorshave been
posited as explanationsfor differentialschool achievementacross ethnic
groups (for general reviews, see Laosa& Henderson,1991;Sue & Padilla,
1986). These factors include (a) motivationaldifferences in individuals'
desires to improvetheirlives (e.g., Buriel& Cardoza,1988),(b) differences
in parent education and socioeconomic status (e.g., Laosa, 1978, 1982),
(c) differences in parentalexpectations for children'sachievement (e.g.,
Wong, 1990), (d) differences in the congruence between the cultural
practicesof the home and the culturalpracticesof the school (e.g., DelgadoGaitan,1992;Trueba,1988),and (e) societaloppressionof specificminority
groups,which may lead these groups to develop avenues for achievement
that do not rely on acceptanceby the dominantgroup (e.g., Ogbu, 1986,
1992;Ogbu & Matute-Bianchi,1986).
In this article, we focus on the relations between parenting and
children'sschool performancein Asian-American,Latino,and EuropeanAmericanfamilies.To enhance the possibilityof identifyingrelationsbetween parentingand school achievementin differentgroups, the present
study examined the relationsbetween multiple aspects of parentingand
children'sschool performanceand consideredvariationsin these relations
across these ethnic groups.
Five aspects of parentingwere examined:(a) parentalexpectationsfor
children'seducationalattainment,
(b) gradeexpectations,(c) basicchildrearing
beliefs (i.e., development of autonomy, development of conformityto
external standards,and importance of monitoring children's activities),
(d) self-reportedbehaviors(i.e., creatingan academicallyenrichingenvironment and helpingwith homework),and (e) perceptionsof parentalefficacy.
Previousresearchhas found that these aspects, or clusters,of beliefs are
associatedwith school achievementwithin ethnic groups (particularly,for
EuropeanAmericans).Beliefs have not been found to account for differences in school achievementacross ethnic groups (e.g., Dornbusch,Ritter,
Leiderman,Roberts,& Fraleigh, 1987). Chao (1994) has shown that the
dimensionsof specific constructs(e.g., authoritarian
parentingas a composition of high behavioralexpectations,low parentalwarmth,and low use of
democraticparenting strategies) may go together differentlyin cultural
groups whose historyand context are differentfrom the one in which the
constructwas originallyidentified.Consequently,any single belief may not
easily explain differencesin child outcomes across ethnic groups.The two
goals of this studywere to determine(a) whetherrelationsbetween parental
beliefs and school achievement differ across groups and (b) whether
combinationsof parental beliefs and practices help explain differential
school achievementboth within, and across, ethnic groups.
124

Parenting and School Achievement
Parentalaspirationsand expectations for children'seducation have

been relatedto children'scognitiveperformancein, for example,American,
Australian,and Canadianfamilies (Johnson& Martin,1985; Marjoribanks,
1979).1In studies of Latinofamilies, researchershave found that parents
believe educationis important,want their childrento excel in school, and
activelyhelp with children'shomework(Delgado-Gaitan,1992;Stevenson,
Chen,& Uttal,1990).However,Okagaki,Frensch,and Gordon(1995)found
that the degree to which parents believe education is importantdid not
distinguishbetween parentsof high- and low-achievingMexican-American
children.Researchon Asian-American
familiesis more limitedthanresearch
on Latinofamilies,but there is evidence that (a) parentalexpectationsfor
school performanceare high (Schneider& Lee, 1990) and (b) parental
expectationsfor time spent studyingand doing homeworkarehigh (Caplan,
Choy, & Whitmore,1992;Schneider& Lee, 1990).
General childrearingbeliefs, particularlythe degree to which parents
emphasizedevelopmentof autonomyand conformityin theirchildren,have
also been relatedto intellectualdevelopment(Schaefer& Edgerton,1985).
AmongBlackand Whitefamilieswith kindergartenand first-gradechildren,
traditionalauthoritarianbeliefs (e.g., regardingparentalauthorityas absolute) have been negativelyrelatedto school competence,while democratic
parentingbeliefs (e.g., encouragingchildren'sverbalizationof ideas) have
been positivelyrelatedto school competence (Schaefer& Edgerton,1985).
In a study of kindergartenthroughsecond-gradechildren,which included
Mexican-American
(definedas parentsof Mexicandescent
Anglo-American,
who were bornin the UnitedStates),and immigrantfamiliesfromCambodia,
the Philippines,Mexico,andVietnam,greaterparentalemphasison children
conformingto external standardswas negatively correlatedwith school
performance(Okagaki& Sternberg,1993).Adolescents'perceptionsof the
degree to which theirparentsare authoritativein theirparentinghave been
positively associatedwith school achievementin Whiteand Hispanicadolescents, but authoritativeparentinghas not been found to be relatedto
Asian-American
adolescents'school achievement(Steinberg,Dornbusch,&
Brown, 1992). Chao (1994) has argued that the Western psychological
constructsof authoritarianand authoritativeparentingstyles do not adequately describe nor truly apply to Chinese-American
immigrantparents
whose ideas about parentinghave developed out of an entirelydifferent
culturalcontext. Consequently,it is not surprisingthat these constructsof
adolescents.
parentingdid not explain child outcomes for Asian-American
In additionto the literatureon parentalcognitions,other researchhas
focused on the relationbetween directinvolvementwith and monitoringof
schoolworkand school achievement.Studieshave shown that (a) parental
involvement in postsecondaryplans and interest in school progress are
relatedto high school seniors'grades(Fehrmann,Keith,& Reimers,1987),
(b) parent contact with school is related to school performance(e.g.,
Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Stevenson & Baker, 1987), (c) parental
monitoringis positivelyrelatedto school achievementfor elementaryschool
125

Okagakiand Frensch
1990),and (d) parental
boys (Crouter,MacDermid,McHale,& Perry-Jenkins,
provision for active stimulation(e.g., encouraging children to develop
hobbies and special talents) and family participationin developmentally
stimulatingexperiences (e.g., discussing television programs,taking long
distancetrips)arerelatedto children'sschool achievement(Bradley,Caldwell,
& Rock, 1988). However, recent ethnographicresearchon Latinofamilies
has indicatedthat,althoughparentsmay activelyhelp childrenwith homework, parents'instrumentalhelp may not always be effective (DelgadoGaitan, 1992; Goldenberg,1987, 1989). In their researchon Indochinese
refugee families,Caplanand his associates(Caplanet al., 1992) concluded
that instrumentalhelp from parentswas not as importantas the overall
climateparentsestablishedin which education,studying,and good grades
were deemed very important.
As noted above, parentalexpectationsfor children'seducationalattainment, parentalchildrearingbeliefs, and parentalinvolvementin children's
school work have been related to children's cognitive performancein
familiesbut may not necessarily
previous studies with European-American
be relatedto school achievementin Latinoand Asian-American
families.In
additionto these aspects of parenting,we examinedparents'expectations
for children'sgradesbecause parentalresponsesto gradesare potentiallyan
explicitway in which parentscan express theireducationalexpectationsto
their children. Parentalefficacy-specifically, parents'perception of their
abilityto help childrenwith homework-was includedafterconsideringthe
families which suggested that,
ethnographicwork on Mexican-American
althoughparentsmaywant to help theirchildrenand mayspend time doing
so, they may not be able to understandthe assignments.
Three questions were of interest:(a) Are there differencesin school
performance and parental beliefs across ethnic groups in the present
sample?(b) Are the aspects of parentingthat we are measuringrelatedto
children'sschool achievementwithineach ethnicgroup?(c) Arethe relations
between parentingand child outcomes differentacross groups?
Method
Sample
Parentsof fourth-and fifth-gradestudents in a suburbanschool districtin
northernCaliforniaparticipatedin this study. Of the 670 parentswho were
initiallycontacted in the fall semester of the 1993-1994 school year, 347
parents (52%) returned questionnaires.Twenty questionnaireswere excluded because of incomplete data. The present analysis focuses on a
subsample (N = 275) consisting of all parentswho identifiedtheir child's
All other
ethnicityas being Asian-American,
Latino,or European-American.
parentswere excluded from this analysis,along with any Asian-American,
Latino, or European-Americanfamily in which both parents were not
identifiedas being of the same ethnicity.
All materialsto Latino parents included both English and Spanish
126


translations. Prior to data collection, we did not know the nationality of the
Asian-American parents. As a result, the Asian-American parents were only
given English questionnaires. Hence, the Asian-American group consists
only of those parents who were able to read English or who took the
initiative to obtain assistance with the questionnaire.
Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the sample. To
maximize participation, we let either the mother or the father complete the
questionnaire. For European-American and Latino families, mothers tended
to complete the questionnaire. However, in Asian-American families, there
was greater participation by fathers, as compared to the other groups, with
45% of the questionnaires completed by fathers or by mothers and fathers
together. The three groups differed with respect to gender of child (X2 (2,
N= 275) = 6.02, p < .05), immigrantstatus (X2 (2, N= 268) = 101.32,p < .001),
maternal education (X2 (4, N= 265) = 44.24, p < .001), paternal education
(X2 (4, N = 243) = 49.64, p < .001), and family income (X2 (6, N = 249) =
35.29, p < .001). As can be seen in Table 1, most of the Asian-American
parents were immigrants;most of the European-Americanparents were born
in the United States; and a little over half of the Latino parents were
immigrants. The Asian-American and European-American parents were
more likely than the Latino parents to have completed some schooling
beyond high school. The minority families were more likely than the
European-American families to earn less than $20,000 per year. There was
concern because the distribution of family income for Asian-American
families was somewhat bimodal. However, Wong (1990) reported that the
1980 Census data showed a bimodal distribution for education among
Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino adults who were 25 years and older.
These three groups comprised almost 60%of the Asian-Americanfamilies in
our study. Consequently, we believe that the present sample is not unusual
for Asian-Americancommunities in which most of the adults are immigrants.
Table 1 also shows that there was a higher proportion of boys in the
Asian-Americangroup than in the other groups. Preliminaryanalyses showed
a main effect of gender of child on school achievement, and gender of child
was included in analyses of the relations between parental beliefs and
school achievement. The three groups did not differ with respect to the
number of children in the family or family structure (ps > .05). Main effects
of parental education and family income were obtained in preliminary
analyses of the relations between parental beliefs and school achievement.
For Latino and European-American families, children's grades were correlated with parent education (Latino: r = .36, p < .001; European-American:
r = .23, p < .05) and with family income (Latino: r = .36, p < .001; EuropeanAmerican: r = .28, p < .01). Similarly,average test scores were correlated with
parent education (Latino: r = .35, p < .001; European-American: r =
.24, p < .05) and with family income (Latino: r = .43, p < .0001; EuropeanAmerican: r = .24, p < .05). Neither parent education nor family income was
correlated with grades or test scores for Asian-American families. These
results were not entirely surprising. Reviewers of research on Asian-Ameri127

Okagaki and Frensch
Table1
of Families
DemographicCharacteristics
Asian-American
Latino
European-American
46 (61%)
29 (39%)
60 (55%)
49 (45%)
39 (43%)
52 (57%)
39 (52%)
36 (48%)
46 (42%)
63 (58%)
46 (51%)
45 (49%)
TargetChild'
Boy
Girl
Child'sgrade in school
Fourthgrade
Fifthgrade
Immigrantstatus of parents2
Immigrant
Born in U.S.
Averageyears in United States

Immigant
Maternaleducation3
Less than HS diploma
Completed HS
More than HS
Paternaleducation4
Less than HS diploma
Completed HS
More than HS
Familyincome5
Less than $20,000
$20,000s
$30,000s
$40,000s or more
Familystructure
Bothparents
Parentand step-parent
Other
Number of children in household
One
Two
Three
Four or more
8 (9%)
65 (87%)
55 (53%)
10 (13%)
48 (47%)
82 (91%)
10.9 years
15.0 years
23.3 years
16 (22%)
17 (23%)
41 (55%)
49 (49%)
20 (20%)
31 (31%)
7 (8%)
24 (26%)
60 (66%)
14 (20%)
12 (17%)
43 (62%)
50 (54%)
15 (16%)
27 (29%)
7 (9%)
20 (24%)
55 (67%)
26 (39%)
3 (5%)
51 (54%)
7 (7%)
14 (16%)
7 (8%)
12 (18%)
11 (12%)
12 (13%)
25 (38%)
25 (27%)
56 (63%)
58 (78%)
66 (64%)
62 (69%)
1 (1%)
15 (20%)
12 (12%)
26 (25%)
11 (12%)
17 (19%)
9
26
14
25
13
29
35
30
15
32
27
16
(12%)
(35%)
(19%)
(34%)
(12%)
(27%)
(33%)
(28%)
(17%)
(36%)
(30%)
(18%)
Note. The number of nonmissing data points varied across items.

'Proportion of boys to girls differed across groups (X2 (2, N= 275) = 6.02, p < .05).
2Immigrantto nonimmigrant ratio differed across groups (X2(2, N= 268) = 101.32, p < .001).
3Maternaleducation varied across groups (X2 (4, N= 265) = 44.24, p < .001).
4Paternaleducation varied across groups (X2(4, N= 243)= 49.64, p < .001).
5Familyincome differed across groups (X2(6, N= 249) = 35.29, p < .001).
can student achievement and performance on cognitive tasks (e.g., Ho,

1994; Sue & Okazaki, 1990) have observed that the relations between
student achievement and indices of socioeconomic status--such as, parent
education, father occupation, and family residence-are lower for AsianAmerican families than for European-Americanfamilies and often nonsignificant. Given that parent education and family income were related to grades
128


and test scores for Latino and European-American families, these variables
were included in analyses of the relations between beliefs and school
achievement.
Great diversity existed within each of the three global ethnic groups-Asian-American, European-American, and Latino. Most European-American
parents did not indicate a country of family origin or indicated a combination
of several countries. Among the Asian-American families, no nationality
constituted a large enough sample to allow for separate analyses. The largest
groups were families from Vietnam (37%) and from the Philippines (13%).
The Latino families were predominantly of Mexican origin (94%). However,
because we could not conduct separate analyses for the Asian-American or
the European-Americanfamilies by countries of origin, we did not do so for
the Latino families.
Parent Questionnaire
A questionnaire was adapted from previous research (Okagaki et al., 1995;
Okagaki & Steinberg, 1993; Schaefer & Edgerton, 1985; Small & Luster,1990)
to assess parents' beliefs about education, school achievement, and selfreported parental behaviors. Questionnaires were translated into Spanish
and then backtranslated into English by a second translator. Discrepancies
were resolved through discussion. The questionnaire consisted of seven
sections: (a) educational attainment, (b) grade expectations, (c) childrearing
beliefs, (d) self-reported parental behaviors, (e) parental efficacy, (f) perception of child's ability, and (g) demographic information.
Educational attainment. Parents were asked to indicate (a) what the
ideal amount of education they would like their child to attain would be
(a single item, from 1 = complete some high school education to 6 = get a
graduate or professional degree), (b) how much education they expect their
child to obtain (a single item), and (c) what the very least amount of
schooling they would allow their child to attain would be (a single item).
Grade expectations. Parents indicated on a 4-point scale (1 = very
happy: my child did a great job; 4 = upset: I want my child to do better) how
they would feel if their child hypothetically brought home certain grades
(a separate item for each letter grade from A to F).
Childrearing beliefs. Three subscales were developed to assess the
importance parents place on developing autonomous behaviors and attitudes in their children (8 items were adapted from Schaefer and Edgerton,
1985-e.g., How important do I think it is for my child to work through
problems on his/her own? and How important do I think it is for my child
to think and make decisions on his/her own?), the importance parents place
on developing conformity to external standards (8 items adapted from
Schaefer and Edgerton, 1985--e.g., How important do I think it is for my
child to do what the teacher tells him/her to do? and How important do I
think it is for my child to respect adults and people in authority?),and the
importance parents place on parental monitoring of children's activities (16
items adapted from Small and Luster, 1990--e.g., How important do I think
129

Okagakiand Frensch
it is for me, as a parent,to know what my child does in school?and How
importantdo I thinkit is for me, as a parent,to know how my child is treated
by others at school?).The interitemreliabilitiesfor these subscales were
strong (as rangingfrom .78 to .89).
Parentalbehaviors.The parentalbehaviorssectionwas dividedinto two
subscales.For each scale, parentsindicatedon a 6-point scale (1 = rarely;
6 = daily)how frequentlythey did a specificactivity.The firstscale consisted
of 10 itemsaboutactivitiesthe parentdoes to help the childwith schoolwork
(e.g., How often do you remindyourchildto studyfor a test?and How often
do you help your child study for a test?).The second scale was composed
of eight itemsrelatedto generalactivitiesparentsmightdo with childrenthat
would encourage them to read or think about issues or would provide
opportunitiesto observetheirparentsreading(e.g., How often do you read
a magazine at home? and How often do you have your child read a
nonschoolbook at home?).Interitemreliabilitiesfor these scaleswere strong
(both as = .77).
Parental efficacy beliefs.Six items asked parentsto rate the extent to
which they agreed or disagreedwith statementsrelatedto the confidence
they felt about theirabilityto help theirchild succeed in school (e.g., There
are times when I do not understandmy child'smathhomeworkand There
are times when I do not understandmy child'sreadinghomework).Items
were rated on a 6-point Likertscale (1 = stronglydisagree;6 = strongly
agree). The interitemreliabilityfor this scale was satisfactory(a = .72).
Perceptionof child'sability.Parentswere presentedsix items relatedto
their perceptionof their child'sabilityto do well in school (e.g., My child
usuallygets good gradesin school and Mychildusuallydoes not need help
with homework).Items were rated on a 6-point Likertscale (1 = strongly
disagree;6 = strongly agree). The interitemreliabilityfor this scale was
strong (a = .81).
Results
Presentationof the results is organizedinto four sections: (a) analysis of
school performance,(b) comparisonsof parents'beliefs, (c) the relations
between children'sschool performanceand parentalbeliefs within ethnic
group, and (d) the relationsbetween children'sschool performanceand
parentalbeliefs across ethnic groups.
Differencesin School Performanceby EthnicGroup
To measureschool performance,children's1992-1993and 1993-1994endof-yearmath, science, language,and readinggradeswere obtained,along
with their 1992-1993 and 1993-1994 language, reading, and math school
achievementtestscores (IndividualTestsof AcademicSkills).Two multivariate analysesof covariance(MANCOVA)
were conducted to determineif a
main effect of ethnicityexisted aftergender of child, parenteducation,and
family income were controlled. In the first MANCOVA,the dependent
variablesconsistedof children'sreading,math,language,and science grades
130

achievementtest
(averagedacross the 2 years). In the second MANCOVA,
scores for reading, math, and language were the dependent variables
(averaged across the 2 years). Independentvariableswere always parent
education,familyincome, and ethnicity.
To illustratethe differencesin school performance,Figure1 shows the
distributionof math,reading,and languagegradesfor each ethnic group.A
significant main effect of ethnicity was obtained for children's grades
(lambda = .92, F (8, 464) = 2.56, p < .01). In follow-up univariate analyses,
significantmaineffectsof ethnicitywere obtainedforreading(F(2, 235)= 9.29,

MSE = 5.88, p < .0001), language (F (2, 235) = 6.57, MSE = 5.86, p <.01), and
math (F (2, 235) = 5.62, MSE= 8.44, p < .01). Examination of the achievement
test scores revealed a significant main effect of ethnicity (lambda = .87, F (6,
432) = 5.34,p < .0001),with univariateanalysesindicatinga significantmain

effectof ethnicityfor mathtest scores(F (2, 218) = 9.40, MSE= 67,p < .0001).
Comparison of Parental Beliefs
A series of MANOVAs and ANOVAs with ethnicity as the independent
variable were conducted to examine differences in parents' beliefs and selfreported behaviors. These results are reported by belief cluster.
Educational expectations. Results of a MANOVA comparing levels of
ideal attainment, expected attainment, and minimum attainment across
ethnic groups indicated a main effect of ethnicity for parents' expectations
for their children'sschool attainment(lambda = .72, F(6, 474) = 13.93,p < .0001;
see Table 2 for means of scores). The levels of education parents ideally
wanted their children to attain (F (2, 239) = 5.24, MSE = .54, p ?<.01),
expected their children to attain (F (2, 239) = 18.52, MSE= 1.39 p < .0001),
and minimally set for their children to attain before they stopped going to
school (F (2, 239) = 32.88, MSE= 1.75, p < .0001) differed across groups. As
Table 2 shows, compared to other parents, Asian-American parents had
higher ideal expectations for their children than either European-American
parents (F (1, 239) = 7.60, p < .01) or Latino parents (F (1, 239) =
8.70, p < .01). Asian-Americanparents ideally wanted their children to obtain
a graduate or professional degree. European-American and Latino parents
wanted their children to obtain college degrees. Similarly, Asian-American
parents differedfrom European-Americanparents (F(1, 239) = 22.06,p < .0001)
and Latino parents (F (1, 239) = 34.09, p < .0001) on expected educational
attainment. Whereas Asian-American parents expected their children to
graduate from college, European-American and Latino parents expected
their children to get some college education. Finally, Asian-Americanparents
differed from European-Americanparents (F (1, 239) = 65.76, p < .0001) and
from Latinoparents (F (1, 239) = 21.21, p < .0001) on minimum expectations.
In addition, European-American and Latino parents had different minimum
educational expectations (F (1, 239) = 15.02, p < .0001). For Asian-American
parents, the minimum educational attainment they set for their children was
college graduation. For European-American parents, the lower boundary
131

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Table2
Meansand StandardDeviations(in Parentheses)

of ParentalBeliefScores by EthnicGroup
Belief
European-American
Latino
Asian-American
Ideal attainment1
Expected attainment
Minimumattainment
5.43 (.68)b
4.32 (1.27)b
3.19 (1.34)c
5.42 (.93)b
4.15 (1.44)b
3.96 (1.51)b
5.76 (.43)a
5.26 (.68)a
4.97 (1.03)a
Response to B2
Response to C
Response to D
1.63 (.63)b
2.99 (.80)b
3.92 (.27)a
1.71 (.63)b
2.98 (.79)b
3.86 (.34)a
2.04 (.57)a
3.39 (.59)a
3.93 (.25)a
Develop autonomy3
Develop conformity
Parentalmonitoring
4.89 (.55)b
5.12 (.56)b
5.33 (.51)b
5.15 (.57)a
5.41 (.53)a
5.56 (.40)a
4.94 (.69)b
5.20 (.68)b
5.24 (.56)b
Enrichingenvironment4
Help with homework
Parentalefficacy5
4.04 (.77)a
4.47 (.60)a
4.47 (1.13)a
3.80 (1.02)a
4.65 (.69)a
3.70 (1.29)b
3.89 (.92)a
4.59 (.67)a
3.98 (1.15)b
Note.Differentsubscriptsdenote meansthatare significantlydifferentwithineach row.

'For educationalattainmentscales, 3 = high school degree plus vocationaltraining;4 = some
college education;5 = graduatefromcollege;6 = graduateor professionaldegree.
2Forresponseto gradeitems,2 = happy;3 = satisfied;my childcoulddo better,but the gradeis
okay;4 = upset;I want my childto do better.
3Forautonomy,conformity,and monitoringscales, 3-4 = moderatelyimportant;5-6 = most
important.
4Forenrichingenvironmentand help with homework,3 = 1 or 2 timesa month;4 = aboutonce
a week; 5 = a few timesa week.
5Forvalue of educationand parentalefficacyscales, 1 = stronglydisagree;6 = stronglyagree.
was high school graduation. For Latino parents, the lower boundary was
some college education.
Grade expectations. In a MANOVAwith parents' responses to hypothetical grades of Bs, Cs, and Ds as the dependent variables (responses to As and
Fs were dropped because virtually all parents were happy with As and upset
with Fs), a main effect of ethnicity was obtained (lambda = .91, F (6, 522)
= 3.99, < .001). Univariate analyses revealed a main effect of ethnicity for
p
Bs (F (2, 263) = 9.63, MSE = .38, p < .0001) and for Cs (F (2, 263) = 6.35,
MSE= .55, p < .01). On average, all parents were happy or very happy with
grades of B. However, as Table 2 shows, Asian-Americans parents were not
as pleased as European-American parents (F (1, 263) = 17.77, p < .0001) or
Latinoparents were (F(1, 263) = 11.65, p < .001). Similarly,while the average
response to Cs for all three groups moved away from being happy toward
being satisfied but believing the child could do better, the Asian-American
parents were again less satisfied than European-American(F (1, 263) = 9.54,
p ? .01) or Latino parents (F (1, 263) = 10.41, p < .001).
Childrearing beliefs. As the means in Table 2 show, all parents reported
133

Okagaki and Frensch
that developing autonomousbehaviorsin their children,encouragingconformingbehaviorsin theirchildren,and monitoringtheirchilden'sbehaviors

were important.A MANOVA
indicatedthatthe threegroupsdifferedin their
childrearingbeliefs (lamba = .90, F (6, 524) = 4.65, p < .0001). There was
a main effect of ethnicityon all three univariateanalyses(autonomy,F (2,
264) = 4.78,MSE= .36,p < .01;conformity,F(2, 264) = 6.12,MSE= .33,p < .01;
monitoring,(F (2, 264) = 10.96, MSE= .23,p < .0001). Latinoparentsgave
higher importanceratings than European-American
parents on all three
measures (autonomy,F (1, 264) = 8.84, p < .01; conformity,F (1, 264)
= 11.55,p < .001;monitoring,F (1, 264) = 10.64,p < .001)and higherratings
than Asian-Americanparents on all three measures (autonomy, F (1,
264) = 4.14,p < .05;conformity,F (1, 264) = 4.82,p < .05;monitoring,F (1,
264) = 19.60,p < .0001).
behaviorsand parental efficacy.Finally,a MANOVAwith
Self-reported
frequency of helping with school work and frequency of engaging in
academically enriching activities showed an overall effect of ethnicity
(lambda = .94, F (4, 530) = 4.32, p < .01). However, neither univariate
analysisrevealeda significantmaineffect of ethnicity(ps > .10), and specific
contrastsbetween groups were not performed.An ANOVAwith parental
efficacyas the dependent variableobtaineda significanteffect of ethnicity
(F (2, 269) = 9.99, MSE= 1.45,p < .0001). European-American
parentsfelt
more confidentabout their abilityto help their childrenthan eitherAsianAmerican(F(1, 269) = 6.60,p < .01) or Latinoparentsdid (F (1, 269) = 19.80,
p < .0001).
Influenceofpriorschoolperformanceon parents'beliefs.By the fourth
and fifthgrades,the child'spreviousgradesmayaffectparents'expectations.
Thatis, parents'expectationsfor their children'sgrades may be a function
of theirperceptionsof theirchild'sabilityto succeed in school. To examine
this question,two MANCOVAs
were performed.The independentvariables
were (a) ethnicity;(b) the average of children's1992-1993 reading,math,
language,and science grades(i.e., the gradesthe childrenreceivedthe year
prior to obtaining data on parents' beliefs); (c) parents' perceptions of
children'sabilityto do school work;and (d) ethnicityX perceptionof ability.
Average grades were used to partial out differences in actual school
achievement.The dependentvariablesfor the firstMANCOVA
were parents'
ideal,expected,and minimaleducationalattainmentlevels for theirchildren.
The dependentvariablesfor the second MANCOVA
were parents'responses
to Bs and Cs. (Note: Recallthat there was no differenceacross groups in
parents'responses to Ds.)
There was a significantmain effect of ethnicity,indicatingdifferences
in parents'educationalattainmentexpectationsacrossgroups(lambda= .94,
F (6, 442) = 2.19,p < .05). The follow-up simultaneousregressionanalyses
for expected school attainment(F (2, 223) = 5.48, MSE= 1.13,p < .01) and
for minimumschool attainment(F (2, 223) = 3.68, MSE= 1.70, p < .05)
indicatedthatparents'educationalexpectationsdifferedacrossgroupseven
when children'sprior grades and parents'perceptions of their children's
134

abilitieswere considered.In other words, differencesin parents'expectations for their children'seducationalattainmentwere not solely a function
of children'sprevious grades and parents'perceptions of their children's
abilities.
Similarly,there was a significantmain effect of ethnicityfor parents'
responsesto grades(lambda= .95,F (4, 496) = 3.12,p < .05). The univariate
analysesrevealed a main effect of ethnicityfor responses to Cs (F (2, 249)
= 4.85, MSE= .48,p < .01). Parents'responsesto theirchildrenreceivingCs
differedacross groups when children'sactualgrades and parents'perceptions of their children'sabilitieswere statisticallycontrolled.
In sum, when previousschool gradesand parents'perceptionsof their
child's abilities were statisticallycontrolled, ethnic group differences in
expected school attainment,minimumschool attainment,and responses to
Cs remained. These findings provide some evidence that the observed
differencesin parents'expectationsfor their children'sschool attainment
and school grades were not simply a response to children'sprior school
achievement.
Ethnicityand perceptionof child'sability.Previousresearchcomparing
Asian and American parents (Stevenson & Lee, 1990) has shown that
Americanparentsbelieve school achievementhas more to do with a child's
ability than Asian parents do. Consequently,we examined parents' responses to gradesto see if there was an interactionbetween ethnicityand
with responsesto gradesas
perceptionof child'sability.Forthe MANCOVA
the dependentvariables,the interactionbetween ethnic group and perception of abilitywas significant(lambda= .95, F (4, 496) = 3.19,p < .01). The
univariateanalysis for responses to Cs indicated a significantinteraction
between ethnicityand perceptionof ability(F (2, 249) = 3.76,p < .05). The
contrastbetween Asian-American
and Latinoparentswas significant(F (1,
249) = 6.86, p < .01). Partialcorrelationsindicated that, for the Latino
families,therewas a positiverelationbetween perceptionof child'sabilities
and response to Cs (r = .29,p < .01) but that, for Asian-American
families
(r = .01, ns), there was no such relation.
In sum, all parentsindicatedthat they would be happy if their child
receivedan A. Whenwe consideredpreviousschool performance,we found
no differencesin parents'responses to Bs. On the lower end, all parents
wanted theirchildrento do betterif they received an F, and therewere no
significantdifferencesacrossgroups in parents'responsesto Ds. However,
when we consideredCs, we found that parents'responses differedacross
groups. Asian-American
parentswere less satisfiedwith Cs than the other
and
their
parentswere,
response to Cs was not relatedto their perception
of their child's ability.
Summary.In general,Asian-American
parentshad higher educational
and Latino
expectationsfor theirchildren.Comparedto European-American
parents,Asian-American
parentshad higherexpectationsfor theirchildren's
educationalattainment.Asian-American
parentswere also less satisfiedwith
gradesof Bs and Csthanthe otherparentswere. In contrast,when questions
135

Okagaki and Frensch

focused on the importance of developing general characteristicsin the child
(i.e., autonomy and conformity) rather than on specific aspects of school
achievement, Latino parents gave higher ratings than either Asian-American
or European-Americanparents did. Latino parents also placed higher importance on the parental role of monitoring children's activities and school
performance. However, compared to both Latino and Asian-American parents, the European-Americanparents had more confidence in their ability to
help their children succeed in school.
Parental Beliefs and Children's School Performance
To examine the relations between parental beliefs and children's school
performance, two sets of analyses were conducted. The first set of analyses
looked at the relations between parental beliefs and school performance
within each ethnic group. The second set examined the relations across
groups. Because the average grades and average test scores were highly
correlated (r = .70 for the entire sample), only analyses with average school
grades are described. Analyses using school achievement test scores were
generally consistent with the results obtained using grades. Regression
coefficients for each model by ethnic group are presented in Table 3.
Parental belief and behavior scales were grouped into four clusters:
(a) educational attainment, (b) grade expectations, (c) childrearing beliefs,
and (d) self-reported parenting behaviors and parental efficacy. Parental
belief scale scores were standardized on the entire sample; outliers ? 3.0
standard deviations from the group mean were removed (Tabachnick &
Fidell, 1983). A composite parent education variable was constructed by
standardizing the mother's and father's education variables on the entire
sample and taking the average of the two standardized scores to represent
parent education. (Note: Analyses examining the effects of mother's education with the global belief variables and father's education with the global
belief variables obtained generally similar results.) Four separate, simultaneous regression analyses with the individual scales in each of the four belief
clusters, gender of child, parent education, and family income as independent variables and with average school grades as the dependent variable
were performed. Analyses were conducted separately for each ethnic group.
Educational attainment belief cluster. The educational attainment belief
cluster consisted of parental beliefs about the ideal, minimum, and expected
years of schooling they desire for their child. The overall model was
significant for each group (European-Americanfamilies: F (6, 74) = 3.34, MSE
= .55, p < .01; for Latino families: F (6, 69) = 3.30, MSE = .52, p < .01; and
for Asian-American families: F (6, 52) = 2.46, MSE = .34, p < .05). As Table
3 shows, expected years of schooling were positively related to children's
grades for European-American: (b = .23, p < .05) and Asian-American
(b = .55, p < .01) families. In contrast to the other groups, none of the
individual beliefs about school attainment was significantly correlated with
school grades for Latino families.
Grade expectations belief cluster. For European-American and Latino
136

Table3
RegressionCoefficientsforRelationsBetweenParentalBeliefs
andChildren'sGradesby EthnicGroup
Belief
European-American
Latino
Asian-American
Ideal attainment
Expected attainment
Minimumattainment
Parenteducation
Familyincome
Gender of child
.13
.23*
-.04
.07
.09*
.12
.11
.03
.05
.20
.06
.32
-.05
.55**
-.01
-.02
.04
.10
Response to B
Response to C
Response to D
Parenteducation
Familyincome
Gender of child
-.08
.12
.20*
.22
.06
.24
-.06
.03
.23**
.22*
.03
.30*
.23*
-.22
-.05
.03
.02
.20
Develop autonomy
Develop conformity
Parentalmonitoring
Parenteducation
Familyincome
Gender of child
-.01
-.33**
.25*
.34*
.09*
.17
-.06
-.12
.23
.23*
.05
.33*
-.02
.09
-.09
-.01
.04
.25
Enrichingenvironment
Help with homework
Parentefficacy
Parenteducation
Familyincome
Gender of child
.28*
-.20
.09
.09
.08*
.23
-.04
-.03
.14
.23*
.05
.25
.06
-.25*
-.11
.05
.03
.23
*p< .05;**p< .01.
families,the overallmodel composed of parents'beliefs about Bs, Cs, and

Ds was significant (European-American:F (6, 81) = 3.42, MSE= .54, p < .01;
Latino: F (6, 81) = 5.60, MSE = .46, p < .0001). In both groups, parents'
response to children receiving Ds was correlated with children's grades
(European-American:b = .20, p < .05; Latino:b = .23, p < .05). For the Asian-
Americanfamilies,the overallmodel was not significant(p > .10).
Childrearing beliefs cluster. For European-American families, the
childrearingbeliefs model (composed of the developing autonomy,developing conformity,and importanceof parentalmonitoringscales)was related
to average grades (F (6, 79) = 3.23, MSE = .53, p < .01). As Table 3 shows,
development of conformity was negatively related to grades (b = -.33, p <
.01), and importanceof monitoringchildren'sactivitieswas positivelyrelated

to grades(b = .25,p < .05). ForLatinofamilies,the childrearingbelief cluster
was significantly related to grades (F (6, 81) = 4.78, MSE= .49, p < .001). The
137

Okagaki and Frensch
patternof relationsbetween parentbeliefs and children'sgradeswas similar

to thatof the European-American
families,but no parentalbelief contributed
uniquelyto the model. In contrastto the othergroups,therewas no relation
between averagegradeand childrearingbeliefs for Asian-American
families
(F < 1).
Parental behaviors andfeelings of efficacy cluster. For European-American families, the relation between parental behaviors and feelings of efficacy
and children's school grades was significant (F (6, 80) = 3.42, MSE =
.54, p < .01). As Table 3 shows, creating an academically enriching environment (e.g., parental reading, parental encouragement of child's reading,
parent-child discussion of current events) was positively related to children's
grades (b = .28, p < .01). For Latinofamilies, a different pattern emerged. The
overall model was significant (F (6, 80) = 4.48, MSE= .50, p < .001), but no
parental belief contributed uniquely to the model. For Asian-American
families, the parental-behaviors- and feelings-of-efficacy model was not
significant(p > .10).
Summary
As Table 3 shows, the patternsof relationsbetween parentalbeliefs and
children'sschool achievementvariedacrossthe threeethnicgroups.Forthe
families,all fourbelief clusterswere significantlyrelated
European-American
to children's grades. In particular,higher grades were associated with
(a) higher expectationsfor the amountof schooling childrenwill achieve,
(b) greaterdissatisfactionwith Ds, (c) less emphasisplaced on developing
conformingbehaviors,(d) more importanceplaced on monitoringchildren,
and (e) more emphasis placed on creating an academicallyenriching
environment.
For Latinofamilies,all four belief clusterswere significantlyrelatedto
children'sgrades.However, as Table 3 shows, the only parentalbelief that
uniquely contributedto its overall model was parents'responses to Ds.
Highergradeswere associatedwith greaterdissatisfactionwith Ds.
ForAsian-American
families,the only belief clusterthatwas significantly
related to children'sgrades was the educationalattainmentcluster. The
numberof yearsof schoolingthatparentsexpect theirchildrento attainwas
positivelyrelatedto grades.
Ethnicity, Beliefs, and School Achievement
Interactions between beliefs and ethnicity. To test for interactions between beliefs and ethnicity, all three groups were combined into four
separate simultaneous regression analyses (one for each belief/behavior
cluster), with average school grades as the dependent variable. The independent variables in each of the analyses were (a) the parental beliefs for the
cluster (e.g., development of autonomy, encouraging conforming behaviors,
and importance of parental monitoring), (b) ethnicity, (c) interactions
between each belief and ethnicity (e.g., autonomy x ethnicity), (d) parental
education, (e) parental education x ethnicity, (f) family income, (g) family
138

income x ethnicity, (h) gender of child, and (i) gender x ethnicity.The

dependent variablewas children'saveragegrade. Specificcontraststested
whether the relation between each belief and grades was different for
versus Asian-Americans,European-Americans
versus
European-Americans
Latinos,and Asian-Americansversus Latinos.Because of the exploratory
natureof this analysis,we include belief x ethnicityinteractionsthat were
significantat the level of a trend (p < .10).
For the educationalattainmentbelief cluster,the interactionbetween
expected educationalattainmentand ethnicitywas significantat the level of
a trend (F (2, 195) = 2.94, MSE= .48,p < .10). Contrastsrevealedthat the
relationsbetween expected attainmentand averagegradesdifferedbetween
Asian-American
and Latinoparents(F (1, 195) = 5.04,p < .05). As Table 3
shows, there was a positive relation between expected attainmentand
familiesbut not for Latinofamilies.
grades for Asian-American
For the grade expectations belief cluster, the interactionbetween
parents'response to Bs and ethnicitywas significantat the level of a trend
(F (2, 218) = 2.40, MSE= .47,p < .10). The relationsbetween response to
Bs and average grades differed between Asian-Americanand EuropeanAmericanparents(F (1, 218) = 4.17,p < .05). As Table 3 shows, there was
a positive relationbetween response to Bs and gradesfor Asian-American
familiesand no such relationfor European-American
families.
For the childrearingbeliefs cluster,the interactionsbetween ethnicity
and encouragingconformingbehaviors(F(2, 215) = 2.66,MSE= .48,p < .10)
and between ethnicityand parentalmonitoring(F (2, 215) = 2.57,MSE= .48,
and
p < .10) were significantat the level of a trend. European-American
Asian-American
parentsdifferedin the relationsbetween gradesand beliefs
about encouragingconformingbehaviors(F (1, 215) = 5.26,p < .05). With
respectto encouragingconformingbehaviors,therewas a negativerelation
between the importanceof conformityand gradesfor EuropeanAmericans
but no such relation for Asian Americans.There was a positive relation
between parentalmonitoringand grades for EuropeanAmericansbut no
similarrelationfor Asian Americans.
Finally,for the behaviors and efficacy cluster, no belief x ethnicity
interactionwas significant.Thus,when gender of child, parentaleducation,
and familyincome were statisticallycontrolled,some ethnic differencesin
the relationsbetween parentalbeliefs and children'sgrades emerged.
Discussion
The focus of this researchis on the relationsbetween parentingbeliefs and
practicesand children'sschool achievementin differentethnicgroups.From
our view, three interestingand pragmaticallyimportantobservationscan be
drawn from the data.
First,the datashow thatparents'beliefs and behaviorsdifferacrossthe
ethnic groups. In general, Asian-Americanparents set higher educational
expectationsfor their children.They ideally wanted their childrento have
more educationthan did other parents.They set a higher standardfor the
139

Okagakiand Frensch
minimum amount of education that they would accept from their children.
Perhaps most important, they expected their children to complete more
schooling than other parents did. The Asian-Americanparents also set higher
expectations for their children's grades. Asian-American parents were less
satisfied with Bs and Cs than other parents were.
Although all parents indicated that development of children's autonomous and conforming behaviors and parents' monitoring of their children's
lives were important, Latino parents placed more importance on these
aspects of childrearing than the other parents did. Compared to other
parents, European-American parents felt more confident about their ability
to help their children succeed in school, but parents' reports of the
frequency of their efforts to help children with school work did not differ.
Because the children in this study were in fourth and fifth grades, their
parents' expectations for their educational attainment and for their classroom
grades were likely to have been influenced by children's earlier school
performance. However, we found that parents'expectations for their children's
educational attainment differed across groups when children's prior school
performance and parents' perceptions of their children's abilities were
included as covariates. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that
differences in parents' beliefs across the three ethnic groups reflect cultural
differences in beliefs and have not emerged solely in response to differences
in children's previous school performances.
The difference between Asian-Americanparents and other parents with
respect to grade expectations was of particularinterest. Research comparing
Japanese and American parents (for review, see, Holloway, 1988) has
indicated that Japanese parents place more emphasis on the role of effort
in school achievement than do American parents. Research on parents'
conceptions of intelligence has indicated that Vietnamese and Filipino
immigrant parents placed more importance on motivation as an aspect of
intelligence than did Anglo-American, Mexican-American, or Mexican immigrant parents (Okagaki & Sternberg, 1993). If Asian-American parents
believe that school achievement rests on effort rather than on innate ability,
their expectations for their child's grades may not be affected by their
perceptions of their child's ability. We found some evidence to support this
explanation. Compared to Latinoparents, Asian-Americanparents' responses
to children's grades were less related to parents' perceptions of their
children's ability to do school work.
The second major finding of the study is that parental beliefs and
behaviors were related to children's school achievement within each ethnic
group. However, the parental beliefs and behaviors that we assessed were
more consistently related to children's school performance for the EuropeanAmerican families. Each of the four clusters of beliefs were related to
European-American children's school performance, and in three of the four
clusters at least one specific belief uniquely contributed to the model. The
consistency of these results is certainly not surprising, given that these
measures were based on previous research that has primarily been con140

Parenting and SchoolAchievement

ducted with European-American families. For the Latino families, all four of
the individual clusters of beliefs were significantly related to school performance. Within each cluster, however, the individual beliefs did not do as
well at capturing unique relations between beliefs and school performance.
Finally, the aspects of parenting we assessed did not do well in capturing
the relation between parenting and children's school performance for AsianAmerican families. Only the educational attainment cluster was significantly
related to children's grades.
A third finding from our data is that, when we tested for belief x
ethnicity interactions, we obtained some evidence consistent with the
hypothesis that the relations between parental beliefs and school achievement differ across the three ethnic groups. For example, expected educational attainment was positively related to children's school achievement for
Asian-American parents but not for Latino parents. Because the parenting
constructs and the measures that were used were developed out of a
Western psychological tradition, they may be less applicable to non-Western
groups (e.g., see Chao's 1994 discussion of why authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles are not appropriate descriptors of Chinese parenting).
Alternatively, or in addition to measurement and construct inadequacies,
these beliefs do not stand in isolation. The conglomeration of parents' beliefs
and behaviors that may work to facilitate children's school achievement in
any particular group may be influenced by that group's social context. For
example, Ogbu (1986, 1992) has argued that oppression by the majority
group forces some minority groups to seek success and rewards outside the
mainstream society. Others (e.g., Mickelson, 1990) have found that minority
students' perceptions of prejudicial treatmentwere negatively related to their
school achievement. Our point is that parents' beliefs and behaviors are
related in nontrivial ways to their children's school performance but that the
relations between specific types of beliefs and children's grades may differ
from one group to the next.
Although we cannot draw conclusions about the direction of the
relationships obtained in these data, the fact that differences in parent beliefs
across ethnic groups were obtained when children's grades and parents'
perceptions of children's abilities were statistically controlled suggests that
there may be group differences in beliefs that exist apart from parents'
responses to children's previous school achievement. Pragmatically, there
may be very little that school districts can do to change the socioeconomic
characteristics of children who are having difficulty in their school work.
Identification of parental beliefs and self-reported behaviors that are associated with school achievement furthers our understanding of the processes
that may affect children's achievement. Moreover, the fact that parental
beliefs and behaviors account for variance in school performance after
parental education and family income have been considered is consistent
with the hypothesis that parental beliefs and behaviors may play a unique
role in how children do in school.
Differences in the relations between beliefs and school achievement
141

Okagaki and Frensch
acrossgroupssuggestthat,as educators,we cannotassumethatwhatworks

for one groupof familieswill necessarilywork for anothergroup.The social
and economic context along with the global constellationof beliefs parents
hold regardingmultiple aspects of life (e.g., the importanceof family,
principlesof child development,education,perspectiveof work, and their
general world view) may make interventionstrategiesthat work in some
familycontextsineffectivein otherfamilycontexts.Tellingparentsthatthey
need to have higher expectationsof their childrenmay not change their
expectations if their expectations are tied to their perceptions of their
children's ability to handle school work. Considerationof the greater
constellationof parents'beliefs, theirgoals for their children,and the type
of help they can offertheirchildrenis necessaryfor helpingparentsfacilitate
their children'sschool experiences.
Finally,if parentalbeliefsandbehaviorsarecausallyrelatedto children's
school achievement,then one mediatingvariableis likely to be children's
perceptionsof parents'beliefs and the expectationsthat theirparentshave
of them. Okagaki, Frensch, and Dodson (1996) reported that MexicanAmericanparents'beliefs about racial barriersto their children'ssuccess
were relatedto children'sperceptionsof barriers.In turn,children'sperceptions of barrierswere relatedto theirattitudestowardschool. Consequently,
besides the need to examine specific parentingbeliefs and behaviorsthat
and Latino
may be more consistentwith the ways in which Asian-American
parentsview parentingand child development,a greaterunderstandingof
children'sperceptionsof theirparents'beliefs, expectations,and behaviors
is needed.
Notes
The research reported in this article was supported by a 3-year grant from The
Spencer Foundation and by a 1-year grant from the Kinley Trust.The views expressed
are solely the responsibilityof the authors.We would like to thankthe parentsand school
staffwho participatedin this research.We also express our appreciationto BettyJackson,
Bessie Windecker-Nelson,Teresa Mok, and Pilar Gonzalez-Doupe for their help with
collection and coding of data, and to KarenDiamond for insightfulcomments on earlier
drafts.
'When referringto other research, we have adopted the terms the authors used to
identify different ethnic or culturalgroups.
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Parenting and Children's School Achievement: A Multiethnic Perspective

Author(s): Lynn Okagaki and Peter A. Frensch

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