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theses

Motivation research may help explain the reasons behind home-based parental involvement’s mixed relations with achievement (Pomerantz & Eaton, 2001), given the mediating role it plays in the relationship between parent involvement and children’s educational outcomes (Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994). Children’s perceptions of parental support of their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness has implications for motivation, engagement, and learning (Grolnick, Ryan & Deci, 1991). Past research on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has focused on differentiating autonomy-supportive from controlling practices, with few examining competence and relatedness-relevant practices. Research has largely been quantitative, with qualitative studies having reduced data to ratings or frequencies while assessing parent practices during laboratory tasks. A consequence of this methodology is that the conceptualizations of supporting basic needs has remained unelaborated, decontextualized from authentic school and homework experiences, and narrowly focused on Caucasian parents in suburban districts. Moreover, previous studies have focused on autonomy support independently, with limited access to how parents use autonomy, competence and relatedness-supportive practices in combination. This study is aimed at richly describing home-based parent practices that are perceived as supportive and inhibitive of children’s basic needs, and contextualized by parents’ practice selection, quality enactment, and an urban district employing a standards-based mathematics curriculum. Seven parent-child dyads from two fourth grade classrooms in an urban city in New Jersey were observed completing mathematics homework and then interviewed about homework practices. The home environment afforded access to more natural parent-child interactions, enriched characterizations of parent’s basic needs practices, and how practices are used in combination. These analyses coalesce in three qualitative cases representing high, mixed, and low motivational support characterizing how parents employ motivational practices in combination. The highest quality parent involvement was evidenced through the complimentary support of children’s autonomy, competence and relatedness. However, autonomy inhibitive practices overshadowed supportive practices, a result illuminated by parent practice profiles. Findings indicate that children’s interpretations of a practice as unresponsive mismatched parents’ reported intent as influenced by their role construction and self-efficacy for the standards-based mathematics curriculum. Parental intentions may have import given implications for selection and enactment quality as facilitative and inhibitive of children’s needs.

ETD_5883

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Hanin S. Rashid

doi:10.7282/T3ZG6SPC

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.