Parents’ Motivations for Involvement in Children’s Education: An Empirical Test of a Theoretical Model of Parental Involvement Christa L. Green Vanderbilt University Joan M. T. Walker Long Island University Kathleen V. Hoover-Dempsey and Howard M. Sandler Vanderbilt University This study examined the ability of a theoretical model to predict types and levels of parental involvement during the elementary and middle school years. Predictor variables included parents’ motivational beliefs about involvement, perceptions of invitations to involvement from others, and perceived life context variables. Analyses of responses from 853 parents of 1st- through 6th-grade students enrolled in an ethnically diverse metropolitan public school system in the mid-southern United States revealed that model constructs predicted significant portions of variance in parents’ home- and school-based involve- ment even when controlling for family socioeconomic status. The predictive power of specific model constructs differed for elementary and middle school parents. Results are discussed in terms of research on parental involvement and school practice. Keywords: parental involvement, parents’ motivation for involvement, age-related differences Parental involvement has long been believed to be associated with a range of enhanced school outcomes for elementary, middle, and high school students, including varied indicators of achieve- ment and the development of student attributes that support achievement, such as self-efficacy for learning, perceptions of personal control over school outcomes, and self-regulatory skills and knowledge (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996; Brody, Flor, & Gibson, 1999; Epstein & Van Voorhis, 2001; Fan & Chen, 2001; Frome & Eccles, 1998; Grolnick, Kurowski, Dunlap, & Hevey, 2000; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Hill & Craft, 2003; Jeynes, 2003; Xu & Corno, 2003). Although parental involvement is an important contributor to children’s positive school outcomes, much less is known about the factors that motivate parents’ involvement practices. A model by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995, 1997, 2005) provides a strong theoretical framework from which to examine specific predictors of parental involvement (see Figure 1). Grounded primarily in psychological literature, the Hoover- Dempsey and Sandler model of the parental involvement process proposes three major sources of motivation for involvement (Fig- ure 1). The first is parents’ motivational beliefs relevant to in- volvement, including parental role construction and parental self- efficacy for helping the child succeed in school. The second is parents’ perceptions of invitations to involvement, including gen- eral invitations from the school (e.g., positive school climate) and specific invitations from teachers and children. The third source is personal life context variables that influence parents’ perceptions of the forms and timing of involvement that seem feasible, includ- ing parents’ skills and knowledge for involvement, and time and energy for involvement. In this article we report findings from an empirical examination of the relative contributions of model con- structs, described in more detail below, to parents’ home- and school-based involvement activities. In addition, we consider the influence of student age-related differences in the model’s ability to predict parents’ involvement. The Model Constructs Parents’ Motivational Beliefs Parental Role Construction Role activity for involvement incorporates parents’ beliefs about what they should do in relation to their children’s education (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). Parents’ beliefs about child rearing and child development and about appropriate home support roles in children’s education influence role construction. Parental role construction also grows from parents’ experiences with individuals and groups related to schooling and is subject to social influence over time (Biddle, 1986; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). Studies of diverse groups of elementary and middle school students have provided Christa L. Green, Kathleen V. Hoover-Dempsey, and Howard M. San- dler, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University; Joan M. T. Walker, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Long Island University. We gratefully acknowledge support for this work from the Institute for Education Sciences (formerly the Office of Educational Research and Innovation), U.S. Department of Education (Parental Involvement: A Path to Enhanced Achievement, 2001–2004, No. RR305T010673-02). Many thanks also to the Peabody Family-School Partnership Lab at Vanderbilt University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kathleen V. Hoover-Dempsey, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Pea- body College Box 512, 230 Appleton Place, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203. E-mail: Kathleen.V.Hoover-Dempsey@Vanderbilt.edu Journal of Educational Psychology Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association 2007, Vol. 99, No. 3, 532–544 0022-0663/07/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-0663.99.3.532 532