Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 5-2013 Race and Ethnic Differences in Parent Time Spent on Children's Education Zurishaddai A Garcia Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the Education Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, and the Family, Life Course, and Society Commons Recommended Citation Garcia, Zurishaddai A., "Race and Ethnic Differences in Parent Time Spent on Children's Education" (2013) All Graduate Theses and Dissertations 1535 https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1535 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU For more information, please contact digitalcommons@usu.edu RACE AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN PARENT TIME SPENT ON CHILDREN'S EDUCATION by Zurishaddai A Garcia A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Family, Consumer, and Human Development Approved: Jeffrey P Dew, Ph.D Major Professor Kathleen W Piercy, Ph.D Committee Member E Helen Berry, Ph.D Committee Member Mark R McLellan, Ph.D Vice President for Research and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2013 ii Copyright © Zurishaddai A Garcia 2013 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Race and Ethnic Differences in Parent Time Spent on Children's Education by Zurishaddai A Garcia, Master of Science Utah State University, 2013 Major Professor: Dr Jeffrey P Dew Department: Family, Consumer, and Human Development Academic achievement disparities exist across race and ethnic groups Parents may be a good resource to their children for their educational success Parental academic involvement is associated with student academic achievement across race and ethnicity This study explored the relationship between race and ethnicity and parent time-use on children’s education In addition to studying parental academic involvement across race and ethnic groups, the Latino American ethnic group was examined Heterogeneity exists within race and ethnic groups Understanding differences in parental academic involvement within the Latino American ethnic group is a step toward addressing education disparities across race and ethnic groups The last aim of the study was to see if structural differences within families were associated with group differences The sample was obtained from the 2010 American Time Use Survey and included parents with household children younger than 18 years Logistic regression results iv indicated that race and ethnicity was associated with time spent on children’s education However, when the structural variables were accounted for, the race and ethnic differences became statistically nonsignificant Many of the structural variables were associated with parent time spent on children’s education Parent demographics and other structural variables may make it more or less likely that parents spend time on their children’s education Study findings also showed that for the Latino American subgroup, one group, Central/South Americans, look more likely to spend time on children’s education Puerto Rican parents were statistically significantly more likely to spend time on their children’s education for one model tested, but not the other Controlling for structural variables did not remove the association in the Central/South American group The results for the Latino American ethnic group analyses differed slightly from the race and ethnic group analyses The results suggest that there are differences across groups regardless of parent demographics and family structure The findings also suggest that teachers and school administrators may improve parental academic involvement by targeting programs to fathers and full-time employed Latino American families (73 pages) v PUBLIC ABSTRACT Race and Ethnic Differences in Parent Time Spent on Children's Education by Zurishaddai A Garcia, Master of Science Utah State University, 2013 Major Professor: Dr Jeffrey P Dew Department: Family, Consumer, and Human Development Academic success including high school completion is greatly important for today’s youth Greater opportunities, such as college and work acceptance, are available to youth who graduate high school For this reason, the differences that exist in high school completion rate across race and ethnicity as a nation are a major concern Research shows an association between parents being involved in their children’s education and students’ improved academic achievement Parents can play a role in their children’s education and setting aside time to so is a good place to start The present study used the American Time Use Survey to study the time that parents spend on children’s education within a 24-hour period across race and ethnicity A second goal of this study recognized research suggesting differences may exist in the subgroups of one race and ethnic group In order to more fully understand the time that parents spend on children’s education across race and ethnicity, this study focused in on the Latino American ethnic group vi Initial statistical analyses found differences in time spent on children’s education across race and ethnicity However, a major component of this study was the inclusion of family structure and parent demographic variables These included, parent age and gender, household income, the number of children in the home, and other variables When family structure and parent demographic variables were included, the analyses did not find differences in time spent on children’s education The study results were different for the Latino American ethnic group One group, Central and South Americans, had a higher likelihood of spending time on their children’s education This continued after the family structure and parent demographic variables were included in the analyses Overall, this study shows that parents are not likely to be different across race and ethnicity in the time they spend on children’s education Teachers and school administrators may use this information when seeking to improve parental academic involvement at school Focusing on one race and ethnic group and viewing them as less involved may not be the best approach This study found a few family structure and parent demographic indicators that may prove more efficient Parents who could use guidance from schools to become more academically involved are fathers, employed parents, and parents who did not graduate from high school The findings from the Latino American ethnic group presented the Central and South Americans as being more likely to spend time on their children’s education Researchers, policymakers, teachers, and administrators can use this finding to see that differences exist among subgroups usually termed as being one umbrella ethnic category vii Future research seeking to learn about parental academic involvement in Latino American families may benefit from focusing on individual subgroups viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge the support I received while completing this study I am particularly thankful to Dr Jeffery P Dew for his guidance, encouragement, patience, and statistical knowledge Special thanks to Dr Kathleen W Piercy for encouraging me to join the graduate program and for her excellent feedback It was an honor to work with Dr E Helen Berry and I was grateful for her unique perspective I would also like to thank Dr Linda Skogrand, who was there before I even knew where I was going, for her encouragement and support Finally I would like to thank my husband, Saul, and our children for their support, patience, and love Zurishaddai A Garcia ix DEDICATION To my loving husband and children 47 Lastly, the subgroup designated for all other Latino Americans became statistically significant Central and South Americans had higher odds of spending both any amount of time on children’s education as well as at least 20 minutes Because the literature on Americans with Central and South American origins and parental academic involvement is scant, this finding is an addition to the literature Much of the literature that exists on the Latino American ethnic group speaks of Latinos as a whole I defined Central American parents to be those originating from the countries of Central America excluding Mexico, which had its own group Combining South Americans with Central Americans meant bringing 16 countries into one group Something about the parents in that combination means higher odds of being academically involved Future research is needed to understand this finding Understanding the macrosystem or culture of Central and South American parents may be of some help The literature could also benefit from future research into the Other Latino Americans subgroup When the subgroups were analyzed alone, this group was not significantly different However, adding the structural variables to the model resulted in an association between the Other Latino American subgroup and parent time spent on children’s education when time was measured as any amount of time The variation accounted for by the structural variables seemed to bring forth higher odds of spending any amount of time in the Other Latino American subgroup This was a rare finding; typically an analysis that results as nonsignificant does not result as significant when structural variables are added The Other Latino American 48 subgroup may have become significant due to sample size This group had a small sample size It also had a larger percentage of parents that were female than male Female parents were more likely to spend time on children’s education This imbalance and the small sample may be the cause of this rare finding The findings for the Latino American ethnic group proved to be slightly different than expected Little variation was accounted for from the variables which represented the microsystem and the exosystem It may be that family structure does not influence parental academic involvement for Latino Americans as much as other race and ethnicities This study provides evidence for the importance of studying individual race and ethnic groups When I studied Latino American subgroups alone without any other race and ethnic groups, differences were found Structural variables did not completely take away these differences Knowing what specific subgroups are doing to be involved in their children’s education may help teachers and school administrators Future studies may benefit from including subgroup differences found within specific race and ethnic groups in their research Weekday diary days were significantly associated with parent time spent on children’s education Parents who reported their activities during a weekday had higher odds of spending time on their children’s education than parents whose diary day was during the weekend This was true for all measures of time and models analyzed There are a variety of explanations for this finding School takes place during the weekday and students often have homework to complete on school nights When parents 49 volunteer at school they usually so during a weekday Teachers tend to be available during weekdays and not during weekends Parent-teacher meetings are more likely to take place during weekdays Lastly, weekends may be seen as leisure days for children and parents and education conversation topics may not be common This study adds to the parental academic involvement literature although it is not without limitations Some of the limitations of the study include the final sample, generalizability, and interpretation of results The final sample used was limited to parents with children living within the household Some parents have children living outside of the household The time that these parents spend on their children’s education along with possible barriers were not included in this study The present study’s focus was on the parent’s environment and the time they spent on household children’s education The ATUS over-sampled for Latino Americans and African Americans as well as households with children I was unable to use post-stratification weights to account for this Caution should be used when seeking to generalize the findings The nature of the analyses does not imply causation The analyses provided the probability that the time would be spent as measured (e.g., spending at least 20 minutes on children’s education, spending any amount of time on children’s education) and whether that probability was different across race and ethnic groups and Latino American subgroups The results of this study should be carefully interpreted Conclusion Despite limitations, the present study has added to the present literature High 50 school completion disparities are real The literature shows that parental academic involvement is associated with student academic success Parents are a valuable resource to their children and spending time on their education is like an investment for their future The present study sought to understand where parents stand in the time they dedicate to their children’s education across race and ethnic groups, and more specifically, within the Latino American ethnic group Teacher and school administrator efforts towards improving student success may benefit from parental academic involvement Overall, parents were not much different in the time they spent on children’s education across race and ethnicity Race and ethnicity was not associated with higher or lower involvement Targeting one race and ethnicity over another may not be the best approach to improving parental academic involvement Parental academic involvement was associated with a number of structural variables that may be more accurate indicators of involvement level The present study points at a few areas that teachers and administrators can focus on when seeking to help parents become more involved in their children’s education Parents who could use guidance from schools to become more academically involved are fathers, employed parents, and parents who did not graduate from high school Providing these parents with educational resources and ideas to become involved in their children’s education may be a good first step to improving parental academic involvement Findings from the Latino American ethnic group analyses also add to the literature One subgroup, Central and South Americans were more likely to spend time on children’s education Heterogeneity exists within the Latino American ethnic group 51 Future studies seeking to learn about parental academic involvement in Latino American families may benefit from focusing on individual subgroups 52 REFERENCES Anderson, K J., & Minke, K M (2007) Parent involvement in education: 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