The relationship between parenting style, self-regulated learning and academic achievement in selected primary schools in Ethiopia

Abstract

The main research question was What are the relationships between parenting style, self-regulated learning (SRL) and the academic achievement of selected (upper) primary school students in Ethiopia? The following specific research questions were formulated: • What are the views of the students on the parenting styles, and on parental acceptance and control, the cognitive strategies they use, and their self-regulated learning? • What is the relationship between parenting style and SRL? • What is the relationship between parenting style and academic achievement? • What is the relationship between SRL and academic achievement? • Does SRL moderate the relationship between parenting style and academic achievement? In this study a correlational design was used, but it was also exploratory and descriptive. Data were collected by means of a self-report questionnaire, while the academic achievements of the students were derived from official records. The questionnaire was completed by 477 randomly selected students from two classes in each of five schools in Hawasa, Ethiopia. The analysis of the data was done by means of descriptive, correlation, and ANOVA tests. The major findings included the following: Most of the children experienced acceptance by their parents, in particular from their female parents/guardians. The best levels of acceptance were, for example, “When I get a poor grade at school, my parents encourage me to try harder”, or “I can count on my parents to help me if I have some kind of a problem”, and “My parents keep pushing me to do my best in whatever I do”. However, it was found that the parents seldom spent time merely talking to their children. The female parents/guardians seemed to control their children more than the male parents/guardians, and were more involved with their children. The children, though, also believed that their parents/guardians did not really know how they spent their leisure time. More often the children perceived their parents as being neglectful. Regarding their cognitive strategies, the students particularly made use of memorization. The cognitive strategies of the children whose parents were authoritative were significantly better than those of the other children. When a student’s self-regulation increased, his/her cognitive strategies also increased, and when the cognitive strategies improved, so did the average achievement. The parents’ parenting styles were also significantly related to their children’s achievement, and were moderated by cognitive strategies as co-variants.