A Study on the Effects to Students’ STEM Academic Achievement with Chinese Parents’ Participative Styles in School Education

Abstract

There is currently a significant body of research confirming that parental participation in school education has a positive influence on students’ academic achievement. However, more research is needed concerning how different styles of parents’ participation and parents’ demographic characteristics influence academic achievement in STEM subjects, especially considering empirical evidence from China’s social context. This research is conducted to explore the influence of family environment and parents’ cognitive, emotional and behavioral participation in children’ school education on students’ overall STEM academic achievement. In general, in the socioeconomic environment of a family, parents’ education level has the greatest impact on the academic achievement of children, and the impact of family income is relatively weak. In the three models in which parents participate in their children’s school education, emotional participation has the greatest impact on children’ STEM academic achievement, and can compensate for the negative effects brought about by some adverse family factors.