Parental Involvement of Mothers With Chronic Illness and Children’s Academic Achievement

• Published in: Journal of family issues Vol. 34; no. 5; pp. 583 - 606
• Main Authors: Chen, Yung-Chi, Fish, Marian C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2013; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic Aspiration; Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; At Risk Students; California; Children; Chronic Illness; Chronic illnesses; Diseases; Empowerment; Family (Sociological Unit); Family Environment; Family Relations; Florida; Grades (Scholastic); High School Students; Hypothesis Testing; Illness; Middle School Students; Middle Schools; Mothers; Ohio; Parent Attitudes; Parent Participation; Parent School Relationship; Parents; Questionnaires; Self Efficacy; Severity (of Disability); United States (Northeast); Florida; Ohio; California; demands of illness; family functioning; academic achievement; parental chronic illness; parental involvement
• ISSN: 0192-513X; 1552-5481
• DOI: 10.1177/0192513X12444081

This study examined how maternal chronic illnesses may affect children’s academic achievement through parental involvement. A total of 189 mothers diagnosed with chronic illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, chronic pain, asthma, myelodysplasic syndrome, and fibromyalgia, and with a child in middle school or high school (age 10-18 years) completed questionnaires assessing the demands of illness on family functioning, parental involvement, and the child’s academic functioning. The results suggested that the majority of children of mothers with chronic illness were able to function adequately in terms of academic achievement. However, children’s academic functioning might be at risk when family functioning was more disrupted as the result of maternal illness. Children’s grades were negatively related to levels of demands of illness on family functioning. Levels of illness demands were negatively related to parental self-efficacy. Moreover, parental self-efficacy attenuated the effects of disruption in normal family functioning on children’s academic achievement.