The Relationships between Parental Involvement, Students’ Basic Psychological Needs and Students’ Engagement in Science: A Path Analysis

Year 2018, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 183 - 192, 01.07.2018

Uluhan Kurt Yasemin Taş

https://doi.org/10.21891/jeseh.436730

Cited By: 4

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate relationships between Turkish middle
school students’ perceptions of parental involvement, students’ basic
psychological needs, and their engagement in science. Parental involvement was
addressed with four dimensions: parents’ educational aspiration, parental
communication, parents’ participation, and parental autonomy support. Students’
basic psychological needs incorporated autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
Additionally, students’ engagement consisted of behavioral, cognitive,
emotional, and agentic engagement. The sample of the study included 926 sixth,
seventh, and eight grade students educated in one of the largest cities located
in eastern part of Turkey. A path analysis using LISREL 8.8 programme was
conducted to examine the hypothesized relations among variables of the study.
Analysis results showed that parent educational aspiration, parental
communication, parent participation, and parent autonomy support were
statistically significantly and positively related to basic psychological
needs. Besides, students whose basic psychological needs were met demonstrated
more behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and agentic engagement in science.

Keywords

Student engagement, Basic psychological needs, Parental involvement, Science education

References

• Kurt, U. & Tas, Y. (2018). The relationships between parental involvement, students’ basic psychological needs and students’ engagement in science. Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health (JESEH), 4(2), 183-192.