Girl -friendly family contexts: Socialization into math and sports.

Abstract

This dissertation examined the effect of the family context in elementary school on children's motivation over time in two traditionally male dominated domains (math and sports). In this set of four studies, I tested the hypothesis that mothers and fathers positively influence their children's beliefs and participation in math and sports by being a role model, by holding high expectations, and by providing encouragement and opportunities in the home. Specifically, I examined differences in the relation between parent socialization and children's motivation by gender of the parent and gender of the child. Data for the four studies are drawn from a large longitudinal study of Child and Adolescent Development. In the first study, a series of statistical techniques (hierarchical regressions, logistic regressions, and structural equation modeling) were used to examine bi-directional longitudinal relations between mothers' and fathers' role-modeling, beliefs, and practices and children's motivation. Parents' ratings of their children's abilities and interests were strongly related to children's self and task beliefs, participation in organized sports activities, and math course-taking over time. In the second study, hierarchical linear modeling was used to chart changes in children's perceptions of competence, interest, and importance in math and sports from first to twelfth grade. Children's self and task beliefs in math and sports declined over time. Gender and parents' ratings of children's abilities helped to explain variations in children's trajectories over time. In the third study, a cumulative score was created for each family based on the number of factors in the home that positively support children's motivation. In both math and sports, the greater the number of factors the higher children's self and task perceptions and participation over time. Finally, in the last study, in-depth interviews with adolescents selected from the larger longitudinal study who were highly involved in sports and their parents were presented. The qualitative analysis indicated that parents support children's involvement by participating in athletics themselves, by holding high expectations, and by providing emotional and instrumental support. In sum, the results indicate that the early family environment can positively influence children's motivation in math and sports over time.