A qualitative study was conducted investigating the perceptions of seven parents of high functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) regarding incidents of bullying in which the child was involved. Results of the study indicated that all of the children had been bullied at one time or another, and that the majority had difficulty in demonstrating appropriate social skills. The parents viewed supportive peers to be a positive factor, fostering the children's satisfactory social adjustment. Parent interventions for their child included social skills instruction and empathy training. Research implications for educators included the need to establish systemic organized school-wide support to benefit all students. Findings substantiated previous literature in regard to the importance of positive social skills, social support, and parent support for promoting children's resiliency and social growth when faced with bullying. In the current study results were reflective of proactive parents' involvement as advocates for their child. A high level of parental involvement paired with supportive school personnel created an ideal partnership between home and school in developing and implementing both proactive strategies and interventions that supported adolescents with ASD.

A review of research on family economic distress and its association with teen well-being shows a clear need to expand our knowledge about the connections between economic distress and key teen outcomes. Economic distress can act as an unexpected negative shock to the family system and can influence parent relationship quality, functioning, and involvement in children's lives. In turn, changes in systemic quality, functioning, and involvement can impact adolescents positively or negatively. Using observational coding and questionnaire self-report, this study examined the relationship between economic distress and negative marital interaction and the impact this has on parental involvement as a predictor of child school engagement while controlling for gender of the child. A structural equation model analysis was fit to data from 323 two-parent families. The average age of children for the study was 14.31 years of age. Results showed that economic distress is associated with marital relationship interactions, as well as parental involvement, which also impacts school engagement. Therapists should be mindful of and address current economic distress which their clients are experiencing and be aware of the possible associations with all parts of the family system. Possible interventions in the parent-couple system and increasing both mother and father involvement are suggested.

Using both observational and questionnaire self-report data, this study examined preadolescent self-regulation as a potential mediator of the relationship between parental involvement, parent-child warmth and school engagement in a two wave panel design. Data was taken from two parent families in waves two and three of the Flourishing Families project which included 335 families with children between the ages of 12 and 14. Findings showed that parental, especially paternal involvement, was directly correlated to child's school engagement. Parental involvement and parent-child warmth were also shown to have an indirect effect on school engagement via child's self-regulation. Educators and therapists should be mindful of the parent-child relationship when dealing with students struggling in the academic setting.

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Parents have been involved in the education of their children since the early days of our nation. Their roles have evolved from teaching the basics of reading writing and arithmetic in Colonial times to overseeing the selection of teachers and designing the curriculum during the early 1800s to providing academic support in the home up through the present time. Although educators are generally viewed as professionals and in charge of their students' education, the importance of parental involvement is readily acknowledged. Confusing to both parents and educators is what constitutes parental involvement. The research revealed numerous definitions for the term, but none that were universally agreed upon. This lack of a clear delineation of roles has both parties struggling to make sense of their separate and joint responsibilities. Add to this confusion the complex issues surrounding linguistic and cultural diversity and both sides become mired in their differences rather than building upon their commonalities. Barriers to parental involvement can come from the family as well as the school. The purpose of this study was to examine those barriers from the perspective of educators as well as parents. A convenience sample was taken from the population of elementary schools in a Central Florida county. Parents of students from ethnic minorities were asked to complete a survey questionnaire regarding their experiences with the classroom teacher as well as involvement in their child's education. Elementary school teachers from the same county were given the opportunity to respond to an online survey questionnaire regarding their attitudes about cultural and language diversity and parental engagement at school and with learning. Five hundred and fifty parent surveys and one hundred sixty-six teacher surveys were completed. The data analysis will show which factors influence parent involvement and how similarly parents and teachers feel about parent involvement.

The construction of parental involvement as it was introduced into American schools over 90 years ago marginalizes Latina/o students and families. While research exists on the positive impact of Latina/o parental involvement as well as cultural parenting practices unique to Latina/o culture that foster academic success, much remains to be learned. What teachers and administrators in K-12 and higher education settings have not yet widely considered are how Latina/o students bring with them six forms of cultural capital transmitted to them via their parents to persist in hostile environments such as predominantly White institutions (PWIs). This qualitative study addresses what can be done to accommodate and support a growing Latina/o population by amplifying student narratives on how, and under what circumstances they employ each of the six forms of capital. The findings reflect my research with 37 Latina/o college students at different types of higher education institutions (a selective all-women’s college, a large co-educational University, and a community college) to examine how students: describe and interpret parental involvement, employ cultural messages regarding education, and how they utilize cultural capital to persist at these PWIs. This study has implications for policy and practice for teachers and administrators in K-12 and higher education settings. It challenges these institutions to adopt asset-based approaches that propose to work with whole Latina/o families to support the whole Latina/o student. Findings from this study also provide recommendations for how Latina/o students can take active roles in advocating for themselves in higher education.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two sets of variables with the first including parental involvement, literacy skills, and socio-economic status and the second including graduation rates, incarceration rates and psychiatric hospitalization rates. The study methodology included three separate multiple regression analyses. Data were collected from archival sources through the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE), Mississippi Department of Mental Health, and the Mississippi Department of Human Services Youth Divisions. The results of this study indicated that socio-economic status has a statistically significant relationship with high school graduation rates and youth psychiatric hospitalization rates in the State of Mississippi.

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