Adolescents’perceptions of parental involvement and parent-child relationships

International audienceIn the adolescence, the school, the family, the group of peers contribute strongly to the psychological development and to teenager’s school adjustment. Our interest here concerns to the importance for this period of the family as she supplies to the teenager with development, the opportunities and the necessary regulation to acquire a psychological autonomy and new skills. How do the young teenagers perceive the parental involvement, the support which they bring in answer to their needs of autonomy, acquisition of skills in particular in the school domain? In this study, we examine the perception of adolescents with regard to homework in the context of mobilization of French families in school matters. The research is based on the parental involvement models of Epstein (2001), Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995, 1997), Hoover-Dempsey et al. (2005). They are interested parental practices concerning school monitoring which reflect parental involvement in the adolescent’s education and refer to the roles and the support of parents in the school career of their children. 200 adolescents aged 11 to 14 years responded to the questionnaire on a voluntary basis. The scale focuses on adolescents perceptions of parental involvement in homework and lessons. Questions were adapted from the Child perceptions of parent's structuring and activities related to homework (Hoover-Dempsey, Reed, Jones, Walker & Barreno, 1999). Findings make evident the importance of exchanges and familial interactions regarding homework in the perspective of knowledge of which homework constitutes an imprin