Parental monitoring, the parent-child relationship and children's academic engagement in mother-headed single-parent families

This longitudinal study of 110 mother-headed single-parent families examined the influence of parental monitoring, parent-child attachment and observed parent-child relationship quality on the child's academic engagement. Special interest resided in how parent-child relationship quality moderated the relationship between parental monitoring and academic engagement. Analyses indicated that observed relationship quality and parental monitoring predicted children's academic engagement. However, this relationship was not uniform. Parental influences on academic engagement are most prominent in mother-headed families with a female child. Family income also matters. These preliminary findings have import for school-family research, policy, and practice.