Parental involvement in their child's alcohol prevention education unit

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine if there is a correlation between parental interactions with their involvement in their child’s alcohol education for parents of seventh grade student’s (12-13 years of age). This study focused on two areas of parent involvement: monitoring and encouragement. The research objectives of this study were designed to: 1) determine parent satisfaction with involvement in the child’s alcohol prevention unit, 2) identify parent interaction with 7th grade child by gender of child and gender of parent, 3) correlate parent satisfaction with involvement in their child’s alcohol prevent unit with parent interactions, 4) correlate parent monitoring with parent encouragement. After completing a parent-child discussion sheet (part of the alcohol prevention unit that had just been completed as component of the curriculum for the Teen Living Skills class), five 7th grade Teen Living Skills classes were then given surveys to take home for parental completion in November 2002 at P.J. Jacobs Junior High in Stevens Point, WI. The survey was designed to collect data about the parent’s demographic information, satisfaction with involvement in their child’s alcohol prevention education, and interactions with their 7th grade child. The 8 statements in section 2 were based on the parent-child discussion sheet. The researcher, using information collected in the literature review, designed the 19 statements on monitoring and encouragement interactions with 7th grade child from section 3. The collected data was sent to the University of Wisconsin-Stout Technology and Information Services to be analyzed. Frequency and percent were determined for demographic information. Means and standard deviations and T-Test were calculated. T-Tests were run on parent gender with all items and on the subscales monitoring and encouragement. T-Tests were calculated on child gender with all items and subscales monitoring and encouragement. Also a Pearson Correlation Coefficient Matrix was computed each item. The results indicated high parent satisfaction with involvement in 7th grade child’s alcohol prevention unit and with the parent-child discussion sheet. There were some differences found between how mothers and fathers interact with 7th grade children and how parents interact differently with male and female 7th grade children. A parent’s involvement in their child’s alcohol prevention education showed no correlation to parent interactions or parent satisfaction. Four other correlations were discovered. Three correlations involved parental satisfaction with involvement in child’s alcohol prevention education and the fourth correlated parental monitoring with parental encouragement. This study exemplifies the satisfaction that parents have in becoming involved in their child’s education. The researcher recommends educators work at getting parents more actively involved in their children’s education.