Heterogeneity in the relationship between parental involvement and school outcomes: a systematic overview on current meta-analyses

A large number of studies is examining the role of parental involvement for educational outcomes of children and adolescents. In the present second-order review, we synthesize current meta-analyses and examine the heterogeneity in the relationship depending on family background characteristics (socio-economic status, migrant background, ethnic background), age, and study design characteristics. After a systematic literature search, 21 meta-analyses with a total of 1268 primary studies were evaluated. We examined moderator analyses from the meta-analyses and found larger correlations for families with a higher socio-economic status, no moderator analyses for migrant background, and almost no differences for ethnic background. Heterogeneous findings were found with regard to the age group of students and larger correlations for non-randomized studies. Future research should explicitly take the interaction with different forms of parental involvement into account when investigating heterogeneity in the relationships between parental involvement and educational outcomes. The results are discussed also against the background of educational participation.