Work-family conflict, educational involvement, and adolescent academic engagement during COVID-19: An investigation of developmental differences

Objective: In this research, we examine the mediating effect of educational involvement between parental work-family conflict and adolescent academic engagement during COVID-19, as well as the differences among developmental stages.Background: Online learning during the COVID-19 lockdown created challenges for adolescent academic engagement. One of the toughest challenges was that parents experienced increased work-family conflict, making it difficult for them to be involved in adolescent education. In this context, it is essential to understand the impact of parental work-family conflict on adolescent academic engagement.Method: A total of 886 dual-income families participated in the study. Mothers and fathers completed the questionnaire, including questions regarding work-family conflict and educational involvement. Adolescents completed an academic engagement scale.Results: The structural equation model in the total sample showed that parental educational involvement mediated the effect of maternal work-family conflict on adolescent academic engagement. In addition, paternal educational involvement mediated the effect of paternal work-family conflict on adolescent academic engagement. Multigroup analysis indicated the impact of work-family conflict only existed in middle and late adolescence, and mother played a more important role in late adolescence.Conclusion: The study results confirmed the mediating role of parental educational involvement between the relationship of paternal work-family conflict and adolescent academic engagement. Furthermore, this relationship may vary for families with an adolescent at different developmental stages.