Author Identifier (ORCID)
Bronte Kelso-Marsh: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8498-7839
Anabela Abreu Malpique: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1683-9906
Abstract
Theoretical models and empirical evidence suggest parental involvement in general education is beneficial for children’s educational outcomes and that motivational factors may contribute to explaining parental involvement in children’s education. Few studies, however, have examined the role of parental involvement in children’s writing outcomes and, to our knowledge, none has investigated the motivations of Parents/Carers to support their children’s writing development in the first place. In this study, we aimed to address this gap by measuring Parents'/Carers' autonomous and controlled motivations for supporting their children’s writing at home and their engagement in writing activities with their children, and then assessing the links between parental motivations and involvement, and children’s writing quality and attitudes toward writing. Participants included 159 Year 2 children and their Parents/Carers. Structural equation modelling showed indirect effects between Parents'/Carers' autonomous motivation and children’s writing quality via the mediators of parental involvement and children’s attitudes towards writing. Conversely, Parents'/Carers' controlled motivation had no significant association with children’s writing outcomes. Findings suggested that, when Parents/Carers are autonomously motivated and involved in writing activities with their children at home, their children show stronger positive attitudes towards writing. Educational implications include encouraging home-school initiatives that foster autonomous motivation in Parents/Carers and support Parents/Carers in engaging in a wide range of enjoyable writing activities with their children at home, creating a community where writing is valued across home and school contexts.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2025
Volume
17
Issue
2
Publication Title
Journal of Writing Research
Publisher
University of Antwerp
School
School of Education
RAS ID
84443
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
First Page
309
Last Page
337
Comments
Kelso-Marsh, B., Malpique, A. A., Davis, H., & Valcan, D. S. (2025). Motivation matters: The positive influence of parental involvement on children’s writing outcome. Journal of Writing Research, 17(2), 309–337. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2025.17.02.05