Work

The influence of parental educational involvement on learning engagement among first-year college students: the mediating effects of academic self-efficacy and professional identity

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This study examined how parental educational involvement influences learning engagement among first-year college students and tested the mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and professional identity. Using cluster sampling, survey data were collected from 803 first-year undergraduates (228 male, 575 female, with average of 18 years). Serial mediation was tested using PROCESS Model 6 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Parental educational involvement positively predicted learning engagement, and the direct effect remained significant after including the mediators ( β = 0.14, p < 0.001), indicating partial mediation. The overall regression model explained substantial variance in learning engagement ( R 2 = 0.37; F = 155.46, p < 0.001), and the total indirect effect accounted for 57.54% of the total effect. These findings suggest that parental educational involvement continues to shape students’ engagement in the first year of university, primarily through strengthening students’ competence beliefs and professional identification.

Source: Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1738085

Authors: Yufen Zhao, Yao Qin, Liang Zhang

Institutions: Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, Northeast Agricultural University

Language: English

Topic: Parental Involvement in Education

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,801