Parenting: Lack of Parental Involvement-

Impact on Teenagers Academic Achievement

Teakaram Singh

University of Guyana
PARENTING 1

Questions like: What am I really like?, Why cant my parents understand me?, Whats the

big deal about school? and Will anyone ever love me? sadly in the absence of parental

support, guidance and encouragement, teenagers answer many of these questions negatively.

More often than not, I would hear my peers asking and answering these very questions in like

manner, the result being devastating for the lives of the teenagers, particularly affecting their

school performance. It is on this ground that I strongly agree, that the lack of parental support

and guidance as it relates to teenagers development has (a great many) implications on students

academic performance. It is a bewildering time for them (teenagers) and confusing and rough for

parents, but if a balance is found, parents can enjoy their teenagers whilst teenagers can enjoy

their years, both finding the period a rewarding experience.

As such, it is my intent to highlight and prove the extent of parental support among teenagers, or

rather the lack thereof, and thus correlate the impact it has on students performance.

Wanat (1992, p. 47), posited that, They simply may not have the time, resources, or know-how

to help out." Often times it may be as a result of parents not feeling welcomed at school, in that,

they feel that what they may have to offer is unimportant and unappreciated. Also, parents may

not believe that they have any knowledge that the school is interested in knowing. This is

especially true when the parent may not have a great deal of education (Dixon, 1992; Vandergrift

& Greene, 1992). It is also possible that the parent does not have a great deal of interest in the

school or his child's education. In other words, the parent may not feel that education is

important (Vandergrift & Greene). Both scenarios provided above, generally leads to non-

involvement of parents in their teenagers school life and as such academic performance of their

teen will sadly be affected.

Teakaram Singh
PARENTING 2

How important is time to a teenager? More often than not, parents fail to see the considerable

importance of spending quality time, supporting and guiding their teenager, and at the same time

some seek to replace 5 minutes with their teen with $500, so to speak. They actually see this

replacement as good parenting. But, is this really so? Researchers as Cotton & Wikelund

(2005), alluded that The more intensely parents are involved, the more beneficial the

achievement effects. An opposite of such therefore, that is, a lack of parental support and

guidance will provide a negative outcome on students academic performance.

Furthermore, there are the classic instances, whereby parents are too caught up or too pre-

occupied with their lives, holding a job in particular, and so neglect to give their teenager

adequate time and more importantly, the crave for attention, that the period of adolescence

seeks. When these teenagers, experience this lack of attention, this lack of support, this lack of

guidance, what results, is that the teenager is likely to join cliques and groups of friends looking

for that craving to be satisfied. In the majority of cases however, these cliques are more of a

negative influence, and teenagers may even fall back on drugs or alcohol. To the perceptive

mind, the link between parents neglecting their teenager of well spent time for offering their

guidance and support, and the ultimate outcome of a negative impact on the teenagers academic

performance, can be most definitely, easily established.

In addition, and of significance but not easily realized, is that we are living in a different era, and

the typical tactic which parents use of parenting how they were parented before will simply not

suffice if work at all. In this scenario, it is about not giving the proper support and guidance to

the teenager which is equivalent to a lack of general parental involvement. Moreover, with

regards to how the parent was parented before, there may have been failures somewhere along

the way, so if that child who is now a parent, is to go and parent their teenager in accordance to

Teakaram Singh
PARENTING 3

how they were parented, what will be the end result? Obviously an indirect but negative impact

on the last generation of teenagers! Additionally, highlighting the trend nowadays where the

parents are often young and inexperienced-it may have been a classic instance of them having a

child as a teenager therefore it is inevitable, with a few possible exceptions, that they will not

know how to reach out to their teenager for they did not even get to fully mature as a teenager.

Therefore, I reiterate that where ever there would be a lack of parental support and guidance

there will be a counter-positive impact on students academic performance.

While it was established that the period of adolescence is one where teenagers seek attention, it

is one also of turbulent emotions and would seem very confusing to them. Noticeable, is that,

there is a general failure of parents to provide this emotional support and guidance, and as a

result, would not the students academic or school performance be affected? Considerable to

mention too, are the instances whereby parents do not know how to deal with their teenager,

leading to probably, an angry teen, or a lonely teen, or one with so many mixed up emotions, and

for such teens, their academic performance is likely to be affected since the focus and needed

emotional support is not present.

Ultimately, in an effort to better expound on this line of argument, but by way of or through a

different perspective, the following highlights the benefits of good parenting where decades of

research show that when parents are involved students have: higher grades, test scores, and

graduation rates, better school attendance, increased motivation, better self-esteem, lower rates

of suspension, decreased use of drugs and alcohol, and fewer instances of violent behavior! (A. J.

Houtenville and K. S. Conway; 2005). In short, these researchers found that parental

involvement has a strong, positive effect on student achievement. Inevitably therefore, wouldnt

a lack of parental involvement implicate students academic performance?

Teakaram Singh
PARENTING 4

In conclusion, one of the greatest gift any parent can bestow upon their child is spending quality

time and providing the necessary guidance and support, especially throughout their turbulent

teenage years. However, it was substantiated that there is an inadequate provision of this much

needed support and guidance from parents, in todays society. With that being said, the results,

after this general lack of parental involvement, are negative impacts in the lives of the students,

particularly implicating their school performance. Wouldnt you agree?

Teakaram Singh
PARENTING 5

References

Dixon, A. (1992, April). Parents: Full partners in the decision-making process. NASSP

Bulletin, 76(543), 15-18

LaBahn, J. (1995). Education and parental involvement in secondary schools: Problems,

solutions, and effects. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta

State University. Retrieved Sunday April 13, 2014.

http://www.edpsycinteractive/files/parinvol.html

University of New Hampshire. "Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts Student

Achievement." ScienceDaily, 28 May 2008.

Vandergrift, J., & Greene, A. (1992, September). Rethinking parent involvement.

Educational Leadership, 50(1), 57-59.

Wanat, C. (1992, April). Meeting the needs of single-parent children: School and parent

views differ. NASSP Bulletin, 76(543), 43-48.

Journal Reference:

Andrew J. Houtenville and Karen Smith Conway. Parental Effort, School Resources, and

Student Achievement. J. Human Resources, XLIII(2): 437-453

Teakaram Singh