Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The present study assessed the psychometric properties of a multidimensional measure of parents' assessments of their children's abilities, including problem-solving skills, social skills, dexterity, creativity, and learning motivation. A nationwide sample of Finnish parents (N = 432), representing two educational groups, both mothers (64%) and fathers (36%) whose mean age was 37.8 yr. (SD = 5.3), were asked to assess their children's abilities during preschool and at the end of the first and the third school year. A set of analyses of this longitudinal data indicated that the scales had adequate internal and temporal consistency, the factor structure showed invariability across time, and the scales related meaningfully to the parents' perceptions of their children's competencies in different school subjects.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Balboni

Pedrabissi

(1998) School adjustment and academic adjustment: parental expectations and socio-cultural background. Early Child Development and Care, 143, 79–93.

Fredricks

J. A.

Eccles

J. S.

(2002 Children's competence and value beliefs from childhood through adolescence: growth trajectories in two male-sex-typed domains. Developmental Psychology, 38, 519–533.

Frome

P. M.

Eccles

J. S.

(1998) Parents' influence on children's achievement-related perceptions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 435–452.

Galper

Wigfield

Seefeldt

(1997) Head Start parents' beliefs about their children's abilities, task values, and performances on different activities. Child Development, 68, 897–907.

Goodnow

Collins

(1991) Development according to parents. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Parsons

J. E.

Adler

Kaczala

(1982) Socialization of achievement beliefs and attitudes: parental influences. Child Development, 53, 310–321.

Räty

(2003) At the threshold of school—parental assessments of the competencies of their preschool-aged children. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33, 1862–1977.

Räty

Snellman

(1992) Does gender make any difference? Common-sense conceptions of intelligence. Social Behavior and Personality, 20, 23–34.

Räty

Snellman

Vainikainen

(1999) Parents' assessments of their children's abilities. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 14, 423–437.

10.

Sternberg

R. J.

(1985) Implicit theories of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 607–627.

11.

Stipek

MacIver

(1989) Developmental change in children's assessment of intellectual competence. Child Development, 60, 521–538.

12.

Stipek

Milburn

Clements

Daniels

D. H.

(1992) Parents' beliefs about appropriate education for young children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 13, 293–310.

A Measure of Parents' Assessments of Their Children's Abilities

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References