ABSTRACT
This study was conducted in an East Asian country, Singapore, where the cultural emphasis on academic success and effort is reinforced by the competitive education system. From a self-determination theory perspective, this study investigated the mediational relationships between parenting practices, achievement motivation, and student engagement. The analysis in this study was based on a large sample of Singapore Secondary 2 (grade 8) students. They first took measures on perceived parenting practices (i.e., parental expectation and parental pressure) and after about three months, they took measures on achievement motivation (i.e., external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation) and classroom and homework engagement (i.e., classroom attention, classroom disruption, homework effort, and homework distraction). We conducted structural equation modeling and found that achievement motivation partially mediated the relationship between parenting practices and student engagement. Parental expectation positively predicted classroom attention and homework effort both directly and indirectly through identified regulation and intrinsic motivation. Parental expectation negatively predicted classroom disruption and homework distraction indirectly through introjected and identified regulation, which showed positive and negative mediational effects, respectively. Parental pressure positively predicted classroom disruption and homework distraction both directly and indirectly through external and introjected regulation. The findings suggest that to promote children’s autonomous motivation and engagement in learning, parents should not coerce their children to conform to their expectations, but communicate their expectations in a way that can support children’s motivational needs.
