Longitudinal Studies of Special Education and Regular Students: Autonomy, Parental Involvement Practices and Degree of Reciprocity in Parent-Adolescent Interactions.

Overview & Synopsis

Research suggests links between authoritative parenting style, parental involvement, autonomy, and school performance during adolescence. This study examined the nature of change over a 2-year period of parenting style, parenting involvement, and autonomy among special education students; compared these variables among regular and special education students; and attempted to assess the direction of influence of parenting style and involvement in schooling practices on regular and special education students' level of autonomy. Participants were from the first two waves of two 3-year longitudinal studies. The sample of Study 1 included 866 regular education students with an average of 14.4 years at Time 1. The Study 2 sample included 350 special education students with a mean age of 15.4 years at Time 1. Participants completed the Student Report of Autonomy, the Student Report of Parenting Style, and the Student Report of Parent Involvement twice over 2 years. Findings indicated no difference over time of parenting and autonomy measures among special education students. Special education students scored lower on autonomy than their regular education same-age peers. Special education students also reported lower parental supervision, lower parental psychological autonomy granting, and lower parental affective support. The direction of influence of parenting style on autonomy differed between regular and special education students. No significant relationship was observed between parental involvement in schooling and special education students' autonomy. On the other hand, reciprocal relationships were observed with regular education students. This study provides evidence for the importance of developing autonomy of special education students. Longitudinal data should be maintained and analyzed to clarify mutually interactive processes in parent-adolescent interactions of both regular and special education students. (Contains 34 references and 6 tables.) (Author/KB)