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The influence of parenting style on academic achievement and career path

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Academic achievement and parenting style Zahed Zahedani Z et al.

Original Article

Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism

The influence of parenting style on academic achievement and

career path

ZAHRA ZAHED ZAHEDANI1, RITA REZAEE2, ZAHRA YAZDANI3, SINA BAGHERI4*, PARISA
NABEIEI2
1
Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran; 2Education Development Center, Quality Improvement in Clinical
Education Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; 3Department of Educational Management, College of
Education Science, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran; 4Student Research Committee, Shiraz University
of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Introduction: Several factors affect the academic performance of *Corresponding author:

Abstract

college students and parenting style is one significant factor. The Sina Bagheri,
current study has been done with the purpose of investigating the Medical School,
relationship between parenting styles, academic achievement and Shiraz University of Medical
Sciences, 
career path of students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
Zand St.,
Methods: This is a correlation study carried out at Shiraz University Shiraz, Iran
of Medical Sciences. Among 1600 students, 310 students were Tel/Fax: +98 71 32345886
selected randomly as the sample. Baumrind’s Parenting Style and Email: sinabagheri70@yahoo.
Moqimi’s Career Path questionnaires were used and the obtained com
scores were correlated with the students’ transcripts. To study the Please cite this paper as:
relation between variables Pearson correlation coefficient was used. Zahed Zahedani Z, Rezaee
Results: There was a significant relationship between authoritarian R, Yazdani Z, Bagheri S,
parenting style and educational success (p=0.03). Also findings Nabeiei P. The influence of
showed a significant relationship between firm parenting style parenting style on academic
achievement and career
and Career Path of the students, authoritarian parenting style and
path. J Adv Med Educ Prof.
Career Path of the students, educational success and Career Path 2016;4(3):130-134.
of the students (p=0.001). Received: 4 October 2015
Conclusion: Parents have an important role in identifying children’s Accepted: 12 January 2016
talent and guiding them. Mutual understanding and close relationship
between parents and children are recommended. Therefore, it is
recommended that the methods of correct interaction of parents
and children be more valued and parents familiarize their children
with roles of businesses in society and the need for employment
in legitimate businesses and this important affair should be more
emphasized through mass media and family training classes.
Keywords: Parenting; Achievement; Career; Students

Introduction are very great and important. Correct and balanced

F amily is the fundamental and important

structure of the society that has an important
role in one’s life and in the society. The importance
relationship between parents and their children is
one of the factors influencing both their physical
and mental health. Research has shown that
of the family as a social structure is something interaction between children and parents and how
unmistakable. Although affected by society and parents communicate with children are considered
peers, children are more influenced by the family. to be the most important and fundamental factors
The influence of the family on the child and its roles among the various factors that affect children’s
in the creativity, cultural, social, and moral aspects fostering and healthy character (1).

130  J Adv Med Educ Prof. July 2016; Vol 4 No 3

Zahed Zahedani Z et al. Academic achievement and parenting style

The relationship of parents with children or In fact, all of us, not only earn money from our
parenting style serves multiple purposes. Moral chosen career, but also determine our social status.
and psychological training, identification, growth Therefore, we can expect that, by choosing our
and development of children’s talents, skills, profession, we determine our social status and self-
familiarizing with the rules and norms of the respect in addition to the income level. As noted,
society from the perspective of parents are among people entering the world of work and organizations
these purposes. “Parsons also consider two basic are seeking growth and progress, thus, they choose
functions for the family, i.e. socialization and the path that has been designed by the manager’s
prosperity of the child’s personality.” So it seems discretion. The task of management is to determine
that parents’ parenting styles are likely to affect career progress path, establish compatibility
children’s personality traits (2). between needs, potential abilities of the people on
Parenting styles can be defined as a set or a the one hand and, on the other hand, professional
system of behaviors that describes the parent and needs of the organization and determine career
child interactions over a wide range of situations progress path of each individual during his career.
and creates an effective interaction atmosphere Management of career path development is one of
(3). Parenting style is a determining and effective the activities of human resources that lead each
factor that plays an important role in children’s individual to ideal perfection through finding his/
psychopathology and growth (4). In the present her progress path in the working life. This fact
study, ponderable points in parenting styles, leads to job satisfaction and professional tenure
physical presence of parents at home, i.e. the time and higher effectiveness (7).
to be with the children and cultural spaces of the But, the question that comes to mind is
family are considered. that whether the educational success relates to
Educational achievement means the parents’ parenting styles. And secondly, what is
fulfillment of expected level of education, the relationship of parenting styles with students’
and an education organization approaches its career path?
predetermined goals. Educational achievement No quite similar studies on the subject of the
means increase of learning, increase of the level present study have been done so far. Therefore,
of good scores and admission of students in the this study seeks to examine the relationship
courses and educational grades (5, 6). between parents’ parenting styles and educational
Traditionally, career success is defined for those success and career path of the students of Shiraz
who receive good salaries for their jobs or have University of Medical Sciences in the academic
high positions and positions with more favorable year 2014. In this study, we intended to find out
responsibilities, motivation, adequate distinction, whether there is a relationship between parenting
and progress. The Employees and managers are styles and students’ academic achievement and
expected alike to have a commitment to the career path? The results of the previous researches
organization. It is assumed that if the employees suggest this relationship.
have appropriate jobs which they are loyal to, According to Sanaee (2008) career choice
the management offers them the rewards such as is one of the most important events in life that
promotion, fringe benefits, job security and more affects every aspect of human existence. In the
respect and even work authority. Thus, the labor theories of career choice, factors affecting career
force of the organization will feel dignity (7, 8). choice are studied and help the individual to
Offering more job and education information choose an appropriate job which leads to personal
and helping each student with self-image during satisfaction and increase of the efficiency. The
the education can give him the logical principles results of the study showed that there was a
to make a correct decision. Many people make significant relationship between self-concept and
decisions about their careers by observing the job satisfaction, as well as career self-concept and
world around and try to match themselves with it. job satisfaction (9).
This is something contrary to what should be really Mehrafza (2005) in a study examined the
done. The best career path is a process that begins relationship between parenting styles and
within (a kind of evolution of self-consciousness). creativity and academic achievement of the
Individuals have to be aware of their skills, talents, students of grade three of high school and showed
abilities, capabilities and unique features because that there was a significantly positive relationship
this self-consciousness is a cycle which leads the between the emotional atmosphere of the family,
individual towards a satisfactory job. Choosing a declining to the principles of democracy, and
profession proportionate to individual’s interests creativity. Furthermore, there was a significantly
and abilities is one of the most important stages negative relationship between the creativity
of life for all people (7). and dictatorship principles and there was no

J Adv Med Educ Prof. July 2016; Vol 4 No 3   131

Academic achievement and parenting style Zahed Zahedani Z et al.

statistically significant relationship between the stratified random sampling method was used.
emotional atmosphere of the family, declining to Library, the Internet, local and foreign papers and
absolute freedom, and creativity (10). studying the theoretical principles of the subject
Abedi et al. (2005) in a study examined the were used for access to the records. In this study,
relationship between motivations of educational the following questionnaires were used:
achievement of high school students of Isfahan ● Baumrind parenting style questionnaire
and their family characteristics. The results ● Moqimi career path questionnaire
showed that from among family factors associated The GPAs of senior students of various fields
with educational achievement, motivation, of study in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
parents’ expectations of children’s success (0.28), in the academic year 2014 were used to determine
authoritarian parenting style (0.26) and family the educational success.
structure (modern natural family) (0.16) explain To determine the face and content validities
educational achievement motivation (11). of the questionnaires, the primary questionnaires
Biabangard (2005) in a study examined the were given to 3 professors and experts and after
relationship of self-esteem and motivation with getting their opinions, the necessary changes
educational achievement among students of grade were applied on the questionnaire, thus, the
three of high school in Tehran. The researcher items of the questionnaires were modified and
found that there was a significant correlation confirmed considering professors’ opinions. A
between self-esteem, achievement motivation, test is reliable if it is given to the same group
and educational achievement, between self- of people for several times in a short time, and
esteem and achievement motivation, between the results are consistent. After analyzing the
self-esteem and educational achievement, and data from the questionnaires, their reliability
between achievement motivation and educational coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) was approved.
achievement. There was no significant difference Regarding the Parenting Styles Questionnaire:
between self-esteem, achievement motivation, for permissive style, authoritarian style, and firm
and educational achievement of both groups style, the reliability coefficients were respectively
of male and female students of the fields of the 0.72, 0.80, and 0.85, and for the Career Path
Humanities and Experimental Sciences (12). Questionnaire: α=0.82.
Kefayat (1994) conducted a study titled
“Examination of the relationship of parenting Results
styles and attitudes with creativity and its 310 students participated in the study, 194 were
relationship with intelligence, educational male and 116 were female. In fact, the majority
achievement and progressivist behaviors of of subjects were male students, i.e. 62.6%, and
students of the first grade of high school in female 37.4%. The majority of subjects were 21
Ahvaz” and concluded that there was a negative to 25 years old (46.1%), the students under 20
correlation between the various parenting styles years: (29%), those from 26 to 30 years: 18.1%
and creativity (13). and finally students over 30 years of age: 6.8%.
More than half of the subjects were studying at
Methods B.S. level (61%), 21.3% at A.S. level, and 17.7%
This is a correlation study which is done at at M.S. level or higher.
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Among The correlation matrix between the studied
1600 students, 310 students were selected variables is presented in the following table
randomly as the sample. Baumrind’s Parenting that shows the correlation coefficients between
Style and Moqimi’s Career Path questionnaires all variables (Table 1). According to the table,
were used and also to explain the relationship there is a positive and significant relationship
between the three variables, students’ transcripts between firm and reassuring parenting style
were used to determine the level of educational and educational success and career path at the
success. Regarding the study population, significance level of 0.01, while the authoritarian

Table 1: Correlation coefficients between parenting styles and educational success and career path of the students
Variable Firm style Authoritarian style Permissive style Educational success Career path
Firm style 1
Authoritarian style -0.20* 1
Permissive style 0.02 -0.56** 1
Educational success 0.62** -0.16* -0.05 1
Career path 0.68** -0.26* -0.10 0.47** 1
*Significant at p<0.05; **Significant at p<0.01

132  J Adv Med Educ Prof. July 2016; Vol 4 No 3

Zahed Zahedani Z et al. Academic achievement and parenting style

parenting style has a negative and significant style and student’s academic achievement.
relationship with educational success and career Other results indicate that the high success
path at 0.05. There is no significant relationship in education is strongly associated with
between permissive parenting style and these parenting styles. It has been found that very
two variables. successful students at school with high scores
The correlation coefficient between firm had parents with firm styles. Those students with
and reassuring parenting styles and educational authoritative parents had the least scores and it
success is 0.62 with the significance level of has an acceptable conformity with the results of
0.001, which is less than 0.05. In other words, this this study. The findings of this study also have
result shows that there is a significant relationship conformity with Mehrafza’s (10, 14).
between the parents’ firm parenting style and the Mehrafza (2005) in a study examined the
students’ educational success and this relationship relationship between parenting styles and
is positive and direct. The correlation coefficient creativity and educational achievement of the
obtained shows that the relationship between students of grade three of high school and found
these two variables is relatively high. that there was a significantly positive relationship
The results of correlation between authoritarian between the emotional atmosphere of the family,
parenting style and educational success show declining to the principles of democracy, and
that there is a significantly negative relationship creativity. Furthermore, there was a significantly
between the parents’ authoritarian parenting style negative relationship between the creativity
and the students’ educational success (p=0.03). and dictatorship principles and there was no
The results of the examination of the statistically significant relationship between the
relationship between permissive parenting style emotional atmosphere of the family, declining
and students’ educational success, show that to absolute freedom, and creativity which is in
this relationship is not statistically significant an acceptable conformity with the results of this
(p=0.36). study (10).
The results of correlation between firm The results showed that there was a
parenting and career path show that there is significantly positive relationship between
a significantly positive relationship between parents’ firm parenting style and students’ career
parents’ firm parenting style and students’ career path. This means that when the score of the firm
path. This means that when the score of the firm and reassuring parenting style increases, the
and reassuring parenting style increases, the score of career path increases, too, and vice versa.
score of career path increases, too, and vice versa. The correlation coefficients obtained shows that
Other results show that there is a significantly the relationship between these two variables is
negative relationship between parents’ authoritarian relatively high.
parenting style and students’ career path. This Other studies have also investigated the
means that the more the score of authoritarian relationship between the economic status of
parenting styles of parents, the less the students’ students’ families and their educational tendencies
score of career path will be, and vice versa. so that the students with better economic status
The result of the examination of the relationship were more willing to have university education.
between permissive parenting styles and students’ Also, the children of more educated families
career paths shows that this relationship is not were more willing to have university education
statistically significant since the significance level and related occupations. In addition, family
is 0.08 which is greater than 0.05. members have a more determining role in all of
The correlation coefficient between student’s educational-occupational aspects than
educational success and career path is 0.47 and the other groups. Other than families, students
the significance level is 0.001; therefore, the consult school authorities and their friends for
research hypothesis is confirmed and we can the educational and occupational affairs (15-17).
say that the relationship between educational
success and students’ career path is statistically Conclusion
significant. The correlation coefficient, i.e. 0.47, Children’s choice of a future career depends
also suggests moderate relationship. on many factors including the parenting styles
and their education. If the child’s mind is active
Discussion during his development about his future career
The results show that autonomy, parental through career counseling programs, in the
involvement and warmth are significant predictors secondary school the child gains the necessary
for academic achievement. Also there is a positive knowledge and information about himself,
significant relationship between firm parenting jobs and his cognitive world is organized about

J Adv Med Educ Prof. July 2016; Vol 4 No 3   133

 Academic achievement and parenting style Zahed Zahedani Z et al.

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