The Influence of Family Factors on the Academic Performance of Schoolchildren and University Students: Review of Foreign Studies

Abstract

The family is an informal institution that has a strong influence on the child and on his or her academic performance in particular. Family influence is more essential in childhood, because at a young age children depend a lot on their parents. The nature of relationships between children and parents as well as the role of family in general can change as children grow up. This is a literature review of foreign empirical studies leading to further development of a research program of the influence of family factors on the performance of schoolchildren and students in Russia. In most of the cases, the authors focus on the performance of one group - either schoolchildren or students. This paper considers the research question of whether family factors, which have proven their impact on schoolchildren academic performance, retain their impact on the performance of university students. The novelty of the review lies in its consideration of three ways in which the family impacts on student’s performance: the socio-economic status of the family, the social capital of the family, and the parental involvement in the educational process. The first two ways have been extensively studied in the research, while parental involvement is often considered as a significant factor in school performance. However, it is underestimated as factor in a university student’s performance. The review confirmed that family factors have a significant positive impact on academic performance for both schoolchildren and students. This influence depends on the nature of the relationship between parents and children and can change over time. The results are of practical interest for the researchers in the field of education and psychology, educational institutions as well as for parents. The empirical analysis of parental involvement influence on the academic performance of university students may be one of the possible research themes.