The Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Elementary Students’ Academic Achievement in China: One-Only Children vs. Children with Siblings

One-only children have long been a research concern and previous studies have consistently found that one-only children posed academic advantages. However, we know very little about why one-only children scored higher in school examinations than their peers with siblings. Parental involvement might be the reason underlies this difference. This study compares the relationship between parental involvement and students’ academic achievement in families with only one child and families with more than one child in China. The results indicate that parents with only one child are more involved in their children’s learning compared with their counterparts with more than one child. The findings also suggest that parent-child communication and parent-child activities can positively predict one-only children’s academic performance, whereas parent-school contact negatively predicts non-only children’s academic performance. These findings highlight the complexity and importance of parental involvement in academic achievement and presents implications for future practice.