Does Consistency of Parental Educational Encouragement Matter for Secondary School Students?

Relationships between parental educational encouragement and adolescents' college activity are examined in a four wave longitudinal data set with both males and females. These data contain a perceived parental encouragement measure at the ninth, tenth and twelfth grades, as well as respondents' actual educational activity in the year following high school graduation. We find that: 1) consistent parental assumptions of continued education are positively associated with college attendance, 2) the degree of consistency of parental support measured at the ninth, tenth and twelfth grades differentiates between two-year and four-year college students, and 3) the twelfth grade measure of parental assumptions of continued education does not fully correspond with the ninth and tenth grade measures. The need to reevaluate the measurement of parental educational encouragement and the importance of the consistency of parental encouragement over the high school years are discussed.