Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to
Explain Parental Involvement of Immigrant and Refugee Populations in Head Start
Dissertation
Manuscript
Submitted
to Northcentral University
School
of Education
in
Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements
for the Degree of
DOCTOR
OF PHILOSOPHY
by
ANTHONY
TRAN
San
Diego, California
March
2019
Application
of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain Parental Involvement of Immigrant
and Refugee Populations in Head Start
By
Anthony
Tran
Approved by:
________________________________________ _____________
Chair: Leslie Curda, Ph.D. Date
Member: Ph.D.
Member: Ph.D.
Certified by:
______________________________________ ________________
School Dean: Ph.D. Date
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative,
correlational study was to assess the key variables of the theory of planned
behavior (TPB) as possible determinants of parental intentions for school
involvement behavior specially for immigrant and refugee parents with children
enrolled in Early Head Start and Head Start programs, and ascertain whether
they are significantly correlated to and can predict reported intentions of
parent involvement in their children’s school. Little is known about the theory
of planned behavior’s ability to explain variance in the intentions of parental
involvement toward children’s education. The variables in the TPB that
contribute to parental intentions have not been thoroughly examined in the
context of the target population. A sample of 122 parents completed a written
questionnaire in four languages. The reported attitudes and beliefs, subjective
norms, behavioral control perceptions or intentions were significantly
correlated with one another and contributed to the prediction of parental
involvement by immigrant/refugee parents. The null hypothesis was rejected. The findings are particularly encouraging in that parents reported
moderately high parental intentions, which will likely have a positive effect
on their children’s education. Additionally, there is room for teachers and
center directors to implement strategies that may lead parents to increase
their level of involvement in a program. Future
research should focus on: (1) further examination of demographic
characteristics, (2) expanding the diversity and size of the sample for
additional generalizability, (3) comparing immigrant and non-immigrant families
regarding parents’ educational involvement practices in Head Start programs, and
(4) improved measurements given the Parent Involvement Project (PIP) and its
data collection protocol were not designed specifically with the TPB based
model.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the
members of my committee. I express the deepest gratitude to Dr. Leslie Curda,
my dissertation chair for guiding, motivating, and being very patient
throughout this dissertation process and my appreciation to the Subject Matter
Expert, Dr. Cary Gillenwater; the academic reader, Dr. Joanna Vance; and the advisor,
Ms. Beth Lynch for their commitment to my success.
I also thank to Ms. Yolanda Perez,
the Head Start Executive Director, and Dr. Patsy Brown, the Director of Early
Childhood Education and Program Operations in Head Start programs, and the 12
Early Head Start and Head Start’s center directors who helped me do research by
supporting in collecting the data for this study was invaluable. To Ms.
Hortensia Murillo, Ms. Betty Smith, Ms. Valerie York, Ms. Melissa Miller, Ms.
Leslie Stopani, Ms. Danielle Angeletta, Ms. Adonica Goettsch, Ms. Sherlyn
Banas, Ms. Danielle Angeletta, Ms. Clarise Fernandez, Ms. Gloria Sanchez, Ms.
Deborah Durham, and Ms. Tina Cruz. I express my gratitude to them for all their
support and commitment to this project.
Finally, to my niece, Thao Pham, for
continuous support and patience over the years and for being my profreader. I
truly appreciated her help from the first day to the end of the study. She has
been a great supporter.
Table
of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction.................................................................................................. 1
Statement of the Problem......................................................................................... 3
Purpose of the Study................................................................................................ 4
Research Questions.................................................................................................. 6
Hypotheses............................................................................................................... 7
Theoretical Framework Overview........................................................................... 7
Nature of the Study ............................................................................................... 11
Significance of the Study ...................................................................................... 14
Definition of Key Terms........................................................................................ 16
Summary................................................................................................................ 18
Chapter 2: Review of the Literature............................................................................. 20
The Theory of Planned Behavior........................................................................... 21
Parent Involvement and Family
Engagement........................................................ 29
Immigrant and Refugee Family
Demographic Characteristics ............................. 34
The Importance of Parental
Involvement.............................................................. 46
Barriers to Parental Involvement .......................................................................... 55
Facilitators of Parental Involvement...................................................................... 62
Summary................................................................................................................ 64
Chapter 3: Research Method........................................................................................ 66
Research Design..................................................................................................... 69
Population Sample................................................................................................. 71
Materials/Instrumentation...................................................................................... 72
Operational Definitions of Variables..................................................................... 78
Study Procedures................................................................................................... 79
Data Collection and Analysis................................................................................. 81
Assumptions........................................................................................................... 85
Limitations............................................................................................................. 85
Delimitations.......................................................................................................... 86
Ethical Assurances................................................................................................. 87
Summary................................................................................................................ 88
Chapter 4: Findings...................................................................................................... 90
Reliability and Validity of the
Data....................................................................... 91
Results.................................................................................................................. 103
Chapter
5: Implications, Recommendations, and Conclusions112
Implications.......................................................................................................... 115
Recommendations for Application...................................................................... 120
Recommendations for Future Research............................................................... 123
Conclusions.......................................................................................................... 125
References.................................................................................................................. 127
Appendices................................................................................................................. 137
Appendix A. Parent
Survey (English)....................................................................... 138
Parent
Survey (Arabic) …...……………………………………………………145
Parent
Survey (Spanish)……………………………………………………......152
Parent
Survey (Vietnamese)……………………………………………………159
Appendix B. Informed
Consent Form (English)……………………………………….169
Informed Consent Form (Arabic)………………………………………………173
Informed
Consent Form (Spanish)……………………………………………..176
Informed
Consent Form (Vietnamese)…………………………………………180
Appendix C. Parent
Demographic Data .................................................................... 184
Appendix D. Cover
Letter (English)……………………………………………………185
Cover Letter (Arabic)…………………………………………………………...187
Cover
Letter (Spanish)………………………………………………………….188
Cover
Letter (Vietnamese)……………………………………………………...191
Appendix E. Head
Start Executive Director/Center Directors' Consent Letters....... 193
Appendix F.
Pre-Notice of Parent Survey (English)................................................. 196
Pre-Notice of Parent Survey
(Arabic)…………………………………………..198
Pre-Notice
of Parent Survey (Spanish)…………………………………………199
Pre-Notice
of Parent Survey (Vietnamese)……………………………………..201
Appendix G. Recruitment Letters
(English)……..……………………………………..203
Recruitment Letter
(Arabic)…………………………………………………….205
Recruitment
Letter (Spanish)……………...……………………………………206
Recruitment
Letter (Vietnamese)………………...……………………………..208
Appendix H. Permission
of Using the Parent Involvement Project (PIP) Letter...... 210
Appendix I. The
Evidence of Permission was Granted to Use the Instrument......... 211
Appendix J. Table
Head Start and Early Head Start Enrollment, 2015..................... 212
Appendix K. Table
Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables................................. 213
Appendix L. Q-Q
Plots.............................................................................................. 223
List
of Tables
Table
1 PIP Subscale Reliabilities…................................................................................92
Table
2 The Shapiro-Wilk Test of Normality....................................................................93
Table
3 Descriptive Statistics............................................................................................93
Table
4 Model Summary....................................................................................................97
Table
5 Checking for Multicollinearity...........................................................................103
Table
6 Demographic Characteristics............................................................................104
Table
7 Descriptive Statistics of Predictors and Dependent Variables..........................106
Table
8 Correlation Coefficients.....................................................................................107
Table
9 Results of the Multiple Regression.....................................................................109
List
of Figures
Figure
1. Parental Intentions: Normality of
Residual......................................................95
Figure 2. Parental Intentions: PP
Plot of Residuals........................................................95
Figure 3. Boxplots of AB, SN, PBC,
and PI......................................................................96
Figure 4. Scatterplot for
Combinations of Variable Models............................................98
Figure 5. Partial Regression AB
Model............................................................................99
Figure 6. Partial Regression SN
Model...........................................................................100
Figure 7. Partial Regression PBC
Model........................................................................101
Figure 8. Testing for
Homoscedasticity...........................................................................102
Chapter 1: Introduction
The Head Start and Early Head Start
programs were designed for students to become ready upon enrolling in school
(DeLoatche, Bradley-Klug, Ogg, Kromrey, & Sundman-Wheat, 2015; Dove,
Neuharth-Pritchett, Wright, & Wallinga, 2015). However, while these
programs showed generally positive results (DeLoatche et al., 2015), without
parental involvement, these students were less ready to enter schooling at their
elementary school age (Dove et al., 2015; Manz et al., 2014). Parental
involvement is an important factor in helping to create successful early
childhood education experiences (Garbacz et al., 2016; McCormick, Cappella,
O'Connor, & McClowry, 2013; Smith, 2014). If parents are involved in their
children’s preschool, then it bodes well for future involvement, academic
success, and other positive outcomes for their children (Demircan & Erden,
2015). Nevertheless, immigrant and refugee families are of a particular concern
in Head Start and Early Head Start programs because getting these parents
involved is a challenge for many reasons (Cheatham & Ostrosky, 2013;
Demircan & Erden, 2015). Barriers to parental involvement included parents’
pre-concieved beliefs about involvement, their current life circumstances, and
their cultural beliefs (Manz, Gernhart, Bracaliello, Pressimone, &
Eisenberg, 2014). Researchers have found a significant positive impact of parental
involvement for toddlers at the beginning of early schooling (McCormick,
Cappella, O’Connor, & McClowry, 2013). However, identifying ways to
increase parental involvement with immigrant and refugee families has been
difficult (DeLoatche et al., 2015; Porumbu & Necsoi, 2013; Pratt, Lipscomb,
& Schmitt, 2015).
Attitudes and beliefs about the
roles of parental involvement in education for immigrant or refugee parents might
include that education is a teacher's responsibilities or that parents do not
make a positive difference in their children's education (Bracke & Corts,
2012; Cheatham & Ostrosky, 2013). Parental involvement in overall education
relates to the beliefs of parents and whether they should or should not be
involved in their children's education (Bracke & Corts, 2012). This
knowledge serves as a role construction and is often shaped by a parent's
personal experiences with schooling and personal perceptions (Bracke &
Corts, 2012; Manz et al., 2014). If parents believe good parenting means that
they should take an active role in their children's education, there is a
greater likelihood they will play a decisive role in their children's education
(Bracke & Corts, 2012). In the context of subjective norms about the roles
of parents in education, parents may not be involved because they lack the
examples of involvement or they come from a culture in which parents were never
expected to be involved (Bracke & Corts, 2012). These norms are a product
of whether an individual believes other meaningful people approve or disapprove
of a behavior and their motivation to comply with those people (Perry &
Langley, 2013). Parental intentions are a direct function of the attitude about
the behavior and represent an indication of a parent’s readiness to perform a
given behavior, such as how the responding parents plans on being involved
during the school year (Bracke & Corts, 2012; Kiriakidis, 2015). Finally,
parents’ perceptions of their personal level of control over their choices for
involvement and the barriers to participation that they encounter contribute to
their level of participation within the school (Ajzen, 1991). For example,
low-income parents may have restrictive jobs that limit their availability,
thereby giving an obstacle to their involvement (Bracke & Corts, 2012). Considered
holistically, researchers have suggested that parents or caregivers of
immigrant or refugee children would need to be involved in their children’s
education to promote success; however, few studies exist specifically assessing
and addressing immigrant and refugee populations who are at risk of low
parental involvement with regard to education of toddlers and preschoolers
(Manz et al., 2014).
Parental involvement in schooling
activities for toddlers and preschoolers is important to a child’s outcomes
(e.g., higher levels of proactive learning behaviors, greater receptive
vocabulary, and lower levels of conduct problems) (Bracke & Corts, 2012;
Hindman et al., 2012; Manz et al., 2014). Particularly, parents who are
immigrants or refugees, for example someone who was foreign born
(first-generation immigrant) (Krogstad, 2015; Winsler et al., 2014), often have
low involvement in their children’s education, possibly due to their attitudes
and beliefs (Demircan & Erden, 2015; Manz et al., 2014; Poureslami et al.,
2013). Use of a relevant theory may guide the design of an intervention to
improve parental participation for a particular population (Lin, 2012). The
theory of planned behavior (TPB) might be useful to examine parental behaviors,
but this theory has been applied in a limited way to early childhood education
settings (McGregor & Knoll, 2015). There was a need for research concerning
parental involvement with the Early Head Start and Head Start programs,
particularly within the immigrant and refugee communities (Hindman et al.,
2012; Manz et al., 2014).
Statement
of the Problem
The problem to be addressed in this
study was the limitation of immigrant and refugee parent involvement in Head
Start and Early Head Start to support their child’s education (Hindman et al.,
2012; Manz et al., 2014). Specifically, this study addressed a lack of
knowledge regarding what variables were related to high and/or low parent
involvement and identification of those that might serve as barriers to or
promoters of parent involvement in this population. The lack of knowledge
mostly surrounded which, if any, variables were related to parents’ beliefs
about whether they “should” or “should not” be involved in their children’s
education were specifically among immigrant and refugee parents who might or might
not engage in parent involvement activities differently than other parents given
their different personal experiences and perceptions about schooling (Brace
& Corte, 2012). Some of the barriers for immigrant and refugee families might
be related to their pre-conceived beliefs about education (Cheatham &
Ostrosky, 2013) as well as differences due to language and culture (Cheatham
& Ostrosky, 2013). The variables as defined within the theory of planned
behavior (TPB), that contribute to parental intentions are attitudes and
beliefs, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991;
Bracke & Corts, 2012; Perry & Langley, 2013), and these have not been
thoroughly examined within this parent population. Such knowledge could
hopefully be applied to help program educators devise interventions for parents
(McGregor & Knoll, 2015) to improve their intention for involvement in
schooling. Without a further understanding of how these variables are related
to and predict parental intentions for involvement, strategies employed by
these programs to increase the parental involvement of immigrant and refugee
families might be less effective and the families might not take full advantage
of these programs (Lee & Zhou, 2014).
Purpose
of the Study
The purpose of this quantitative
descriptive, and correlational study was to assess key variables posed in TPB
as possible determinants of parental intentions for school involvement behavior
(i.e., parental attitudes and beliefs, subjective norms, and perceived
behavioral control) and ascertain whether they were significantly related to
and could predict the reported intentions of involvement of immigrant and
refugee parents in their children’s early childhood education programs. By
assessing these constructs that are pivotal to TPB, a test of this theory
within the context of immigrant and refugee families with children enrolled in
Head Start or Early Head Start can be accomplished. Using a survey instrument
to collect data, the goals were to (1) identify parental attitudes and beliefs,
subjective norms, parental intention, and perceived behavioral control
regarding parent involvement, and (2) investigate how, if at all, these
variables are correlated with and served to predict parent involvement, as TPB
would suggest, in this population. The dependent variable was the level of
intention for parental involvement, and the predictors were the determinants of
behaviors as outlined in TPB (i.e., parent attitudes and beliefs, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control) and reported by immigrant and refugee
families with children enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
The population
under study targeted the approximately 800-1000 parents/caregivers who were
foreign born, i.e., first-generation immigrants or refugees (Krogstad, 2015; Winsler et al.,
2014), living in a region of Southern California, and whose children were
enrolled in either an Early Head Start or Head Start program. A census of this
population was conducted with the goal of obtaining a sample of 122
parents/caregivers whose children participated in these programs. A power
analysis using G-Power software yielded an estimated sample size of 110 for a
linear regression with three predictors (power of 0.8, type one error of 0.05,
and medium size effect) (Faul, Erdfelder, Buchner, & Lang, 2009). Parents were
asked to complete the Parental
Involvement Project (PIP) Parent Questionnaire (Appendix A), a 57-item survey
that has been found to be reliable and valid for measuring attitudes and
beliefs (24 items), subjective norms (6 items), perceived behavioral control
(17 items), and parental intentions (10 items) for parent involvement. All
items were used a six-point Likert scales. Data collection provided an
opportunity to assess how these variables presented in immigrant and refugee
families and examine their ability to predict parent intentions towards
involvement. Step-wise multiple regression was used to assess the significance
of the contributions of each predictor to explain the variation in the
dependent variable (Field, 2013).
Q1. What are the attitudes and beliefs
of immigrant/refugee parents regarding parent involvement in AKA Head Start and
Early Head Start as determined by Parental Involvement Project (PIP) Parent
Questionnaire?
Q2. What are the subjective norms of
immigrant/refugee parents regarding parental involvement in AKA Head Start and
Early Head Start as determined by Parental Involvement Project (PIP) Parent
Questionnaire?
Q3. What are the perceived behavioral
control perceptions of immigrant/refugee parents regarding parent involvement
in AKA Head Start and Early Head Start programs as determined by Parental
Involvement Project (PIP) Parent Questionnaire?
Q4. What are the parental intentions
of immigrant/refugee parents regarding parent involvement in AKA Head Start and
Early Head Start programs as determined by Parental Involvement Project (PIP)
Parent Questionnaire?
Q5.
What is the
relationship of measures of attitudes and beliefs, subjective norms, and perceived
behavior control, and how well, if at all, do they predict parental intentions to
parental involvement by parents in AKA Head Start and Early Head Start
programs?
Hypotheses
H50. The attitudes and beliefs,
subjective norms, intentions, behavioral control perceptions, and perceived
control of immigrant and refugee parents are not significantly related to (p > .05) or can not predict parents’
level of involvement in AKA Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
H5a. One or more of attitudes and
beliefs, subjective norms, intentions, behavioral control perceptions, or
perceived behavior control perceptions are significantly correlated to (p < .05) and significantly contribute
to the prediction of parental involvement by immigrant/refugee parents in AKA
Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
Theoretical Framework
Overview
Ajzen's
theory of planned behavior (TPB) (1991) was the framework employed to explain
and predict intentional behavior based on personal beliefs about outcomes of
behaviors. His theory was developed in the late 1980s as an extension of the
theory of reasoned action. Ajzen described the dynamic and complex nature of
parental engagement in a child’s life and education (Bracke & Corts, 2012).
The TPB offered a viable theoretical lens for examining parental involvement
and identifying the determinants among the immigrant and refugee parent
population. To understand planned behavior and parental involvement, social
attitudes and personality traits were included in an attempt to predict and
explain human behavior (Ajzen, 1991). The TPB focused on the motivations of an
individual to engage in a particular behavior, and the theory had the potential
to be a useful framework for conducting research into parental involvement
(Perry & Langley, 2013).
The
central tenet of the theory is the intention to perform a particular behavior
as defined by three independent determinants of intentions: attitude and belief
toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (Ajzen,
1991). First, attitude referred to an individual’s values for the outcomes of
behavior as associated with his or her beliefs related to the behavior and his
or her evaluation of performing a behavior. Second, subjective norms were an
individual’s perceptions of social pressures that existed for performing the
behavior. This concept was comprised of beliefs about social expectations and
the need to adhere to those expectations. Third, perceived behavioral control was
related to an individual’s perception of how difficult the task would be to
perform (Ajzen, 1991). Furthermore, the theory was based on beliefs about
factors that were for or against performing the behavior and the perceived
power of those factors. In general, the intention of performing a behavior was
strong when the performance of a particular behavior elicited a favorable
attitude from the individual, was positively associated with subjective norms,
and it was easy to perform with few obstacles (Ajzen, 1991). If the surrounding
social environment was conducive to the behavior, and the individual was
confident in their ability to perform the behavior then the person's intention was
stronger to engage in the behavior, and thus, it was more likely he or she would
(Ajzen, 1991).
Ajzen
stressed that interventions designed to change behavior could be directed at
one or more of its determinants (attitudes and beliefs, subjective norms, or
perceptions of behavioral control). Changes in one of these determinants should
produce changes in behavioral intentions and, given adequate control over the
behavior, intentions should be carried out under appropriate circumstances
(Ajzen, 1991). Subsequent parental involvement might succeed in producing
corresponding changes in attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptions of
behavioral control because intentions were directed by behavioral, normative,
and control beliefs (Kiriakidis, 2015). However, the behavioral intention might
vary towards different behaviors and within different populations. For example,
intention to perform one behavior might be primarily determined by the attitude
toward the behavior, while another behavioral intention might be determined
largely by normative influence. Similarly, intention to perform a particular
behavior might be primarily under the attitudinal influence in one population,
while more influenced by normative influence in another population (Montano
& Kasprzyk, 2015). Thus, to design effective interventions to influence
behavioral intentions, it is important first to determine the degree to which
intention is influenced by attitudes and beliefs, perceived norms, and
perceived behavioral controls (Montano & Kasprzyk, 2015). Parent
interventions would be ineffective unless individuals were in fact capable of
carrying out their newly formed intentions (Girardelli & Patel, 2016).
Ajzen (1991) also noted that there should be an active link from intentions to
behavior to facilitate the success of an intervention (Ajzen, 1991). One of the
most efficient ways to intervene to help develop intentions is to induce
individuals to form a plan with specific details of when, where, and how the
desired behavior would be performed (Lin, 2012).
Girardelli and Patel
(2016) provided the importance of behavioral intentions in the function of the
three constructs of attitudes toward the target behavior, perceived norms, and
perceived behavioral control/self-efficacy. Attitudes toward the target
behavior were defined as a latent disposition or tendency to respond with some
degree of favorableness or unfavorableness to a psychological object. Perceived
norms referred to what was considered an acceptable or permissible behavior in
a group or society. Perceived norms captured the total social pressure that the
environment exerts on an individual to perform, or not perform a given behavior.
Perceived behavioral control is defined as the extent to which people believed
they are capable of performing a given behavior, that they have control over
its performance.
Conducting research on parental
involvement, using Ajzen’s theory, in immigrant and refugee families might be
useful (Perry, 2013) because through this perspective, benefits for the child,
family, and school could be encouraged (Bulotsky-Shearer et al., 2012).
However, to apply the TPB based model to immigrant and refugee families such as
African, Asian, or Hispanic/Latino, researchers need a better understanding of
the issues in practice for these populations (Paat, 2013), since they might
have several specific factors that impede family involvement such as a lack of
knowledgeable resources and language, cultural, and physical barriers (Garbacz
et al., 2016). From these points of view, the gaps often happen between this
theory and its practices (Dobson & Beshai, 2013) because there are a number
of issues, controversies, and assumptions involving the translation of theory
into practice (Udo-Akang, 2012). However, the gap between theory and practice
was framed as a knowledge transfer problem, and researcher’s continuous
refinement and development based on learning from the application of theory
into the field were never completed (Udo-Akang, 2012). Thus, it was important
to choose theory-testing rather than theory-building because the theory was
needed in explaining and predicting parental involvement with the TPB in
distinct populations (Udo-Akang, 2012). It was critical to investigate and
understand the behavior from the perspective of the study population because
some individuals in certain demographic groups might hold beliefs about
positive outcomes of the behavior and thus hold more positive attitudes and
stronger intention to carry out the behavior. In addition, they might be more
likely than others to engage in the behavior (Montano & Kasprzyk, 2015).
Researchers have examined parental
involvement through the application of other theories to include identifying
theory, parental investment theory, socio-ecological theory, role theory and
social exchange theory; however, the theories have been limited in explaining
and predicting parental involvement in early childhood education (Perry &
Langley, 2013). According to Perry and Langley (2013), such theories assumed
that active involvement of parents only relied on the parents' will and desired
to be involved in their children's education. As an alternative theory was more
helpful to explain and predict parental involvement, Perry and Langley (2013)
suggested using Ajzen's TPB model and stressed that this model was “versatile
enough to account for the dynamic and complex nature of parental engagement”
(p. 181). What remained unknown was whether the TPB model would hold for
parental engagement in schools with parents of particular cultures and status,
such as those with immigrant and refugee status.
Nature of the Study
In the current study, Ajzen’s version of TPB (1991) was
used as a basis of a model to examine how intentional behaviors of parents and
personal beliefs about outcomes of their behaviors might impact their perceived
levels of participation in their child’s school. The model constructed for this
study included the TPB constructs of attitudes and beliefs, subjective norms,
perceived behavioral control, and parental intentions for involvement (Bracke
& Corts, 2012). The descriptive and correlational design allowed for assessing
the key variables posed in the TPB model as determinants of behavior (i.e.,
parental attitudes and beliefs, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control)
and then analysis of whether they were significantly related to and could
predict the intentions of immigrant and refugee parents to be involved in their
children’s early childhood education programs. The dependent variable were the parent’s
reported intentions for involvement, and the predictors would be the
determinants of behaviors as outlined in TPB, which were parental attitudes and
beliefs, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (Bracke &
Corts, 2012).
The correlational design used in this study was
appropriate for testing whether TPB constructs fit a model for an observed set
of relationships among the constructs in the model (Girardelli & Patel,
2016). Survey methods were
used to measure the four constructs of TPB with the three predictor variables
and the single dependent variable of parent intention (Bracke & Corts,
2012). The survey method allowed objectivity and minimized bias (Smith, 2015).
The quantitative design-controlled biases so that facts, instances, and
phenomena could be understood in an objective way (Park & Park, 2016).
Moreover, a quantitative design focuses on “the accumulation of facts and
causes of behavior through isolation, measurement, and evaluation of variables,
focusing on predictability and control over time” (Park & Park, 2016, p.
4). This design best aligned with the purpose and goals of the study.
In this study, the quantitative
methodology utilized a non-experimental design, so manipulating variables were
not a part of this process (Smith, 2015). Given the aim was to answer questions
related to how much of a phenomenon existed, qualitative methods were not
appropriate to use (McCusker & Gunaydin, 2014). Based on the purpose of
this study, a quantitative design was the most appropriate method, since it would
provide for numerical data to be analyzed to determine relationships between
the multiple predictor variables posed in the TPB (Park & Park, 2016). A
regression model was used to investigate whether the TPB determinants of
behavior were significantly related to and could predict the involvement of
immigrant/refugee parents in their children’s early childhood education
programs, specifically Early Head Start and Head Start programs.
According to the All Kids Academy
Head Start and Early Head Start’s (AKA-HS/EHS) reports from 2014-2015, there
were 1,381 children, including Hispanic or Latino (803) and Non-Hispanic (578)
who attended twelve Head Start centers in Southern California. Based on this
statistic, a target of approximately 800-1000 parents/caregivers, who were
identified as immigrant or refugee living in this area, and whose children were
enrolled in either an Early Head Start or Head Start program, were solicited to
participate in the survey with the hope of obtaining the sample size required
of 122 completed surveys.
The Parent Involvement Project
(PIP) survey was the instrument used for data collection. The questionnaire
contained 57 items developed by Hoover-Dempsey, Walker, Jones, and Reed (2002).
All items were measured on a six-point Likert scale for attitudes and beliefs,
subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and parental intentions. The Likert
scale ranged from strongly disagree
to strongly agree, with the
additional option of I Don’t Know. For example, parents were
asked to rate each statement based on how much they disagree or agree. The
options were 1 indicating Strongly
Disagree, 2 indicating Disagree,
3 indicating Don’t Know, 4 indicating
Agree Just a Little, 5 indicating Agree, and 6 indicating Strongly Agree.
After receiving approval from Northcentral
University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the AKA Head Start
administrative office, parents were solicited at each of the centers. During
the drop off time at each of 12 centers, the researcher briefly explained the
purpose of the study to the parents/caregivers and asked them to voluntarily
participate if they were interested in cooperating with the research (Appendix
B) (Fowler, 2009). The consent form informed them of the voluntary nature of
participation, the level of involvement, the absence of deception, and that their
participation would remain anonymous. When consent was granted, volunteers were
asked to complete a brief demographic information questionnaire regarding their
immigrant/refugee status (Appendix C). Eligible participants received a PIP
survey package (Appendix A) with a cover letter (Appendix D). The cover letter
to parents detailed the purpose of the study. All papers were translated into
their home language (i.e., Arabic, Spanish or Vietnamese) to ensure
parents/caregivers understand explanations clearly. Self-addressed
and stamped envelopes were enclosed for returning the survey. A reminder
postcard was sent two weeks later to encourage participation for those who might
not have completed a returned survey (Blaxter, Hughes, & Tight, 2014).
Those who completed the survey received a gift card of ten dollars.
Significance of the Study
Parental involvement has been
recognized as a variable of significant impact on early childhood education
(McCormick, Cappella, O’Connor, & McClowry, 2013). It has been found to
increase the academic functioning of young children, especially for immigrant
children who grow up with at least one foreign-born parent and speak a home
language other than English (Demircan & Erden, 2015; Winsler et al., 2014).
Therefore, it was important to study the involvement of immigrant and refugee
parents in preschool because their historical, socio-demographic characteristics
and academic concerns are possibly different with regards to parental attitudes
and beliefs, perceived control, subjective norms, and subsequent behavioral
intentions (Hindman et al., 2012). A lack of parental involvement was a factor
in at-risk children’s academic achievement (Demircan & Erden, 2015; Hindman
et al., 2012). Parent/caregiver involvement has improved children’s success
(Bracke & Corts, 2012; Demircan & Erden, 2015; Porumbu & Necşoi,
2013). Little is known about how the theory of planned behavior might explain
parent involvement of immigrant and refugee children at Early Head Start and
Head Start programs (Ntuli, Nyarambi, & Traore, 2014). This quantitative
study contributed to understanding parents’ perceptions of their involvement in
Head Start programs and factors that might contribute to their involvement. The research was important because it builds
greater understanding of how or if parental involvement and engagement
practices for immigrant/refugee parents or caregivers could be effective. The
findings could be used to encourage school and childcare center directors and
teachers to expand their repertoire of strategies to involve parents from
diverse language, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. Identifying the
determinants of parent involvement, or lack thereof, in immigrant and refugee
populations that could subsequently be used to develop interventions was an
important goal of the study (Hindman et al., 2012). Implications for improving
current parent involvement policies and practices for engaging immigrants and
refugees were developed from the findings and could be useful in overcoming the
barriers to involvement if the schools wish to improve their programs.
Subsequently, these parents might be able to better support their children and
the school (Bulotsky-Shearer et al.,
2012; Smith, 2014).
The testing
of Ajzen’s TPB with regard to parent involvement in early childhood programs
has never been tested relative to immigrant and refugee parents/caregivers in
the context of Head Start and Early Head Start programs; therefore, more
information concerning parents’ attitudes and beliefs, subjective norms, perceived
behavioral controls, and subsequent behavioral intentions can contribute to
improving the effectiveness of the program. By using Ajzen’s TPB model (1991),
the results from this study contributed to the knowledge of potential outcomes
of parental involvement, such as the following: affirmation of parents’ and
caregivers’ positive attitudes about school participation, clarification of the
dissonance between parents’ professed attitudes, beliefs, values, and
intentions and in their actual behaviors, and rationale for a norm-based
initiative that might increase parental involvement (Bracke & Corts, 2012).
Definition of Key
Terms
Attitude
toward behavior. An attitude toward a behavior is an individual’s positive
or negative evaluation of self-performance of the particular behavior. The
concept is the degree to which performance of behavior is a positive or
negative value. It is determined by the total set of accessible behavioral
beliefs linking behavior to various outcomes and other attributes (Ajzen, 1991).
Behavioral
belief. Behavioral
belief is an individual’s belief about consequences of a particular behavior.
The belief is based on the subjective probability that the behavior will
produce a given outcome (Ajzen, 1991).
Behavior
intention. Behavior
intention is an indication of an individual’s readiness to perform a given
behavior and is assumed to be an immediate antecedent of behavior (Ajzen,
1991).
Head
Start. Head Start
(1964) provides comprehensive services for children between ages 3 and 5 and their
families. It supports the school readiness of dual-language learners with
culturally sensitive family engagement practices. It also builds relationships
with families to support positive parent-child relationships, family
well-being, and connections to peers and community. The Head Start program is
federally funded for low-income children under the age of mandatory school
attendance (Head Start, 1964).
Early
Head Start. The
Early Head Start program (1964) was established to assist and promote the
physical, cognitive, social and emotional development of infants and toddlers
up to age 3.
Immigrants. Immigrants are people who moved
into the United States in order to find a settlement and become citizens
(Poureslami et al., 2013).
Intention.
The intention is
the perceived likelihood of performing a behavior. It is a direct function of
the attitude about the behavior and subjective norm associated with the
behavior (Ajzen, 1991).
Perceived
behavioral control.
Perceived behavioral control is an individual’s perceived ease or difficulty of
performing the particular behavior. Perceived behavioral control is determined
by the total set of accessible control beliefs (Ajzen, 1991).
Refugee. A refugee is defined as a person
who flees from persecution, invasion, or political danger in their home country
and is unable to return (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2007).
Southwest
Asian groups.
Southwest Asia is sometimes described as the Near East or the Middle East. The
people of its area are Greek Cypriots, Turks, Jews, Arabs, Kurds, Iranian,
Iraqi, and Afghani (Poureslami et al., 2013).
Subjective
norm. Subjective
norm is an individual’s perception of the particular behavior, which is
influenced by the judgment of significant others, such as parents, spouses,
friends, and teachers. It refers to the perceived social pressure to perform or
not to perform a behavior (Ajzen, 1991).
Southeast
Asian groups.
Southeast Asia is made up of many thousands of tropical islands and a mainland
area. The nations are Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines,
Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, and East Timor (Lee &
Zhou, 2014).
Summary
Parental involvement in schooling
activities for toddlers and preschoolers is important to children’s later
school success because it created higher levels of proactive learning
behaviors, greater receptive vocabulary, and lower levels of conduct problems
(Bracke & Corts, 2012; Hindman et al., 2012; Manz et al., 2014). However,
parents who are immigrants/refugees may have low parental involvement due to
their attitudes and beliefs, subjective norms, perceived behavioral controls,
and subsequent parental intentions (Demircan & Erden, 2015; Manz et al.,
2014; Poureslami et al., 2013). These factors served as the key variables posed
in TPB determinants of behavior and were important to determining whether they were
significantly related to and able to predict the parental intentions of
immigrant and refugee parents for involvement in their children’s early
childhood education programs. By assessing these constructs that were pivotal
to TPB, testing this theory within the context of immigrant and refugee
families with children enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start was
accomplished. Using the theoretical framework provided by the TPB, the effect
of the variables on intention and behaviors that might frame parents’ decisions
to be involved or not involved in their children’s education were identified
(Girardelli & Patel, 2016).
Due to immigrant and refugee children’s educational risk in community and
societal contexts, these parents needed to support programs starting with their
children’s early preschool enrollment. Without understanding the theory of
planned behavior, teachers and educators might encounter some adverse outcomes or
lacking parental involvement. Encouraging immigrant and refugee parents to have
good intentions and high academic expectations for their children’s education was
possible (Castro et al., 2015). Likewise, the perception of participation as a
social norm might help increase the likelihood of parental involvement; however,
the theoretical models of parents’ participation in school activities from
toddler to preschool needed better development (Manz et al., 2014).
Applying Ajzen’s theory (1991) of planned behavior to parent involvement in Head
Start and Early Head Start could strengthen immigrant and refugee family
practices. However, to provide evidence of this theory’s usefulness, a theory of
planned behavior-based model was tested. Testing the TPB model based on
immigrant and refugee parents’ attitudes/beliefs,
norms, and perceived behavioral control allowed analysis of how to increase
parental involvement, thereby, raising children’s education standards. The hope
for this study was to reveal implications for Head Start and Early Head Start
program’s administrators, directors, teachers, and policy-makers alike to find
ways to promote parental involvement in immigrant and refugee populations.
No comments:
Post a Comment