Barriers and Determinants of Active Commuting to School in Slovenia

There is a growing body of literature reporting the health benefits of active commuting to school. This study investigated barriers and determinants of active commuting in children in Slovenia living within walking or cycling distance to school, i.e., 3 km. The sample consisted of 339 children (163 girls) aged 11–14 years who reported their mode of commuting, as well as their parents who described the socioeconomic environment of the family. Every third child in this study traveled to school exclusively by car/public transport, while every fifth participant used a passive means of transport when returning home from school. Potential household poverty, education of the mother and parental encouragement for physical activity were not associated with the commuting mode. In addition, conformist family barriers dominated among reasons for not choosing active commuting. A distance to school that was perceived to be too long was the most frequently cited barrier (72% of participants who passively commuted in both directions), followed by concern about being late for school (38% of participants who passively commute in one direction). Parents from all social strata who drive their children to school in either one or both directions while living in a walking or cycling range are a promising target population for active commuting interventions.

INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL INCOME AND ENCOURAGEMENT ON ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY AND ACHIEVEMENT AMONG MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Parents play an important role in shaping the academic achievement of their children. This study aimed to investigate the association between parental factors and university students’ academic self-efficacy and academic achievement, and the correlation between academic self-efficacy and the academic achievement of university students within the context of Malaysia. The cross-sectional study recruited participants using an online questionnaire, which included demographic information such as age, current education status, current working status, Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) and parents’ monthly income, the Parental Encouragement Scale (PES), and Academic Self-efficacy (ASE) Scale. A total of 196 participants responded to the survey. The results of the Pearson’s correlation showed that parental encouragement was positively correlated with academic self-efficacy (r (196)=.144, p=.044), whilst academic self-efficacy was positively correlated with CGPA (r (196) = .241, p=.001). The multiple linear regression model showed that part-time working status (β=-.184, p=.008) and academic self-efficacy (β=.252, p<.001) were significantly associated with CGPA. Parents should be encouraged and trained to develop academic self-efficacy in their children.

A Comparative Study on Educational Aspiration and Parental Encouragement among Rural and Urban High School Children

Adolescence is the time of transition from childhood dependence to early adulthood freedom and responsibility. Educational aspiration is explained as a psychological construct, which reflects a cognitive type of motivation of the individual. Educational aspiration reflects educational goals an individual set for himself/herself. Parental encouragement is the inspiration or extra-boosting given by the parents to the children for their active involvement in academic life. The present study was conducted in rural and urban areas of Hisar and Fatehabad district of Haryana state. The sample of study included 120 respondents from Hisar and 120 from Fatehabad district, thus total sample comprised of 240 respondents. Educational Aspiration Scale by Sharma and Gupta (2015) was used to assess educational aspiration and Parental Encouragement Scale by Sharma (1997) was used to assess parental encouragement of students. The results of study revealed that majority of respondents belonged to moderate category of educational aspirations and majority of respondents perceived moderate level of parental encouragement. There were significant differences in educational aspirations and parental encouragement of children from rural and urban area. In urban area, respondents had significantly greater educational aspiration and parental encouragement as compared to respondents from rural area.

Learning model of municipal students

This study aims to analyze the learning model of municipal students. The approach used in this study is a quantitative correlational study with an ex-post facto design and path analysis. The instrument used is a questionnaire and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with WarpPLS 4.0 statistical software to analyze the data. The results show that there are positive and significant effects of self-confidence on learning motivation, and the effects of learning style are also positive and significant on learning motivation. There is a positive and significant effect of parent encouragement on learning motivation. The effect of student’s self-confidence on learning motivation also shows positive and significant. The impact of learning motivation on learning outcomes is significantly positive. While the impact of self-confidence on learning outcomes also shows positive results. The effect of parental encouragement on learning outcomes. Finally, the effect of parental encouragement on self-confidence also describes positive impacts. Keywords: Learning Model, Students, Municipal, Self-confidence, Learning Motivation, Learning Outcomes

Parental Encouragement towards the Academic Achievement of Students at Higher Secondary School Level

ABSTRACT Study habits, attitudes of students toward the learning environment at school, the nature of the family environment, and parental encouragement are all factors that influence students’ academic achievement at all levels. The study’s goal is to look at the relation between parental encouragement and higher secondary school students’ academic achievements. The appropriate data were gathered from 160 students from higher secondary school using the survey research technique and the parental encouragement scale. The study’s main findings show that parental encouragement has a significant influence on the academic achievement of the students studied.

The Influence of Parental Dietary Behaviors and Practices on Children’s Eating Habits

Poor dietary habits established during childhood might persist into adulthood, increasing the risk of developing obesity and obesity-related complications such as Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. It has been found that early modifications in eating habits, especially during childhood, might promote health and decrease the risk of developing diseases during later life. Various studies found a great influence of parental dietary habits on dietary behaviors of their children regardless of demographic characteristics such as gender, age, socioeconomic status and country; however, the exact mechanism is still not clear. Therefore, in this review, we aimed to investigate both parents’ and children’s dietary behaviors, and to provide evidence for the potential influence of parents’ dietary behaviors and practices on certain children’s eating habits. Family meals were found to contribute the most in modeling children’s dietary habits as they represent an important moment of control and interaction between parents and their children. The parental practices that influenced their children most were role modeling and moderate restriction, suggesting that the increase of parental encouragement and decrease of excessive pressure could have a positive impact in their children’s dietary behaviors. This narrative review highlights that parental child-feeding behaviors should receive more attention in research studies as modifiable risk factors, which could help to design future dietary interventions and policies to prevent dietary-related diseases.

INVESTIGATION OF THE STUDENTS MOTIVATION FOR LEARNING ENGLISH AS SECONDARY LANGUAGE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

For learning any language, motivation plays a vital role. This study aims to investigate collegiate students’ predictive motivational factors toward students’ attitude toward learning English as secondary language. This is a cross-sectional study in which questionnaire was adapted from the existing literature for data collection. For this quantitative study data were collected from two government degree colleges of Larkana. Total 400 questionnaires were randomly distributed among intermediate students both boys and girls, out of that 247 were returned. Data were analyzed using statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS) version 24. Initially, data were cleaned by identifying missing values and outliers. Study hypotheses were examined using Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA). The findings of this study revealed that instrumental motivation and parental encouragement (independent variables) have positive and significant relationship with attitude toward learning English. However, one variable i.e. integrative motivation was not found as a significant and positive predictor of the dependent variable. Like any study, this study also possesses few limitations, such as sample size, time horizon, and context of the study. In the end, future directions are given for further exploration.

The influence of expressive and instrumental social capital from parents on women and underrepresented minority students’ declaration and persistence in engineering majors

Background Social capital, defined as the people one knows and the resources available through that network of people, has been a key variable in research examining the participation of women and underrepresented minority students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study focuses on two types of social capital: instrumental (concrete advice and resources) and expressive (emotional support and encouragement). The analysis of interviews with 55 White women and women and men underrepresented minority engineering undergraduate students shows how the instrumental and expressive social capital received from parents influenced their students’ declaration of and persistence in the engineering major. Within this analysis, we considered students’ transition to adulthood and the corresponding expectation that parents would still provide support but allow their children to independently determine their own paths. Results Participants shared the advice they received from people in their social networks, with the majority of participants highlighting parents as a major contributor of instrumental and expressive social capital. Instrumental social capital was helpful in students’ major declarations and offered them an opportunity to further develop their interests and aptitude in STEM as well as a pathway for obtaining an engineering degree. During the first year of their engineering major, students relied heavily on the expressive social capital of parents when considering whether to stay in engineering; parental encouragement of “you can do it” became a common resource. Conclusions These findings offer nuance to explanations of social capital’s influence on STEM degree major declaration and persistence, which often use deficit approaches. In highlighting the resources of social capital, especially expressive support, this work offers educators a new frame of reference for building upon the valuable advice offered by parents to their children completing engineering majors.

Parental anti-smoking encouragement as a longitudinal predictor of young adult cigarette and e-cigarette use in a US national study

Introduction Young adulthood is a critical period for the adoption of risk behaviors like tobacco use. Protective factors in adolescence may promote a tobacco-free transition to young adulthood. We examine associations between the frequency of parental anti-smoking encouragement in adolescence and cigarette and e-cigarette use in young adulthood. Methods We analyzed data from Waves 1 (2009-10, 10 th grade, mean age=16.2 years) and 5 (2013-14 mean age=20.3 years) of the U.S. nationally representative NEXT Generation Health Study (n=1,718). At Wave 1, participants reported how often their parents/guardians encourage them to not smoke cigarettes (1=Rarely/never, 7=Frequently). We used separate weighted multiple logistic regressions to model Wave 5 past-30-day cigarette and e-cigarette use as functions of the frequency of parental anti-smoking encouragement at Wave 1, adjusting for sociodemographic and parenting factors, initial substance use, and peer tobacco use. Results The average frequency of parental encouragement to not smoke cigarettes was fairly high (mean=5.35). At Wave 5, 24.7% and 14.2% of respondents reported cigarette e-cigarette use in the past 30 days, respectively. Greater frequency of parental anti-smoking encouragement was associated with lower odds of subsequent cigarette smoking (AOR 0.91, 95% CI 0.83, 0.99) but its association with e-cigarette use was not significant (AOR 0.93, 95% CI 0.84, 1.04). Conclusions The longitudinal negative association between anti-smoking encouragement and cigarette use suggests that parental anti-tobacco communication could be a long-term protective factor against young adult tobacco use. Our findings may also suggest the importance of product-specific messages in the evolving tobacco use landscape. Implications This study builds upon prior investigations of parenting in adolescence as a protective factor against young adult risk behavior. We isolate the frequency of anti-smoking encouragement during adolescence as an actionable factor distinct from other parenting variables. Our findings also suggest that message specificity may be an important factor in parental anti-tobacco communication as youth and young adult tobacco use becomes increasingly dominated by e-cigarettes.

Informal Volunteering and Socialization Effects: Examining Modelling and Encouragement by Parents and Partner

Informal volunteering is seen as an important indicator of social relations and community life. We therefore investigate the impact of various socialization practices on informal volunteering, being small helping behaviours outside of organizations for people outside the household. From theoretical notions on socialization, we hypothesize that experiencing extensive prosocial socialization practices promotes informal volunteering. We examine socialization processes of both modelling and encouragement and consider two socializing agents: parents and partners. We test our expectations employing the sixth wave of the Family Survey Dutch Population (N = 2464) that included unique measures on socialization as well as informal volunteering and holds important control variables. Our results indicated that parental modelling, partner modelling and partner encouragement were all positively related to informal volunteering, but that parental encouragement was not significantly related to informal volunteering. Our paper, thus, underscores that socialization practices are relevant in nurturing social relations and community life.