Parenting, autonomy and academic achievement in the adolescence

Development as a configuration of personal and social conditions makes important to consider both sources of contribution to understand specific trends in adolescence. This study examined the role of adolescent autonomy in the relation between parenting and academic achievement. Two hundred and twenty-nine mothers and their adolescents (mean age=11.8; SD=0.93) were surveyed in a cross-sectional design with schools in Colombia, South America. Parenting practices evaluated include parental involvement, expression of affection, communication, and rule-setting; multidimensional autonomy covered cognitive, motivational, and social dimensions in the academic context; academic achievement included grades in Social Sciences, Mathematics, Language, and Natural Sciences. Data were analyzed by estimating structural equation models. Major findings indicate that parenting had indirect effects on academic achievement with the intervention of adolescent autonomy. Communication and parental expression of affection show the greater contribution of parenting to the explanatory model. Cognitive, motivational, and social dimensions of autonomy, in that order, contribute to explain academic achievement, where Social Sciences and Mathematics are the academic areas with major loads. Conclusions include an analysis of parenting practices studied and their relationship with adolescent behaviours and outcomes. Implications address the opportunities offered for the intervention and future studies.