Gender differences in factors associated with how parents communicate with school in Korea

The authors explored different factors that were associated with mothers' and fathers' choice between two forms of parent-school communication: school briefing sessions and parent-teacher conferences. A total of 585 parents295 mothers and 290 fathers from different householdswho had at least one child enrolled in middle school in Korea were surveyed. Analytic results indicated that there were gender differences in how mothers and fathers were motivated to communicate with school. More educated and affluent mothers who positively assessed their child's academic achievement but were less confident in the child's ability and dissatisfied with the school-provided information were more likely to communicate with the school, whereas fathers were influenced by the employment status of their wives and communication with the child. Perception of positive child-teacher relationship predicted both mothers' and fathers' engagement in communication. Based on the findings, the authors discuss ways to promote parental involvement in communication with school.