Learning strategies and academic goals as a function of gender, parenting styles and performance on high school students

Abstract

This paper aims to study the relationship between learning strategies, goal orientations and academic performance of students, considering the influence of parenting styles and gender differences. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), the Goal Orientation Scale and the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) were administered to a sample of 221 high school students, aged from 12 to 17 years. Results show significant differences: first with respect to gender, on organizational strategy and self-enchancing and avoidance task goal orientations; second regarding parenting styles, about strategies, goals and academic performance, with better result on democratic and permissive styles; and third about performance, with worse results for the lowest level of performance. This work suggests the need to consider the studied variables when guiding families and students to improve their learning processes and academic performance. Finally, this study draws some conclusions we think that should be taken into account in related future works.