The Effect of Family Fun Time Activities on Family Involvement
Spencer Goldberg
Department of Sociology, Longwood University
SOCL 345: Social Research and Program Evaluation
Dr. Pederson
November 22, 2023
Abstract
Parental involvement plays a pivotal role during a child’s development (Epstein, 2010). The purpose of this study is to determine whether participation in family fun time activities affects family involvement levels. The participants that make up the sample consist of families from HeadStart. The data that is obtained measured family involvement, family enjoyment, and evaluation of SMART objectives and demographics. This is a mixed methods study and is comprised of qualitative and quantitative data, which is measured via open and closed-ended questions. The themes studied focused on the relationship between family involvement and the educational obtainment of the parents. The findings did not support the research, as the results are not linear, with lower levels of education representing similar to higher levels of family involvement than the higher levels of education. An implication of this study is that data was comprised of previous years due to limited responses this year.
Introduction
The research problem that is being investigated in this paper is participation in family fun time activities and how it affects family involvement. We are conducting this experiment to determine if spending quality time with your children impacts levels of family involvement. This is important because family involvement plays a critical role in the child’s development from social skills to academic achievement (Epstein, 2010). This research was conducted in hopes that schools around the country can implement these family fun time activities to improve family bonds and coincidingly family involvement.
It is theorized that race, socioeconomic status, and the degree to which a parent is involved can significantly impact a child’s development. A variety of studies have been compiled in this paper that further examine these topics in great detail. However, none of the papers explore instances where more than one of these factors is present, and how this, in turn, affects the results. We conducted this study to determine how these factors intertwine with one another and whether it has an underlying effect on family involvement.
Literature Review
Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and Parent Involvement
The importance of parental involvement only increases as the child enters various forms of schooling. The parent plays a pivotal role during this time and can severely impact their extracurriculars, academic excellence, and social skills (Epstein, 2010). According to Perrigo (2022), socioeconomic status impacts parent involvement in numerous ways; poor parent-teacher relationships, time constraints, and lack of motivation. This information can be contradictory however, as children with a lower socioeconomic score tend to be more motivated to perform higher if the child has increased levels of parental involvement (Anderson, 2021).
In Anderson’s (2021) study, a qualitative experiment in which parent involvement was measured through a variety of reading tasks both with and without the presence/assistance of the child’s parent, it was discovered that children with a lower socioeconomic score performed lower than those of a higher socioeconomic score. These findings, however, were only partially supported by an extensive two-hundred-question quantitative data survey in which socioeconomic status was determined into one of three categories: high, low, and unemployed, in which children on both polar ends (very high/very low socioeconomic status) performed well. Fævelen’s (2023) findings supported that of Anderon’s in that there was an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and parent involvement/positive parenting practices. One explanation for this is the presence of closely-knit sibling relationships. Sibling involvement is a key major factor among lower socio-economic status families, often playing a bigger role than the parents themselves (Perrigo, 2022).
However, one criticism is that the qualitative data obtained does not provide for a generalization. One way that future researchers can improve upon this is by conducting a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative research, as another implication of Perrigo’s study was that it was composed of nine to thirteen-year-olds and questioned about preschool.
Race and Parent Involvement
While a person’s socioeconomic background can determine their level of parental involvement, race also plays a big role. The relationship between parent involvement and race varies vastly depending on a variety of differences among cultural awareness, historical factors, and language barriers (Equihua, 2010). In Equihua’s study, which was composed of entirely of quantitative survey methodology, she studied the relationship between mental health and familial factors that contribute to parental involvement rates among Latina mothers. Equihua (2010) found that lower-income families were reported to have a higher rate of anxiety and depression as well as lower rates of involvement. Hispanic families tend to have bigger families than other races and this was found to severely impact parent involvement, “the number of children was significantly, negatively correlated with the quality of the parent-teacher relationship and school endorsement” (Equihua, 2010, p. 48). One drawback of this study that future researchers can improve upon is the particularly low sample size as it was conducted with a few families.
However, the findings of Equihua (2010) are opposed to that of Altschul (2012). In Altschul’s study, quantitative data surveys from Mexican families of secondary school students, found the opposite. The cultural/ethnic traditions and strong familial bonds among Hispanic families played a much larger role in determining parent involvement rates than their socioeconomic status (Altschul, 2012). The larger role, however, is still a small amount of parent involvement in the grand scheme. According to Bates (2011), with the exception of Asians, low levels of familial involvement were found, resulting in a higher rate of repeating kindergarten amongst minorities. These findings are further reinforced by the fact that minority mothers are least likely to be involved in their children’s education (Equihua, 2010). One of the most common theme/research questions in all of these studies was what parental involvement strategies are associated with positive educational growth and how does race/ethnicity impact these factors. This is especially highlighted in depth by Day (2018). Day’s research composed of quantitative data derived from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS), as well as multiple follow up surveys, both whites and African Americans found school-based and social involvements to be positively correlated with GPA. Hispanic/Latinos only saw positive correlation between academic socialization and GPA (Day, 2018). A drawback, however, that future studies can improve upon is the fact that only three races were studied in this research: whites, African Americans, and Hispanics/Latinos. Therefore, the study was fairly limited sample-wise.
Overbearing Parent Involvement
While parent involvement is vital to the proper educational development of a child, too much of it can have the opposite effect. Micromanaging a child (often referred to as “helicopter parenting”), the added pressures for success, lack of boundaries, and the intrusion of social life are all examples of how parent involvement can be overbearing for the child (Li, 2023). These findings tend to deviate from the social norms of parenting as most families do not grasp the concept of over-involvement. Despite it being deviant, Li (2023) found that while there is a risk of overscheduling in extracurricular and academic opportunities, an insignificant proportion of children experience negative results regarding academics that derive from overinvolvement. This is further supported by Epstein’s (2010) Framework of Six Types of Involvement and Sample Practices. Epstein’s model focuses on parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community, to get effectively involved with your child while maintaining healthy boundaries. This is widely recognized as a very accurate and influential model of parental involvement.
Overall, the studies previously listed found mixed results. While it was initially hypothesized that higher levels of socioeconomic status resulted in a higher level of familial involvement, the opposite was found to be true in that families of lower socioeconomic statuses demonstrated high levels of familial involvement. Another recurring hypothesis that was disproven was that Caucasians would have the highest levels of family involvement. African Americans and in particularly Hispanic/Latinos, were found to demonstrate higher levels of family involvement due to a bigger emphasis on cultural/ethnic traditions that resulted in stronger bonds. Finally, it was found that too much involvement can have the opposite effect, resulting in strained relationships between parents and their children.
Data and Methodology
Instrument
A survey questionnaire was created by 10 members of the Social Research and Program Evaluation Team at Longwood University. The survey consisted of 14 questions, 11 closed-ended questions and three open-ended questions. The first question on the survey asked respondents for informed consent. Any respondents who answered “no” to the informed consent were not able to see any further questions. The survey included questions that measured family involvement, family enjoyment, evaluation of SMART objectives, and demographics. The survey was sent online through the Qualtrics program. Head Start teachers emailed links to the survey to parents/guardians, and children brought home books with a QR code attached.
Sample
The non-probability sample for this study was based on 17 children (ages three to five) who attend Head Start in rural Virginia. Head Start is a federally subsidized preschool for families with economic need. We are sending children home with the book containing the QR code, and their families will (optionally) respond to the survey following the completion of the take-home activity. The family fun time activity consists of a scavenger hunt in which the child will identify a variety of different leaves based on color and size. The activity will also measure the child’s ability to hold and successfully use a crayon. Teachers sent a reminder email to parents/guardians to complete any outstanding surveys. This resulted in four questionnaires being completed. Overall, there was a 4% response rate. Therefore, data from previous years (2019 and 2022) on Family Fun Time activities were added to the analysis. This resulted in 66 completed surveys to be used in analysis (four from 2023, 20 from 2022, and 42 from 2019).
Quantitative Analysis
Quantitative analysis of completed surveys is based on the closed-ended questions. For this study, the dependent variable is family involvement. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “On a scale from 0 to 10, how much did this activity encourage your family to work together?” (0 = not at all, 10 = a great amount). For this study, the independent variable is socioeconomic status. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “What is the highest degree of education you have completed?”. The answer attributes for this question are some high school, high school or GED, certification from a trade school/vocational school, some college, associate degree, bachelor’s degree, graduate degree or more. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze these variables.
Qualitative Analysis
Quantitative analysis of the completed surveys (from 2019, 2022, and 2023) was based on open-ended questions. The open-ended questions were, “What did you enjoy about this activity?”, “What are your suggestions for improving this activity?”, and “Typically, what activities do you do with your child?”. To answer the research question, “Does participation in family fun time activities affect family involvement?”, inductive open coding was used to determine reoccurring themes in the respondents’ responses.
Findings
The dependent variable is family involvement. This is measured on a scale from 0-10 (0 = not at all, 10 = a great amount). The independent variable is socioeconomic status and is measured by the highest degree of education that the participants have completed (seen below in Figure 1). The initial hypothesis for this was that those with a higher degree of education completed would report a higher level of family involvement.
Table 1
Mean and Standard Deviation of Family Involvement
| Involvement | Value | |
| Mean Standard Deviation | 7.197 2.603 |
Note. N=66
The univariate analysis of the dependent variable, family involvement, was measured via “On a scale from 0 to 10, how much did this activity encourage your family to work together?” (0 = not at all, 10 = a great amount). Table 1 shows that the mean level of family involvement, based on engagement levels of all participants, was 7.197 with a standard deviation of 2.603. This means that 68% of participants reported engagement levels to be between 4.594 and 9.8 throughout the family fun time activity.
Figure 1
Figure 1 represents the sample for the independent variable, socioeconomic status, which was measured via education. The applicable options for levels of education are some high school, high school diploma/GED, trade/vocational school, some college, associate degree, bachelor’s degree, and graduate degree or more. Of the 63 total individuals surveyed, 19 (30.2%) reported some college, 13 (20.6%) reported trade/vocational school, 12 (19%) reported high school/GED, nine (14.3%) reported associate degree, seven (11.1%) reported bachelor’s degree, two (3.2%) reported some high school, and only one (1.6%) graduate degree or more. The data is unimodal and approximately normally distributed.
Table 2
Means and Standard Deviation of Involvement by Socioeconomic Status
| Involvement by Socioeconomic Status | Mean values |
| Some high school High school diploma or GED Certification from a trade or vocational school Some college Associate degree Bachelor’s degree Graduate degree or more | 8.500 6.417 7.846 6.895 7.556 6.429 9.000 |
Note. N=66
Table 2 shows the relationship between educational attainment and levels of parental involvement. The categories with the highest level of parental involvement were some high school and graduate degree or more, the highest and lowest educational achievements. It is worth noting that the high mean value for family involvement in these two categories can be attributed to the lack of responses in each category, skewing the data. The conclusion that can be drawn from the data is that educational attainment (socioeconomic status) does not have any relation to parental involvement, as the data varies wildly and there is no clear relationship between the two.
The key findings that can be drawn from the data are that socioeconomic status and parental involvement do not relate linearly, disproving the initial hypothesis that socioeconomic status and parental involvement were positively correlated. The polar ends of educational attainment have the highest levels of family involvement, but the small sample size skews the data in those categories and makes it difficult to get a true mean from the two. Generally, the level of educational attainment does not alter the level of family involvement and is fairly in line with and doesn’t deviate much from the overall sample mean of 7.197.
Qualitative Findings
Family fun time activities were found to consist of three key themes: the simplicity and ease of participating in the activities, learning new skills and acquiring knowledge, and quality time in general.
Simplicity and Ease
The first major reoccurring theme was simplicity and ease. Of the 16 surveys that were obtained in 2022, six believed that simplicity and ease was one of the aspects of the family fun time activities that they enjoyed the most. This was also extremely prominent in 2019 and 2023, as over half of the surveys recorded in both years mentioned simplicity/ease in some form. An example of this can be seen in respondent 22_3 (survey number three from 2022), “Our family really enjoyed how simple the activities were”. Another example can be seen in respondent 22_1, in which the surveyed individual specifically lists the elements that contributed to the overall ease/simplicity of the activity, “A free convenient activity to do as a family, pre-packaged, easy to follow instructions”. Providing simple and easy activities with directions laid out for the participants can result in an increased rate of participation in family fun time activities. This idea is further supported by respondent 19_3. When asked if being provided with pre-planned activities increased the amount of fun time spent with their family after school, respondent 19_3 said, “Yes absolutely! It took all of the planning and prepping out of the equation”. Collectively, the simplicity and ease of the pre-packaged family fun time activities allowed parents to focus on having fun and bonding with their families rather than the frustration of setting up and preparing the activities.
Quality Time
The second theme, which was one of the most prevalent, was quality time. This includes all forms of quality time; spending time together, having fun, familial bonding, and overall enjoyability of the activities. The large majority of surveys recorded in 2022, eleven of the sixteen, as well as a chunk of the 2019 and 2023 surveys, mentioned some form of quality time in their responses. When asked about their favorite aspect of the family fun time activity, respondent 22_10 stated, “Doing them together. [Child’s name] says she loves doing things with mom and dad”. This contributes to the theme of quality time in that both the parents and the child find joy in the completion of the family fun time activities. Another example of this theme is when respondent 19_17 answered, “Working together, have family time” in response to what they gained and how they will use this in the future. Family fun time activities are beneficial as they can be both educational and fun. This idea is further supported by respondent 22_15, “Spending time together doing something educational is always fun”. It is clear that numerous families find family fun time activities to be entertaining and encourage them to work together and spend more time together as a family.
Gaining Knowledge
The last of the three major themes is gaining knowledge and learning new skills. Beyond the clear point of increasing family involvement, family fun time activities have a secondary goal of providing educational benefits such as patience, listening/following rules, creativity, and emotions. One particular example, respondent 22_2, noted that their child improved their practical skills, “[Child’s name] learn how to cut and glue and how to trace better”. Providing activities with learning objectives as well as having fun can be an effective method at engaging the child in various educational benefits. Other parents mentioned how their children worked on their fine motor skills, 22_9, “letters, numbers, how to take turns” and 22_5, “colors, shapes, creativity in a fun way, numbers”.
Overall, the three key themes found in the surveys are simplicity and ease, learning new skills, and quality time. Parents enjoyed the simplicity and ease of pre-packaging the activities, allowing them to focus on bonding with their family. Learning new skills stimulated the child’s brain while also allowing them to have fun during so. Spending time together to complete the family fun time activities was a very common reoccurring comment, meaning that the families valued the quality time.
Conclusion
The main point of this project was to determine whether participation in family fun time activities affected levels of family involvement. The independent variable used to operationalize this, socioeconomic status, was found to not have any relationship with family involvement. This disproved the sources found in the literature review claiming that individuals with higher levels of socioeconomic status demonstrated higher levels of involvement (positive correlation).
It would be beneficial for society if parents of all backgrounds knew this data and could therefore improve their levels of family involvement. By participating in more family fun time activities, finding a good balance between micromanagement and lack of oversight, and being more involved with their child(ren), the family will see a wide variety of benefits – both in the parents and child(ren). A possible solution to this would be the implementation of family fun time activities in schools throughout the country, especially federally subsidized ones similar to HeadStart. This would result in a spike in involvement and familial bonding, benefiting not just the direct family, but society as a whole.
References
Altschul, I. (2012). Linking Socioeconomic Status to the Academic Achievement of Mexican American Youth Through Parent Involvement in Education. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 3(1), 13-30. https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=9c3d3517-1e30-48db-a899-21c7ba60132a%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=71423979&db=sih
Anderson, S., Gregersen, M., Nielsen, H., Thomsen, M. (2021). Parent Involvement, Socioeconomic Status and Reading Performance. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 65(7), 1279-1294. https://web-s-ebscohost-com.proxy.longwood.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=dffbd26a-c7d0-4624-b531-62df96dc3307%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=153183492&db=ehh