Parent perceptions of child’s expectancy and value for English/language arts

Parents were asked about their child’s attitudes toward English/Language arts (Eng). More specifically, we assessed parent perceptions of their child’s competence, intrinsic value, utility value, and attainment value for English/Language arts. Competence refers to parents’ perceptions about how well their child does in English/Language arts. Intrinsic value indicates perceived enjoyment of engaging with English/Language arts. Utility value refers to perceived usefulness of studying English/Language arts in his or her life. Attainment value refers to perceived importance of performing well on English/Language arts for his or her identity.

As the figure shows, parents who internationally adopted a female child reported higher levels of perceived competence, intrinsic value, utility value, and attainment value in English/Language arts than parents who adopted a male child.

 

When we tested parents’ perceptions about their child’s attitude toward English/Language arts by the age of adoption, parents who adopted a child older than three years old reported significantly lower levels of competence and intrinsic value than parents who adopted a child younger than one year old or between one and three years old. However, there was no difference in utility value and attainment value by the age of adoption.