Gender Issues in Parental Involvement in Student Choices of Higher Education

Bibliographic Data

ID12231016
AuthorsMiriam E David (0000-0002-3660-8873), Miriam David (Keele University, corresponding author), Stephen Ball (0000-0001-7446-4201, Universidad de Londres), Jackie Davies, Diane Reay (0000-0003-0259-1935, King's College - North Carolina)
Year2003
Volume15
Issue1
Pages21-36
Publication date2003-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGender and Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0954-0253 • E-ISSN: 1360-0516
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0954025032000042121
OpenAlexW2074668250
LanguageEN
Citations received44
References cited23

This article explores gender, social class and ethnic issues in parental involvement in students' choices of higher education. It draws upon interviews with students and their parents, who were a small group of an Economic and Social Research Council-funded study of students' higher education choice processes in the UK. Gender was highly significant in several respects, illustrating changes in higher education over the last 20 years, whereby more women than men now enter higher education. Most of the interviewees were female. They were mothers and daughters who were thinking about higher education. The article explores first how gender is inflected in choice processes--from whether students choose to involve their parents in the study, to their parents' characteristics, to the forms of involvement revealed. Different facets of involvement are considered--interest, influence and support, investment and intrusion. Secondly, the article provides illustrations of girls' collaborative approaches to the choice processes, in which some of their mothers also engage. This is contrasted with boys' perspectives and those of fathers who were interviewed. This illustrates how gender is woven through social networks across the generations. Parental involvement varied in terms of gender, educational and social backgrounds, or notions of 'institutional' and 'familial habitus'. Finally, the authors reflect upon why gender is salient in how young people and their parents think about their involvement in choosing universities and relate this to changes in higher education policies and practices

Cultural capital · Developmental psychology · Ethnic group · Habitus · Higher education · Political science · Social class · Social science · Sociology · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Studies · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Higher Education Research Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology