The Role of Parent Expectations on Post-School Outcomes

From the Marshall Memo #449

In this article in Exceptional Children, Bonnie Doren (University of Wisconsin/ Madison), Jeff Gau (Oregon Research Institute), and Lauren Lindstrom (University of Oregon/ Eugene) report on their study of how parent expectations affect the post-school outcomes of adolescents with disabilities. The authors confirmed that parents’ expectations are important, but found that teenagers’ sense of autonomy also matters. “Autonomy development is theorized not as a process of detachment or separation from parents but as a process that involves a ‘reciprocal interaction between higher levels of connectedness with parents and higher levels of personal individuation,’” say the authors (quoting Soenens and Vansteenkiste, 2005). 

Doren, Gau, and Lindstrom found that parents’ expectations are dynamic, malleable, and influenced by three factors: (a) parents’ own school outcomes, (b) parents’ perception of how their child is doing at any particular point, and (c) teacher expectations. From their findings, the authors draw the following conclusions:

• School and community agency staff should help parents disentangle their expectations for their children from their own school experiences.

• School and agency staff should let parents know about the supports, accommodations, and services available to their children and how to take full advantage of them. This should boost parents’ expectations for their teens’ success after high school.

• School and agency staff should work with parents to help them build their teens’ sense of autonomy. 

• In cases where parents have low expectations or are not available to support their teens, school and agency staff should step up: “Prior research indicates the important and positive influence of adult role models and mentors such as teachers or adults in the community and their unique contribution to adolescent and young adult outcomes,” conclude the authors.

“The Relationship Between Parent Expectations and Post-School Outcomes of Adolescents with Disabilities” by Bonnie Doren, Jeff Gau, and Lauren Lindstrom in Exceptional Children, Fall 2012 (Vol. 79, #1, p. 7-23); Doren can be reached at bdoren@wisc.edu.