Parental Involvement: The Impact of One-Parent Households on Postsecondary Educational Attainment of African American High School Males

Abstract

This study explored of the practices and routines of one-parent households and the impact on post-secondary educational attainment of African American males. It adopted a post-positivist approach, using a qualitative phenomenological study design to construct descriptions of the lives of one-parent households whose sons are accepted and planning to enter college in the fall or are currently completing their freshman year.

The study used data from 10 1-parent households with African American sons committed to attend a college in the fall semester of 2018. The population sought to address maximum variability in participants’ parenting background, and the routines and practices in that existed in the home and contributed to their sons achieving educational attainment beyond high school. In doing so, the study sought to provide a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of one-parent households who have provided an environment for their African American sons to seek and obtain post-secondary educational attainment.

The study used multiple methods of data collection for a 5-week period. I collected data through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The study may enhance current knowledge of this subject in a variety of ways. It strove to understand specific ways the parent actions influence African American males to attend post-secondary options by identifying the routines and practices of 10 one-parent households who have African American sons who are committed to attend a college or a university in the fall immediately after graduation from high school. It also sought to identify further significant influences of one-parent households’ strategies that guided their sons to seek and attain post-secondary options through continuing their education. Additional inquiry seeks to add to our knowledge the ways one-parent households organize their daily routines and support for African American high school males to seek and attain post-secondary options upon graduation from high school.