Robert Ricco, Ph.D.
Professor, MAGE Director
Psychology Department
California State University, San Bernardino
5500 University Parkway
San Bernardino, CA 92407
Phone: 909-537-5485
Fax: 909-537-7003

How do parents tutor their children? Should they teach their children that performing well in school is best? Would it be better for children to try to learn the concept instead of trying to get the best grade in the class no matter what?

The way that a parent tutors their child may impact their child's motivation to learn, their child's success in the face of challenges, and the attributions the child makes in explaining outcomes in her life. Generally there are two types of tutoring styles that parents utilize, each resulting in diametrically different outcomes for their children. Performance-focused parents tutor their children by giving exact directions to solve the problem. Also, they expect their children to learn a concept merely by completing their homework or reading through the material. However, unlike cells in the body, children do not absorb knowledge through osmosis, absorbing the concept through the pores of their skin. The performance-focused parents are likely to promote a successful product. The A+ paper or the highest grade in the class is stressed by these parents. This tutoring style is often characteristic of authoritarian parenting.

The learning-focused parent will tutor their children in order to master the concept and they expect their child will learn with increased effort. These parents will not give their child a precise direction; rather, they will encourage their child to practice the procedures for the concept. Practicing and spending more time on a concept are strategies emphasized by learning-focused parents. If their child makes a mistake or fails a task, then a learning-focused parent will view this as an opportunity for the child to learn and improve upon past performance. Learning-focused parents typically parent using authoritative styles.

Child Outcomes:

Children parented by a performance-focused parent will take less responsibility for their assignments as their parent's controlling manner has rendered them helpless. These children have difficulty learning to problem solve, think independently, and generate creative ideas. When these children are faced with adversity they tend to avoid the challenge. Their fear of failure has been encouraged by their parent's emphasis on successful performance. The self-concept and self-esteem of these children is closely tied to their performance which leads them to value grades over learning and to compare their performance with others.

Children that receive learning-focused parenting have higher self-esteem compared to children of performance-focused parents. As a result of their confidence in their own efforts, these children tend to face adversities rather than fear them. The value of effort they learn from their parents sustains them through mistakes and failures; which in turn promotes success. Children that persist in the face of challenges reach mastery of the concept with more confidence.

Teachers should be aware of the consequences of their instructional and motivational styles. Their role is pivotal to the motivation of their students and how their students will interpret their successes or failures. The same learning-focused vs. performance-focused teaching styles used by parents can result in similar child outcomes in the classroom. This concept has been previously observed through gender biases. The age old myth that girls are supposed to write neatly and are unlikely to succeed in math or science plays out in a teacher's style. When boys are expected to succeed in math or science their teachers often promote more effort in the face of a challenge. Boys' mistakes or failures in math and science are generally attributed to lack of effort rather than ability. The opposite is true for girls. Teachers have been found to convey surprise when girls succeed in math or science. The teacher's surprise conveys the idea that the necessary ability is lacking and that luck is more responsible for the outcome than either effort or understanding. The teacher's interpretation of the causes of a child's success will determine whether the child attributes success to effort or to uncontrollable factors.

College Mothers Study

Dr. Ricco's current research study investigates the social role conflicts and parenting experiences of college mothers. This research is unique in the fields of education and human development. Less than ten other studies have investigated the student versus parent role of college mothers. Dr. Ricco has posed the question, How do college mothers balance the parent role and the student role? Dr. Ricco has examined a variety of different parenting styles, in college mothers, that may result in positive or negative attitudes toward learning in their child. Dr. Ricco has interviewed mothers who share their college experience with their children and explain to them what they are doing while they study for a college class. Other parents discuss very little or nothing at all with their child in an attempt to keep their student and parent roles separate. Dr. Ricco plans to examine how these parent strategies influence child outcomes.

Some factors that can affect the academic success of a college mother are family conflicts. Family conflicts may take time away from the college mother's time for studies. At the same time, school time away from family may result in family conflicts. Positive social support from family and friends can free a college mother's time for her studies and for interacting with her child. The results of the College Mothers study will indicate which factors influence a mother's efficacy in each role. Once these factors are determined, university and community based programs can offer resources for college parents. Currently the Infant/ Toddler Lab School on campus offers a convenient child care facility for college parents, http://icdfr.csusb.edu/InfantToddlerLabSchool.aspx. Additionally, distance and online learning courses allow college mothers flexibility. Recently, students in the Child Development program have been designing workshops for college mothers. Some potential topics would address identifying stress and learning positive coping mechanisms to reduce stress. The College Mothers study is funded by a Summer grant and internal mini grant.

Current Reseach Publications (in press):

The Relationship Between Epistemic Beliefs and Achievement Motivation in Early Adolescence
Robert Ricco, Sara Schuyten Pierce, and Connie Medinilla
California State University, San Bernardino

Abstract
This study sought to establish the relevance of students' naïve beliefs about knowledge and learning to their academic achievement motivation in middle school. A predominantly Hispanic and lower-income sample of 459 middle-school students (6th through 8th grades) completed the Schommer-Aikins et al. (2000) EBQ and the Conley et al. (2004) measure of epistemic beliefs about science along with several measures of motivation including self-efficacy, task value, and goal orientation. Results indicated that, in general, less complex epistemic beliefs were associated with lower academic self-efficacy and task value, more of a performance goal orientation, and less focus on learning goals. Epistemic beliefs were also found to predict science grades over and above the contributions of motivational factors. Surprisingly, a tendency to uncritically accept authority figures as valid sources of knowledge was more typical of students who adopted learning goals. The latter finding may be unique to early adolescence within the ethnic and SES parameters of the present sample.

This research was supported by the principle, teachers, and staff of Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in San Bernardino, California

College Mothers in the Dual Roles of Student and Parent: Implications for their Children's Attitudes Toward Learning
Robert Ricco, Sarah Sabet, and Cassandra Clough
California State University, San Bernardino

Abstract
This study sought to establish the relevance of college mothers' motivational orientation as students to the parenting of their school-age children and to their children's attitudes toward learning. College mothers (N = 89) with a child between the ages of 7 and 14 completed measures of their academic achievement motivation and self-regulation and of their approach to parenting a school-age child. Children (N = 61) completed a separate, parallel set of motivational measures. Mothers' reasons for going to college and extrinsic motivation as a student contributed to the prediction of their children's mastery orientation and academic self-efficacy above and beyond the contributions made by mothers' parenting attitudes. Results provide modest support for a mediational model in which college mothers' attitudes in providing homework assistance and their promotion of learning-mastery goals for their child mediate the effects of mothers' reasons for attending college and degree of self-regulation on children's mastery orientation.

Portions of this research were presented at the 2007 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston.

Recent Publications:

Ricco, R. B., (in press). The influence of argument structure on judgments of argument strength, function, and adequacy. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Ricco, R. B. (2007). Individual differences in the analysis of informal reasoning fallacies. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32, 459-484.

Ricco, R.B., & Rodriguez, P. (2006). The relation of personal epistemology to parenting style and goal orientation in college mothers. Social Psychology of Education, 9, 159-178.