This research examined whether the benefits of parents' involvement in children's learning are due in part to value development among children. Four times over the seventh and eighth grades, 825 American and Chinese children (mean age = 12.73 years) reported on their parents' involvement in their learning and their perceptions of the value their parents place on school achievement as well as the value they themselves place on it. Children's academic functioning was assessed via children's reports and school records. Value development partially explained the effects of parents' involvement on children's academic functioning in the United States and China. For example, the more children reported their parents as involved, the more they perceived them as placing value on achievement six months later; such perceptions in turn predicted the subsequent value children placed on achievement, which foreshadowed enhanced grades.

Chinese children outperform their American counterparts in the academic arena. Although many aspects of Chinese and American children's environments likely contribute to this achievement gap, a key aspect may be learning-related parenting (e.g., assisting children with homework and responding to children's performance). In this article, we review differences in Chinese and American learning-related parenting, with attention to the trade-offs of each culture's style for children's academic and emotional functioning. We consider an integrated style of parenting combining the strengths of the Chinese and American styles to facilitate children's academic and emotional functioning. © 2014 The Society for Research in Child Development.