Abstract

Parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory) is a socialization theory which attempts to predict and explain major causes, consequences and other correlates of parental acceptance-rejection globally. Academic achievement and psychological adjustment have long been of concern to educators, parents and policymakers. Researchers have explored variables which interact between parental acceptance-rejection and children’s academic performance. A burgeoning literature suggests that the quality of the relationship which children have with their parents and teachers has significant developmental consequences. Research in this area has indicated that security in the teacher-child relationship influences children’s development in the same way that parent-child attachment does. Children may look to their teachers for the same kind of security and emotional response as they do to their parent. This article is a review of 17 publications appearing since 1994. Our primary purpose is to present a comprehensive and cross-cultural picture of the relationship between children’s perception of their teachers’ and parents’ (or primary caregivers’) acceptance-rejection, children’s level of academic achievement and psychological adjustment. This article was written in recognition of the fact that majority of the research on the consequences of perceived teacher acceptance-rejection has been done in the United States of America and other predominantly English countries and therefore, little is known about this phenomena outside these countries. Findings of the present study have important implications for the researchers, policy makers, educational psychologists, and counselors in taking appropriate measures for improving students’ school-conduct, psychological adjustment, and academic achievement in more significant ways.

Key words: Teacher acceptance, parental acceptance, psychological adjustment, academic achievement.