Parental Involvement and Engagement in Higher Education: Reconceptualizing Family Roles in Adult Learning Contexts

Abstract

Parental involvement and family engagement have been extensively studied in primary and secondary education, yet their roles in higher education remain comparatively undertheorized and empirically underexplored. As the demographic profile of university students has diversified to include greater proportions of first-generation students, adult learners, and students from collectivist cultural backgrounds, the assumption that family influence diminishes upon tertiary enrollment has come under increasing scrutiny. This theoretical and literature review synthesizes research published between 2000 and 2025 to examine the nature, scope, and consequences of parental and family involvement in higher education. Drawing on Epstein's model of school-family-community partnerships, Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, and the sociological concept of social capital, the review critically evaluates how family involvement shapes student academic outcomes, sense of belonging, persistence, and well-being in university contexts. The review further examines how institutional responses to family involvement, including family orientation programs, communication policies, and parent portals, interact with student autonomy development and institutional cultures of independence. Key tensions are identified between family-supportive and autonomy-protective institutional orientations, and between the differential experiences of traditional-age, first-generation, and culturally diverse students. The paper concludes with a reconceptualized framework for understanding productive family engagement in higher education and proposes directions for future research and practice.