The Mediating Role of Students’ Perception of Parental Behaviours between Parental Attachment and School Choice Exploration

Objectives - This study aimed to explore the relationships between students’ perception of parental behaviours towards their children’s choice, parental attachment and students’ exploration when choosing a school. Method - Participants included 1851 pre-adolescents attending some public middle schools’ third classes. They completed the adaptation to school choices of the Exploration of Vocational Issue Scale—the SIL Scale—to evaluate the students’ perceptions of their parents’ career-related behaviours and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment to evaluate the parental relationships. Results - The results showed significant relationships between communication, parental trust and parental alienation in regard to the exploration of choosing a school. Furthermore, the three perceived parental behaviours (support, interference and lack of engagement) partially mediated the relationship between parental attachment and exploration. Conclusions - The study suggests that a good attachment relationships encourages students to explore their own opportunity to choose the best schooling option only if they feel supported and not bypassed by their parents.