The Role of Family in the Socialization and Educational Success of Cambodian Children

Borey Be; Pisal Phon; Sreynith Phy; Sotheany Meng; Sreypich Ngol

doi:10.71514/jssal/2026.248

Authors

Borey Be College of Education, University of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0719-7497
Pisal Phon College of Education, University of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Sreynith Phy College of Education, University of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Sotheany Meng College of Education, University of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Sreypich Ngol College of Education, University of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.71514/jssal/2026.248

Keywords:

Academic support, educational inequality, family socialization, family structure, parental involvement.

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative study examines how children in an urban Cambodian context perceive family influence on their moral development, academic support, and schooling experiences. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with four Grade 6 students enrolled in private primary schools in Phnom Penh, the study focuses on children lived interpretations rather than measurable academic outcomes. Thematic analysis identified three interrelated dimensions: value and behavioural socialization, home-based academic support, and family structure and learning dynamics. Findings indicate that moral guidance and emotional encouragement were consistently transmitted across households, while academic assistance, study environments, and parental participation in school activities varied considerably. Differences were closely associated with parental availability, economic constraints, and caregiving arrangements. In several cases, siblings assumed instructional roles when parents were unavailable, highlighting the significance of extended-family dynamics. The study suggests that family influence operates through layered moral, relational, and material mechanisms shaped by socioeconomic conditions. The findings provide context-sensitive insight into how children interpret family processes within a specific urban Cambodian setting and contribute qualitative evidence to discussions of family socialization and educational inequality.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Andersen, P. L., & Hansen, M. N. (2012). Class and Cultural Capital—The Case of Class Inequality in Educational Performance. European Sociological Review, 28(5), 607–621. https://doi.org/10.1093/ESR/JCR029

Arnot, M., & Naveed, A. (2014). Educational outcomes across the generational and gender divide: The rural family habitus of Pakistani families living in poverty. Gender and Education, 26(5), 505–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2014.949635

Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. ‐C. (1977). Reproduction in education, society, and culture. - References - Scientific Research Publishing. Sage. https://www.scirp.org/reference/referencespapers?referenceid=249051

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Breen, R. (2019). Education and intergenerational social mobility in the US and four European countries. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 35(3), 445–466. https://doi.org/10.1093/OXREP/GRZ013

Breen, R., & Jonsson, J. O. (2005). Inequality of Opportunity in Comparative Perspective: Recent Research on Educational Attainment and Social Mobility. Annual Review of Sociology, 31(1), 223–243. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.31.041304.122232

Bukodi, E., Erikson, R., & Goldthorpe, J. H. (2014). The effects of social origins and cognitive ability on educational attainment. Acta Sociologica, 57(4), 293–310. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699314543803

Carvalho, M. (2015). The influence of family socialisation on the success of girls from poor urban communities in Brazil at school. Gender and Education, 27(6), 583–598. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2015.1071784

Conley, D., & Glauber, R. (2005). Parental Educational Investment and Children’s Academic Risk: Estimates of the Impact of Sibship Size and Birth Order from Exogenous Variations in Fertility. https://doi.org/10.3386/W11302

Del Toro, J., & Wang, M. Te. (2021). Longitudinal inter-relations between school cultural socialization and school engagement: The mediating role of school climate. Learning and Instruction, 75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2021.101482

Denham, S. A., Ferrier, D. E., & Bassett, H. H. (2020). Preschool teachers’ socialization of emotion knowledge: Considering socioeconomic Risk. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2020.101160

Hanlin, P., & Zhou, Q. (2024). A unified framework of parental socialization of executive function development. Developmental Review, 73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2024.101149

Hastings, P. D., & Grady, J. S. (2020). Socialization in Infancy and Early Childhood. Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development, 248–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21839-7

Hunter-Jones, P. (2014). Changing family structures and childhood socialisation: a study of leisure consumption. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(15–16), 1533–1553. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2014.930503

Kraemer, M. R. (2025). Race, parents, and schools: Understanding how parental racial socialization operates within schools as racialized organizations. Social Science Research, 127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2024.103137

Morris, D., & Jones, K. (2007). Minority language socialisation within the Family: Investigating the early welsh language socialisation of babies and young children in mixed language families in wales. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 28(6), 484–501. https://doi.org/10.2167/JMMD542.0

Sandefur, G. D., & Wells, T. (1999). Does Family Structure Really Influence Educational Attainment? Social Science Research, 28(4), 331–357. https://doi.org/10.1006/ssre.1999.0648

Titz-Mohácsi, V., & Széll, K. (2025). Attachment and socialization of siblings in Hungarian residential care: An ethnographic study. Children and Youth Services Review, 174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108346

Trinidad, J. E. (2021). Childhood adversity and deviant peers: Considering behavioral selection and cultural socialization pathways. Children and Youth Services Review, 121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105844

Tyrell, F. A., Lucke, C. M., Nelson, K. M., & Masten, A. S. (2022). Parent’s ethnic-racial socialization practices in families with young children experiencing homelessness. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 62, 76–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.07.018

Wu, W., Li, J., & Zhang, Y. (2025). Does parental academic socialization mitigate or exacerbate family background disadvantages? Predicting problem behaviors in migrant and local adolescents. Children and Youth Services Review, 176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108414

Yamamoto, Y., & Sonnenschein, S. (2016). Family Contexts of Academic Socialization: The Role of Culture, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status. Research in Human Development, 13(3), 183–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2016.1194711