The study found that patterns of parenting regarding a child's acquisition of knowledge and scholastic skills affected the child's motivation to perform well in school during the period from fifth grade to seventh grade. Parents who pressured their fifth-grade children to do their homework, criticized or punished them for receiving bad grades, or gave them special treats or gifts for good grades were linked with their children's poor academic performance in the seventh grade. Also, parents who set few behavioral guidelines and neither taught nor modeled goal-oriented behavior for their fifth-grade children were linked to their children's poor school performance in the seventh grade. On the other hand, parents who allowed their fifth-grade children to express their ideas and opinions and to participate in family decisions (autonomy-supporting parents) tended to foster the capacity for their children's independent thinking and problem-solving. This apparently translated into a strong motivation to perform well in the seventh grade. A total of 93 mothers and 60 fathers of fifth-grade students in 7 elementary schools in New England agreed to participate in the study. By the seventh-grade year, 87 families remained in the study. Data from families and children were collected by trained field workers during many home visits in the fall and winter of the fifth-grade and seventh-grade years. Questionnaires and interviews obtained information on parenting styles, and school grades and scores on the Stanford Achievement Test measured the children's school performance. Harter's questionnaire, Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Orientation in the Classroom, was used to assess children's motivation toward academic learning. 3 tables, 6 figures, and 37 references