The relationship between role modeling perceptions and self-regulation with gender, grade, and parents' education levels as moderating variables.

A deep understanding of the relationship between self-regulation and role models can enrich the theoretical models that affect the acquisition of self-regulation skills. This study aims to determine the moderating role demographic variables (i.e., gender, grade, and parent's education levels) have on the relationship between middle school students' perceptions of role modeling and their self-regulation. The study uses the explanatory correlation model, a correlational quantitative research design. The sample consists of 1,100 students studying in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades of secondary schools during the 2018–2019 academic year. The data have been analyzed using regression analysis in the package program SPSS 25 with the Process Macro plugin. The study has concluded the variables of gender and parents' education levels have a moderating effect on the relationship between secondary school students' perceptions toward role modeling and their self-regulation levels; grade level had no moderating effect. This study indicated that the father's education level had a more moderator effect on this relationship. These results are valuable in terms of revealing that the education level of the mother and father, which is considered the only variable in the studies, should be examined as two separate variables. The relationship between role modeling perceptions and self-regulation can be examined from a broader perspective by considering sociocultural, sociodemographic, and socioeconomic variables. Highlight: Demographic variables such as gender, grade level, and parental education level are generally interpreted using similar statistical analysis methods. We used the SPSS Process macro extension. Thus, we revealed the situation influencing the relationship between the two variables by looking at the demographic variables from a different perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]