Are High Parental Expectations Reasonable?—Research on the Impact of Parent Child Discrepancies in Educational Expectations on Academic Achievement

Abstract

Educational expectations, which reflect the anticipations of individuals, parents, or teachers regarding the future educational achievements of learners, play a pivotal role in both academic achievement and personal development. The prevalent discrepancies in educational expectations between parents and children have been overlooked in numerous studies despite their potential to result in suboptimal individual behavior. This study investigated the impact and operational mechanisms of parent-child discrepancies in educational expectations on adolescent academic achievement, utilizing data from the China Education Panel Survey of the 2014-2015 academic year. Additionally, ordinary least squares regression, propensity score matching, and Bootstrap test for mediation analysis were employed. The research underscored that parent-child discrepancies in educational expectations had a significant negative impact on the academic achievement of adolescents. Specifically, the upward-biased parent-child discrepancies in educational expectations, characterized by extremely high aspirations for children to become talented individuals, were unreasonable and had a significant negative impact on academic achievement. Meanwhile, no significant relationship was observed between downward biased parent-child discrepancies in educational expectations and academic achievement. Psychological stress, academic burdens, and negative emotions mediated the relationship between upward-biased parent-child discrepancies in educational expectations and academic achievement to some extent. Furthermore, male students were more susceptible to the adverse effects of upward-biased parent-child discrepancies in educational expectations on academic achievement than female students. Based on these findings, several countermeasures and suggestions were proposed, including establishing reasonable educational expectations and enhancing parent-child communication.

Keywords

adolescents / discrepancies in educational expectations / intergenerational difference / academic achievement / operational mechanisms

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