







































 

 

 

 

 

 

The Current State and Characteristics of 

Parental Educational Anxiety and 

Contributing Factors

Yadong Ding,
1
 Haiping Xue

2
 

 
1. China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 211116, Jiangsu, China 

2. Capital Normal University, Beijing 100089, China 

 

Abstract: This article employed descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and 

mediating effect analysis to study the current state and characteristics of parental 

educational anxiety as well as contributing factors. It was found that there was a 

66.8% rate of educational anxiety among parents surveyed; that education policies 

were the primary factor in parental educational anxiety, with their relation being 

mainly mediated by school-related variables; that there was a significantly negative 

correlation between child academic performance and parents’ educational anxiety; 

and that mothers are more prone to educational anxiety than fathers. 

Best Evidence in Chinese Education 2023; 14(2):1771-1774. 

Doi: 10.15354/bece.23.ar078 

How to Cite: Ding, Y., & Xue, H. (2023). The current state and characteristics of 

parental educational anxiety and contributing factors, Best Evidence in Chinese 

Education, 14(2):1771-1774. 

Keywords: Educational Anxiety; Academic Achievement; Educational Policy; Compulsory 

Education 

 
 

About the Authors: Yadong Ding, School of Public Policy and Management, China University of Mining and 

Technology, Xuzhou 211116, Jiangsu, China. 

Haiping Xue, School of Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100089, China. E-mail: 

xuehaiping_416@163.com 

Correspondence to: Haiping Xue at Capital Normal University of China. 

Conflict of Interests: None. 
 

© 2023 Insights Publisher. All rights reserved. 

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the 

Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License 

(http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of 

the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed by the Insights Publisher. 

mailto:xuehaiping_416@163.com
http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/


Ding & Xue. (Beijing, China). Parental Educational Anxiety and Contributing Factors. 

BECE, Vol.14, No. 2, 2023 1772 

Introduction 

HE study focused on the parents of compulsory education students in Shanghai 

city. Through a large-scale survey and subsequent data analysis, it aimed to the 

status quo and characteristics of educational anxiety among parents of compul-

sory education students; analyze the factors in parental educational anxiety from the 

standpoints of educational policies, schools, families, and students; and propose rec-

ommendations on improving the education policy system from the perspective of policy 

design. 

Analytical Framework and Data 

Analytical Framework 

The government, schools, parents, and students were chosen as the analytical dimen-

sions of the educational setting to explore the causes of parental educational anxiety 

using variables such as parental understanding of educational policy, school education 

service quality, parental educational expectations, and student academic performance. 

The focus of analysis was on the impact of parental knowledge of educational policies, 

parental satisfaction with the quality of school education services, and student academic 

performance on parental educational anxiety. 

Data and Variables 

The research was based on the data from the Survey on Compulsory Education Students’ 

Needs to Participate in Off-campus Education by East China Normal University’s Na-

tional Institute of Educational Policy Research. The survey adopted a convenience sam-

pling method to select primary and middle schools from various administrative districts 

in Shanghai and include all students from the selected schools and their parents in the 

sample. A total of 68205 valid questionnaires were retrieved with 35,162 from parents 

and 33043 from students. Main variables were established from the aspects of the edu-

cational policy, school, parent, and student. 

Data Analysis 

Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the current state and characteristics of 

parents’ educational anxiety. Subsequently, regression analysis was adopted to identify 

the influences of educational policy-, school-, family-, and student-related factors on 

parents’ educational anxiety. Furthermore, the mediation model was constructed to clar-

ify the paths to the influences of all variables on parents’ educational anxiety and rele-

vant mediating effects. 

 

T 



Ding & Xue. (Beijing, China). Parental Educational Anxiety and Contributing Factors. 

BECE, Vol.14, No. 2, 2023 1773 

The Status Quo of Parental Educational Anxiety and 

its Characteristics 

High Prevalence of Parental Educational Anxiety 

Among parents surveyed, 66.8% felt extremely anxious about child education, with 

14.4% feeling “very anxious” and 52.4% feeling “considerably anxious.” The overall 

parental educational anxiety was above the moderate level. 

 

The Wide Variety of Causes of Parental Educational 

Anxiety 

The issues that related to parents’ educational anxiety included child academic perfor-

mance (79.3%), campus safety (54.5%), mobile phone addiction (54.3%), soft skill cul-

tivation (50.7%), educational equity (44.8%), school choice (39.9%), foreign language 

learning (27.3%), puppy love (25.4%), educational investment (24.4%), off-campus 

training (24%), sex education (21.6%), school district-focused residence (10.7%), and 

overseas study (7%), among which, child academic performance remained the greatest 

source of parental educational anxiety. 

Factors Influencing Parental Educational Anxiety 

(i) Parents’ understanding of the policies on the senior secondary education entrance 

examination and “Double First-class” universities posed a salient impact on their 

educational anxiety. 

(ii) School service quality had a significant influence on parental educational anxiety, 

while school ownership was not related to it. 

(iii) Certain aspects of family capital had prominent impacts on parental educational 

anxiety. Parental education levels, parental occupational status, and home econom-

ic status were positively related to parents’ educational anxiety. 

(iv) Child academic results exerted a substantial impact on parents’ educational anxiety. 

Parents’ low satisfaction with child school performance was a critical reason for 

their educational anxiety. 

Mediating Effects on the Generation of Parental Edu-

cational Anxiety 

Educational policies are the primary factor influencing parental educational anxiety. In 

addition to their direct impact, they also indirectly affect parents’ educational anxiety 

via school-, family-, and student-related factors. As a result, a multi-channel mediation 

path arose, consisting of chains “educational policies – parental educational anxiety,” 

"educational policies – schools – parental educational anxiety,” “educational policies – 



Ding & Xue. (Beijing, China). Parental Educational Anxiety and Contributing Factors. 

BECE, Vol.14, No. 2, 2023 1774 

families – parental educational anxiety”, and “educational policies – schools – students 

– parental educational anxiety.” 

Conclusions 

The research concluded that: (i) educational policies posed the strongest impact on pa-

rental educational anxiety, and the mediating chain “educational policies – schools – 

parental educational anxiety” served to be the primary path; (ii) parents’ knowledge of 

educational policies were closely associated with their educational anxiety; (iii) Family 

capital significantly affected parents’ educational anxiety; (iv) Child academic perfor-

mance was negatively related to parental educational anxiety; (v) the quality of school 

education service had significant influences on parents’ educational anxiety; (vi) Moth-

ers were more prone to educational anxiety than fathers, and parents’ educational anxie-

ty peaked at the junior secondary phase. 

 

 

The Chinese version of this article has been published in Journal of Capital Normal University (Social 

Sciences Edition), 2022(5):145-156. The English version has been authorized for being publication in 

BECE by the author(s) and the Chinese journal. 

 

丁亚东, 薛海平. 家长教育焦虑的现状, 特征及影响因素—基于 35162 名家长的实证研究. 首都师
范大学学报 (社会科学版) 2022(5):145-156. 

 

 
 

Received: 11 June 2023 

Revised: 29 June 2023 

Accepted: 8 July 2023 

 

 

 

 

 


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