BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.10, No.2, 2022 1422 

 

 

 

 

Is “Hope for Success” Effective? 

By Cheng, G., Du, S. H., & Yu, Q. 
Correspondence to: Gang Cheng, Beijing Normal University. E-mail: 

cg@bnu.edu.cn  

HIGH expectations, strict requirements” has been the typical educational 

principle for many parents. However, does “ambition” really work? A 

study published in Journal of East China Normal University uses the statisti-

cal data of China Education Panel Studies (CEPS) from 2014 to 2015 to ex-

plore the influence of parent-child education expectation deviation on ado-

lescent academic performance and its mechanism by applying the least 

square regression, propensity score matching and Bootstrap mediation effect 

test. The results are as follows. 

 Comprehensive OLS and PSM estimation results of the whole 

sample show that parent-child education expectation deviation 

significantly and negatively affects adolescent academic perfor-

mance. 

 The up-biased parent-child education expectation deviation repre-

sented by a strong desire for success is not reasonable and has a 

significant negative impact on academic performance. There is no 

significant relation between the downward bias of parent-child 

education expectation deviation and academic performance, but it 

does not mean that it is reasonable that the perceived parental ed-

ucation expectation should be lower than the children’s self-

expectation. 

 Psychological pressure, academic burden and negative emotions 

play a partial mediating role in the relationship between upward 

biased parent-child education expectation deviation and academic 

achievement. The negative impact of over-expectation on indi-

viduals may be related to low learning efficiency and insufficient 

academic input caused by over-study and psychological pressure, 

which may lead to more severe psychological problems in the 

long run. 

 The results of gender comparison show that compared with girls, 

boys’ academic performance is more prone to the negative impact 

of up-biased parent-child education expectation deviation. The 

mediating mechanism provides a reasonable explanation for this 

result. The stress level, academic burden, and negative emotions 

“ 

mailto:cg@bnu.edu.cn


 

Vol.10, No.2, 2022 1423 

of boys with high expectation preference are higher than those of 

girls with high expectation preference. 

Based on the research results, this study suggests that in teenager fam-

ily education, parents should understand the fundamental value of education 

and make objective evaluation of children’s academic ability; Parent-child 

interaction and communication should be maintained; Parents should help 

their children to regulate their psychological pressure, academic burden and 

negative emotions; Parents should pay more attention to boys’ educational 

expectations to help them overcome academic difficulties, build confidence 

and grow up healthily. 

 

Source: Journal of East China Normal University (Education Science edi-

tion), 2022;(01):74-87.