Parental Anxiety In Children’s Education Researches In Perspectives Of Social Class Psychology

Research on anxiety has a long history,while educational anxiety is a more recent research proposition.In today’s society,where the distribution of educational resources is still unbalanced,the family capital of different social classes largely affects the educational access of children in compulsory education,and the increasing significance of educational stratification has further contributed to parental anxiety in children’s education,which to some extent is not conducive to the realization of educational equality.In such a social context,an in-depth exploration of the issue of educational anxiety among parents of different classes is of great practical significance for effectively dealing with parental anxiety in children’s education,narrowing the educational class gap and promoting educational equality.The existing studies on parental anxiety in children’s education is still in its infancy,the exploration of the structure and measurement tools of parental anxiety in children’s education needs to be further clarified,and the attention to parental anxiety in children’s education of different classes is not sufficient,and the results are not consistent.In view of this,this study was conducted with parents of primary and secondary school students in China,based on the clarification of the structure of parental anxiety in children’s education anxiety and the identification of appropriate measurement instruments,the current situation,influencing factors and effects of parental anxiety in children’s education anxiety in different classes were explored more systematically from the perspective of social class psychology.There are four parts to the study.In the first part of the study(Chapters 3 and 4),we first used qualitative research methods to conduct semi-structured interviews with 19 parents of primary and secondary school students in order to propose a four-dimensional structure of parental anxiety in children’s education,which provided a basis for the subsequent development of the measurement instrument for parental anxiety in chldren’s education.Subsequently,a rigorous scale development procedure was followed to develop a four-factor parental anxiety in children’s education scale applicable to different strata: academic performance anxiety,educational environment anxiety,educational input anxiety and educational outcome anxiety,which provided a valid measurement tool for the subsequent quantitative study.Based on the research instruments obtained in the first part,the second part of the study(Chapter 5)investigated the general situation of parental anxiety in children’education among 764 parents of primary and secondary school students,in order to understand the current differences between higher and lower social classes parental anxiety in children’s education and their characteristics in terms of demographic variables.The results showed that the level of parental anxiety in children’s education was generally moderately low,but a certain percentage of parents still had high levels of anxiety about children’s education.There were differences in the characteristics of parental anxiety in children’s education between higher and lower class parents,i.e.lower class parents had significantly higher levels of educational anxiety than higher class parents,and higher and lower class parents had different characteristics of educational anxiety in terms of demographic variables.Based on the findings of the second part of the study,the third part of the study(Chapter 6)explored the factors that influence parental anxiety in children’s education in different social classes,and whether there were different mechanisms for the occurrence of parental anxiety in children’s education in different classes,in order to provide ideas for the management and intervention of parental anxiety in children’s education.Specifically,first,the influences of home chaos,parenting locus of control and intolerance of uncertainty on parental anxiety in children’s education were examined.Second,the mediating effects of parenting locus of control and intolerance of uncertainty in the relationship between home chaos and parental anxiety in children’s education were examined.Third,differences in the antecedents of parental anxiety in children’s education were compared between higher and lower social classes.The study showed that home chaos,parenting locus of control and intolerance of uncertainty were all significant positive predictors of parental anxiety in children’s education both the higher and lower social classes;there were class differences in the mediating effects of source of parenting locus of control and intolerance of uncertainty.Understanding the effects of educational anxiety on the role of different classes of parents is to further clarify how to focus and type attention on the education of different classes.Therefore,the fourth part(Chapter7 and Chapter8)explored the effects of parental anxiety in children’s education on parent’ educational input and their children’s academic anxiety at both the individual and the child level.Firstly,two experiments were conducted to explore the effects of parental anxiety in children’s education on educational input across different social classes.Experiment1 examined the effects of parental anxiety in children’s education on educational involvement between higher and lower social classes by manipulating parental anxiety in children’s education and their subjective social class.Experiment2 examined the effects of educational anxiety on financial investment in children’s education between different social classes through video-induced parental anxiety in children’s education.It was found that lower class parents were more likely to invest more in their children’s education due to educational anxiety than higher class parents.Secondly,a longitudinal study was conducted with 404 pairs of primary school children in Years 4-6 and their parents(fathers or mothers)to explore the effects of educational anxiety of different social classes parents on their children’s academic anxiety.The results showed that there was no significant predictive relationship between higher class parental anxiety in childrens’ education and their children’s academic self-efficacy and academic anxiety;lower class parental anxiety in childrens’ education was a significant positive predictor of their children’s academic anxiety,and lower class parental anxiety in childrens’ education was a significant negative predictor of their children’s academic self-efficacy,which in turn affected their children’s academic anxiety.In summary,the following main conclusions can be drawn:(1)Parental anxiety in children’s education is essentially a concern about the uncontrollability of their children’s academic.It consists of four components,namely learning performance anxiety,educational environment anxiety,educational input anxiety,and educational outcome anxiety.(2)PACEs had good reliability and validity,and it can be used as a valid tool to assess educational anxiety for parents of primary and secondary school students.(3)The level of educational anxiety of parents from lower social classes was significantly higher than that of parents from higher social classes.Parental anxiety in children’s education in different classes had different characteristics in terms of demographic variables such as family residence and children’s school grades.(4)There are differences in the mechanisms by which home chaos affects educational anxiety among parents of different classes.Educational anxiety of lower class parents was more directly affected by home chaos than that of higher class parents.(5)Parenting locus of control and intolerance of uncertainty were two important psychological mechanisms in the formation of parental anxiety in children’s education.(6)There were class differences in the effects of parental anxiety in children’s education between higher and lower social classes.Compared to parents in higher social classes,parents’ educational anxiety in lower social classes had a stronger effect on their children’s educational input and academic anxiety.In conclusion,the characteristics,mechanisms and consequences of parental anxiety in children’s education are class-specific.These findings suggest that we should pay more attention to the educational anxiety of lower class parents.Thus,policymakers at the school and district levels can make effective and appropriate policies to provide policy support and educational guidance services for lower class families to enhance their educational input ability and improve their family living conditions.And lower class parents should also adjust their attributions and increase their tolerance for uncertainty.