The Relationship Between Parental Educational Anxiety And Adolescent Internalizing Problems: The Chain Mediating Role Of Parental Social Comparison And Academic Pressur

Adolescence is an important period in the development of the individual,a period in which the individual further matures cognitively,but at the same time this period is also prone to many problem behaviors.Internalizing problems are problems that point to the inner part of an individual’s psyche,including anxiety and depression(Armsden et al.,2016).Adolescence is a high-risk period for the occurrence of internalizing problems(Xu,Fu-zhen et al.,2015),and internalizing problems during this period tend to be self-directed difficulties that often manifest as: withdrawal,emotional problems,and somatization symptoms(Willner et al.,2016).According to family systems theory,the family has a significant influence on adolescent development.Among the factors that influence adolescents’ internalizing problems,the role of the family has been widely followed by researchers.As the competition in education has become increasingly fierce,“internalization” has become a social phenomenon of increasing concern,and parents’ educational anxiety has become increasingly prominent,while parental educational anxiety has some specificity in the Chinese cultural context.Therefore,this study intends to examine the influence of parental education anxiety on adolescents’ internalization problems.In addition,the emergence of adolescent internalizing problems is often the result of a combination of factors,so we will further investigate the mechanisms through which the effects of parental educational anxiety on adolescent internalizing problems are realized.This study used the Parental Educational Anxiety Questionnaire,the Adolescent Internalizing Problems Scale,the Parental Social Comparison Scale,and the Academic Stress Scale.The subjects were mainly selected from children in grades 5and 6(three elementary schools)and grades 7,8,and 9(two junior high schools)in Qingdao and their primary caregivers.750 questionnaires were distributed to collect data on parental educational anxiety,adolescent internalizing problems,parental social comparison,and academic stress.Data related to stress and the analysis yielded the following main findings:(1)Parental educational anxiety is positively related to adolescent internalizing problems,and parental academic pressure can significantly and positively predict adolescent internalizing problems.(2)Parental social comparison and parental academic pressure mediate between parental educational anxiety and adolescent internalizing problems.Parental educational stress influences parental social comparison and academic pressure,affecting adolescent internalizing problems.(3)The mediating chain effect of parental social comparison and parental academic stress differed significantly by gender,place of origin,school section,and achievement.According to the above conclusions,parents should pay attention to the use of different parenting methods for children of different genders,avoid verbal abuse for girls,and the occurrence of corporal punishment for boys.In addition,parents should also pay attention to reducing their anxiety when facing their children’s educational problems and try not to pass this anxiety on to their children.When parents educate about anxiety,they should also focus on reducing their comparative behaviour and not put too much pressure on their children.At the same time,schools should also set up relevant education courses to help parents alleviate the anxiety of education,create a good family atmosphere,and help teenagers reduce the generation of internalization problems to grow better.