Teacher support and academic achievement among Chinese middle school students: A moderated mediation model

Despite the ability of teacher support to improve students’ development and achievement, contemporary education practices in China tend to follow traditional Chinese teaching philosophy’s emphasis on discipline instead. This study examined the mediating effect of attachment to school and the moderating effect of parental involvement on the relationship between teacher support and academic achievement in the Chinese context. We used convenience sampling to survey 1,205 Chinese middle-school students and conducted conditional process analyses. Results were as follows: (a) teacher support was positively associated with students’ attachment to school and academic achievement, (b) attachment to school mediated the relationship between teacher support and academic achievement, and (c) parental involvement moderated the relationships between teacher support and academic achievement and between attachment to school and academic achievement. Through explaining the complex interactions between factors in the family and school domain, this study has important implications for school administrators and teachers to calibrate their teaching orientations.