Parental educational anxiety and adolescent problem behaviors: Serial mediation of psychological control and parent-child relationship with gender differences

Parental educational anxiety (PEA) has become an increasingly salient issue in global educational systems, especially in East Asian societies where academic competition is intense. Although previous studies have identified associations between parental educational anxiety and negative adolescent outcomes, the mechanisms underlying this association remain inadequately understood. Guided by family systems theory, this cross-sectional study investigated the pathways linking parental educational anxiety to adolescent problem behaviors, using survey data from 1131 Chinese adolescents and their parents. Results revealed four key findings: First, parental educational anxiety was weakly but statistically correlated with adolescent problem behaviors. Second, psychological control partially mediated this relationship. Third, a serial mediation pathway was identified in which psychological control negatively affected the parent-child relationship. Fourth, gender differences were observed. For boys, psychological control and parent-child relationship acted as independent mediators. For girls, only the serial mediation effect was significant. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the "anxiety-control-estrangement" pathway in Chinese families and provide a theoretical basis for family-oriented interventions aimed at reducing adolescent behavioral problems.