Parental rearing styles and academic self-handicapping among Chinese university students: The mediating role of academic self-efficacy

Grounded in psychological flexibility theory, this study examined the mediating role of academic self-efficacy in the relationship between parental rearing styles and academic self-handicapping among Chinese university students. A sample of 520 undergraduate and postgraduate students completed measures assessing parental warmth, overprotection, and rejection, as well as academic self-efficacy and self-handicapping behaviors. Structural equation modeling indicated that both paternal and maternal warmth were positively related to academic self-efficacy, which in turn was negatively related to self-handicapping, supporting partial mediation. Overprotection from both parents was associated with lower self-efficacy and higher self-handicapping, with modest indirect pathways. For parental rejection, differentiated patterns emerged: paternal rejection was not significantly related to self-efficacy but directly predicted higher self-handicapping, whereas maternal rejection was negatively associated with self-efficacy and also positively associated with self-handicapping, resulting in a significant indirect effect. This suggests that role differences may not be universal across parenting dimensions but are more pronounced in contexts of rejection. Overall, the findings indicate that academic self-efficacy may help explain observed associations between parenting behaviors with students' tendencies toward self-handicapping.