Generative AI use and scientific literacy among 15-year-olds in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, China: the mediating role of academic help-seeking

Introduction Adolescents increasingly use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbots for schoolwork, yet evidence on whether this use supports or undermines learning is mixed. Drawing on research on cognitive offloading and self-regulated learning, we examined whether GenAI use for schoolwork is related to scientific literacy directly and through two components of self-regulated learning, academic help-seeking and metacognitive strategy use, and whether the purpose of use matters. Methods We analyzed the Program for International Student Assessment 2025 (PISA 2025) data from 12,191 15-year-old students in 374 schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, China. Weighted two-level mediation models compared students within the same school, used all ten plausible values, and evaluated indirect effects with Monte Carlo confidence intervals. Results were checked against a design-based model with school fixed effects and balanced repeated replication weights. Results Students who used GenAI more often than their schoolmates reported more help-seeking ( β = 0.17) and more metacognitive strategy use ( β = 0.30). Help-seeking was positively associated with scientific literacy, yielding a positive indirect effect ( β = 0.013, 95% CI [0.009, 0.017]); the indirect effect through metacognitive strategies was smaller ( β = 0.007) and was fully accounted for by science self-efficacy. The direct association between GenAI use and scientific literacy was negative ( β = −0.048, about 4 PISA points), and the positive indirect effects offset about 40% of it, leaving a small negative total association ( β = −0.028). Purpose mattered: among users, using GenAI “to help me learn” was associated with higher scientific literacy (+5.8 points per response category), whereas using it to summarize texts, research new topics, or draft assignments was associated with lower scores (−6.6 points). The results did not differ by gender or socioeconomic status and were identical under the design-based model. Discussion GenAI use for schoolwork is associated with scientific literacy through opposing pathways: a positive one through academic help-seeking and a negative direct one, and the direction of the association differs by purpose of use. Because the data are cross-sectional, these associations may partly reflect which students use GenAI rather than the effects of its use.