Impacts of family environment on adolescents’ academic achievement: The role of peer interaction quality and educational expectation gap

Abstract

The current study uses a two-wave longitudinal survey to explores the influence mechanism of the family environment on adolescents’ academic achievement. The family environment is measured by parents and children’s reports, including family atmosphere, parent–child interaction, and family rules, to reveal the mediating effect of adolescents’ positive or negative peers between the family environment and academic achievement, and whether the gap between self- and parental educational expectation plays a moderating effect. This study uses the data of the China Education Panel Study (CEPS); the survey samples include 9,449 eighth-grade students (Mage = 13.55 years, SD = 0.70), establishing a multilevel moderated mediating effect model. The results showed (1) the family environment and peer interaction quality can positively predict adolescents’ academic achievement. (2) Using the KHB test, peer interaction quality plays a partial mediating role in the process of family environment positively affecting academic achievement, and the mediating ratio is 27.5%. (3) The educational expectation gap moderates the effect of the family environment on academic achievement and also on peer interaction quality. Therefore, from the perspective of environment and important others, to correctly grasp the academic achievement of junior high school students in the process of socialization, it is necessary to recognize that the family environment, peer interaction quality, and educational expectation gap play an important role.

Evaluation of the Effect of Parental Participation on Chinese Adolescent Behavioral Development Through the Mediating Effect of Peers: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…The family, which is the main place for adolescents to realize socialization and shapes adolescents’ good social behavior, 7 is composed of several subsystems. Parental participation is the core element of the family system, and it directly determines the physical and mental development of children.…”

“… 5 Moreover, behavioral development in the adolescent stage reflects the development of the individual’s self-control, awareness, and evaluation of their developmental needs, as well as the overall state of self-regulation, or the individual’s ability to choose, understand, memorize, and use information in the environment to make judgments and decisions. Many studies have focused on adolescents’ academic performance and school behavior, 6 , 7 prosocial and problem behavior, 8 , 9 and social behavior development. 10 , 11 For example, research has found that parents’ cultural preferences, tastes, or reading tastes play a subtle role in their children’s disposition, emotions, and mentality, and strengthen their children’s cognitive, ethical, and other social activities.…”

“… 21 Peer interaction quality, along with self-emotional regulation and adaptive capacity, is a mediating variable in studies that have examined parent-child interactions and parental support affecting adolescents’ academic performance and investigated the process mechanisms by which parents influence their children’s development. 7 , 22 However, these studies have not expanded on the research on the existence of moderating mechanisms.…”

Socioeconomic status and problem behaviors in young Chinese children: A moderated mediation model of parenting styles and only children

“…Focusing on the family environment is natural because it is the social context in which children typically spend most of their time and have many key relationships (Barber and Olsen, 1997). The family environment is the sum of physical and psychological conditions, which carries the development of individual personality and behavior (Zhao and Zhao, 2022). According to the family systems theory, the family is composed of several subsystems, which are interconnected and mutually constrained to make the whole family function well, and the better the coordination of the family system, the better the psychological shape and academic performance of the members (Miller et al, 1985).…”

Family Support and Academic Performance of Learners

“…The study is anchored on Family Systems Theory by Kerr and Bowen as discussed by Zhao and Zhao (2022), which is a theory of human behavior that defines the family unit as a complex social system in which members interact to influence each other's behavior. It was discussed that the family is composed of several subsystems that are interconnected and mutually constrained to make the whole family function well, and the better the coordination of the family system, the better the intellectual and psychological health of the members.…”