Family socioeconomic status and Chinese high school students’ test anxiety

Serial mediating role of parental psychological control, learning resources, and student academic self‐efficacy

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21392041
AutoresXiaobo Xu (0000-0002-6360-3752, Department of Psychology Shanghai Normal University Shanghai China), Mengya Xia (0000-0001-6413-353X, Department of Psychology The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa AL USA), Weiguo Pang (0000-0001-6702-8030, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science East China Normal University Shanghai China, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen62
Número5
Páginas689-698
Fecha de publicación2021-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaScandinavian Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0036-5564 • E-ISSN: 1467-9450
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/sjop.12750
PMID34155654
OpenAlexW3176544059
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas64

It is widely documented that students with lower family socioeconomic status (SES) tend to have higher test anxiety than their peers from higher SES families. However, few studies have empirically examined the underlying mechanism whereby family SES shapes students’ test anxiety. To bridge this gap, the present study proposed and tested a serial mediation model in which family SES is associated with students’ test anxiety through the indirect effect of parental psychological control, access to learning resources, and academic self‐efficacy. The sample comprised 354 Chinese high school students (134 boys; mean age = 16.15 years old). The results were as follows: (1) higher family SES was associated with increased access to learning resources, higher academic self‐efficacy, lower parental psychological control, and lower test anxiety. In contrast, test anxiety was associated with decreased access to learning resources, lower academic self‐efficacy, and higher parental psychological control; and (2) the mediation model indicated parental psychological control, learning resources, and academic self‐efficacy functioned as serial mediators in the relationship between family SES and students’ test anxiety (i.e., family SES → psychological control and learning resources → academic self‐efficacy → test anxiety). The findings are discussed in the framework of the family stress/investment models and social cognitive theory. Concrete suggestions for how low SES parents can help decrease their children’s test anxiety are provided

Academic achievement · Anxiety · Developmental psychology · Mediation · Population · Psychiatry · Self-control · Self-efficacy · Socioeconomic status · Test (biology) · Test anxiety · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Parental Involvement in Education · Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology