Parental Educational Attainment on Adolescent Educational Development: A Multi-Group Analysis of Chinese Left-Behind and Non-Left-Behind Children

Abstract

Utilizing data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this research focuses on the differences and mechanisms of intergenerational educational transmission between left-behind and non-left-behind children using structural equation modeling and multi-group path analysis. The findings indicate that significant intergenerational educational transmission effects exist in both groups, with parental educational attainment significantly impacting children’s academic performance. Further mediation analysis demonstrates that parental educational attainment influences children’s academic performance through the chain mediation effects of parental educational expectations and self-educational expectations. Multi-group path analysis reveals distinct mechanisms affecting academic performance: among non-left-behind children, parental educational attainment exerts a stronger direct influence on academic performance, while self-educational expectations are more influential for left-behind children. Additionally, the path coefficients for the effects of parental educational expectations and self-educational expectations on academic performance are higher for left-behind children than for non-left-behind children. Consequently, educational interventions should focus on enabling parents of left-behind children to effectively convey educational expectations through indirect methods (e.g., phone or online communication) and on enhancing left-behind children’s self-educational expectations through school and community support to facilitate academic achievement in the absence of direct family support.

Keywords

• left-behind children
• intergenerational transmission
• educational expectations
• educational inequality