Associations of private tutoring with Chinese students’ academic achievement, emotional well-being, and parent-child relationship

Abstract

Private tutoring has become a remarkable feature around the world, particularly in East Asia. While much of the studies have focused on the effect of private tutoring on student academic performance, its potential spillovers have been largely neglected. Using data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), this study not only investigates the relationship between private tutoring and academic achievement of Chinese junior high school students but explores the associations of tutoring with student emotional well-being and parent-child relationship. Our study shows that private tutoring is significantly and positively associated with student test scores, especially for subjects of English and mathematics. Furthermore, tutored students tend to report higher levels of self-confidence and parent-child relationship. However, with the intensity of private tutoring increases after a given threshold, its positive effects would be gradually declined. One possible reason examined in this study is that the parental involvement on student homework assistance and leisure activities are crowded out by the high-intensity tutoring. Implications for future research and public policy concerning private tutoring services are discussed.