Parenting styles and children’s academic performance: Evidence from middle schools in China

Abstract

Most of the existing literature has shown that parents’ educational background, occupation and income will affect children’s initial endowment, educational investment and cultural environment. Few studies have used large samples to analyze the influence of parental communication, company, supervision, requirements and other parenting practices on children’s academic performance after controlling for parents’ external background. Based on a large sample survey of middle-school students in China, this study applies factor analysis and cluster analysis to categorize parenting styles as authoritative, permissive, authoritarian and neglectful. Using the instrumental variable method, we discuss the causal effect of parenting style on children’s academic performance. The findings are as follows: the parenting styles of Chinese parents are predominantly authoritarian and neglectful; parents of higher social classes tend to adopt the permissive parenting style; the authoritative parenting style is more conducive to improving children’s academic performance; parenting style has a greater effect on children from disadvantaged backgrounds; and the parenting styles of mothers play a more vital role in their children’s academic performance than do the parenting styles of fathers.