The Impact of Family Socioeconomic Status (SES) on Adolescents' Learning Conformity: The Mediating Effect of Self-Esteem.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and adolescents' learning conformity and self-esteem among a sample of 15-18 year-old high school students. A survey was conducted on 339 adolescents using measures of family SES, self-esteem, and learning conformity. An intermediary effect model was constructed to examine the mediating mechanism of self-esteem in the impact of family SES on adolescents' learning conformity. In our study, we observed that male adolescents were more likely to come from families with higher socioeconomic status (SES) and exhibited relatively higher levels of self-esteem compared to female adolescents. However, this finding should be regarded as an observational outcome specific to our study sample and does not directly indicate a causal relationship between gender and family SES or self-esteem. Adolescents from rural areas were more likely to exhibit tendencies towards learning abidance and compliance. Family SES positively predicted self-esteem. The intermediary model indicated that family SES significantly positively influenced learning abidance and compliance, with self-esteem partially mediating the effects at 33.49% and 33.33%, respectively. Family SES negatively affected learning obedience, with self-esteem partially mediating the effect at 39.77%. Among the 15-18 year-old high school student population, family SES not only directly affects learning abidance, compliance, and obedience but also generates an indirect mediating effect through self-esteem.