The Relationship Between Parents' Negative Academic Social Comparison And Adolescents' Academic Self-handicapping: The Mediating Role Of Personal Growth Initiative And The Moderating Role Of Parent-child Relationshi

Academic self-handicapping refers to the behaviors and choices that students make to avoid or reduce the potential for negative academic evaluations in learning situations by attributing the cause of failure to physical discomfort,bad mood,and unfavorable circumstances in order to achieve self-worth protection.To investigate the mechanisms of adolescents’ academic self-handicapping,this study used the Parent Downward Assimilation and Parent Upward Comparison subscales of the Perceived Academic Social Comparison,the Academic Self-handicapping Questionnaire,the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-Ⅱ,and the Parent-Child Intimacy Scale to examine 757 adolescents in Guangzhou and Zhaoqing City,Guangdong Province on the negative academic social comparison of parents,academic self-handicapping,personal growth initiative,and parent-child relationship.The study was conducted to examine the mediating role of personal growth initiative in parental negative academic social comparison and adolescent academic self-handicapping and the moderating role of parent-child relationship.Data analysis in this study using SPSS 22.0 found that:(1)adolescent parental academic social upward contrast and parental academic social downward assimilation were both at high levels,and parental academic social downward assimilation varied significantly by grade;adolescent academic self-handicapping scores were moderately low but showed significant differences by gender and grade;adolescent personal growth initiative was at high levels and personal growth initiative varies significantly by grade.(2)Parental academic social downward assimilation and parental academic social upward contrast were significantly and positively related to adolescents’ academic self-handicapping;parental academic social downward assimilation and parental academic social upward contrast were significantly and negatively related to adolescents’ personal growth initiative;personal growth initiative was significantly and negatively related to adolescents’ academic self-handicapping.(3)Personal growth initiative partially mediates the relationship between parental negative academic social comparison and adolescent academic self-handicapping.In the parental downward assimilation model,the mediating effect accounted for 4.76%;in the parental upward contrast model,the mediating effect accounted for 8.33%.(4)Parent-child relationships moderated the relationship between parental academic social upward contrast and adolescent academic self-handicapping,as shown by the positive association between parental academic social upward contrast and adolescent academic self-handicapping was significantly stronger among adolescents with high parent-child relationships than those with low parent-child relationships;father-child relationships moderated the relationship between personal growth initiative and adolescent academic self-handicapping,as shown by the negative association between personal growth initiative and adolescent academic self-handicapping increased among adolescents with low parent-child relationships.