Research On The Connotation And Causes Of Middle-class Parents’ Educational Anxiety

Currently,parents’ educational anxiety is widespread.As China’s social structure changes and the market economy transforms,the middle class continues to grow and become a pivotal force in social development.Based on the noninheritability of cultural capital and the diversity of information channels,this study focuses on the middle class with certain capital accumulation.The educational anxiety of the middle-class is an issue that needs urgent social attention and research.However,the connotation and causes of educational anxiety among middle-class parents are not uniform and clear enough.There is a lack of scientific basis for empirical research.Therefore,exploring the connotation and causes of educational anxiety among middle-class parents in China has become a topic that needs urgent attention at present.This study used a qualitative research method to conduct semi-structured indepth interviews with 15 middle-class parents selected nationwide based on the occupational criteria of the middle class.Through the compilation and analysis of the interview data,this study summarized the connotation of parental education anxiety as the emotions of worry,concern,confusion,and uneasiness that parents feel because of the undesirable state or unknown situations that may arise in the process of their children’s growth and development and their own educational involvement.Among them,anxiety about children’s growth and development mainly includes anxiety about children’s physical and mental health,academic performance and future development.Anxiety about their own educational participation mainly includes anxiety about educational methods and anxiety about educational ability.Regarding the causes of educational anxiety,this study uses cognitivebehavioral theory and social comparison theory as the theoretical basis,and analyzes them from two perspectives: individual cognitive and social comparison.The individual cognitive factors include excessive educational expectations,the tendency of educational utilitarianism,and excessive negative imagination.The social comparison factors include the hostage of peer groups,the challenge of school selection,the fierce employment competition,the hidden worry of class mobility,and the rendering of the Internet media.The two perspectives are not independent of each other,but rather influence each other and work together to contribute to the educational anxiety of middle-class parents.Finally,this study discusses the necessity and ways to intervene in parents’ educational anxiety from the perspective of social work practice,and proposes suggestions to alleviate parents’ educational anxiety: first,to empower family education and establishing reasonable educational perceptions;second,to promote home-school linkage and give full play to the role of the main school education;third,to provide policy suggestions to promote educational equity and quality improvement.