Education Fever and Adolescent Deviance in China

Abstract

Is education fever in China, embodied in parents’ high expectations of and heavy investments in children’s education, a source of strain for the offspring? Using a nationally representative sample of children from 6th to 12th grade, we examine the effects of education fever on adolescent deviance in China, controlling for a range of individual and family characteristics. The regression results revealed that parental investment increased adolescents’ deviant behavior even when children’s academic performance and family socioeconomic status were controlled, whereas parental expectation did not affect adolescents’ deviant behavior. These findings demonstrated that education fever, particularly in the form of heavy parental investment, constitutes a salient source of strain for Chinese adolescents and its deviance-promoting influence should not be ignored.