# Parental educational expectations and academic achievement among Tibetans in China: a chain mediation model

## TL;DR

The study shows how Tibetan adolescents' academic success is influenced by their perception of parental expectations through their own expectations and engagement in learning.

## Contribution

This study introduces a chain mediation model linking parental expectations to academic achievement through adolescent expectations and learning engagement.

## Key findings

- Perceived parental expectations significantly predict academic achievement in Tibetan adolescents.
- Adolescents' own educational expectations mediate the relationship between parental expectations and academic achievement.
- A chain mediation effect exists through both educational expectations and learning engagement.

## Abstract

Educational expectation is a key determinant of adolescents’ academic achievement, influencing their sustained engagement in school activities. However, existing research has been controversial regarding the relationship between parents’ educational expectations and academic performance across diverse racial and ethnic groups.

Based on a survey of 521 Tibetan adolescents in western China, this study examined the direct and indirect effects of perceived parental educational expectations on academic achievement. Particular attention was paid to the mediating roles of adolescents’ own educational expectations and their learning engagement. Multiple mediation analyses were conducted to test these relationships.

Perceptions of parental educational expectations significantly predicted their academic achievement among Tibetan adolescents. Moreover, adolescents’ educational expectations mediated the relationship between perceived parental expectations and academic achievement. Learning engagement alone did not mediate this direct relationship, but both variables exerted a chain mediation effect. Perceived parental educational expectations influenced academic achievement sequentially through Tibetan adolescents’ own educational expectations and learning engagement.

This study confirms the chain mediation model and highlights the critical roles of both parental influence and individual psychological factors in shaping academic achievement. They have significant implications for improving the academic success of minority students such as Tibetan adolescents.