The effects of educational aspirations on stability and change in psychological well-being of Chinese adolescents

Prior research has demonstrated the associations between parents' and adolescents' educational aspirations and adolescents' psychological well-being. However, it remains unknown about the associations between educational aspirations and stability and change of psychological well-being. This study included measures of positive (i.e., subjective well-being) and negative (i.e., psychological distress) psychological well-being to identify heterogeneous profiles, transition patterns, and examined the effects of parents' and adolescents' educational aspirations on transition patterns among 1217 Chinese adolescents (M-age = 11.96, SDage = 1.63; 48.9% boy). Four distinct profiles of psychological well-being, i.e., Flourishing (71%, Time 1; 68.5%, Time 2), Troubled (6.4%, Time1; 7.6%, Time 2), Vulnerable (8.8%, Time1; 8.9%, Time 2), and High Nervousness (13.8%, Time 1; 15%, Time 2), were identified. The Flourishing profile showed relatively stronger stability, and the Vulnerable profile showed the lowest stability. The results also revealed that Chinese adolescents with higher parents' and adolescents' educational aspirations, and those whose parents held higher educational aspirations than adolescents' own were more likely to display favorable transition patterns in psychological well-being. The findings highlighted the importance of identifying distinct subgroups and examining the roles of educational aspirations in developing more sophisticated intervention programs tailored to the unique characteristics of the relevant groups.