Parent-Child Expectation Discrepancy and Adolescent Mental Health: Evidence from “China Education Panel Survey”

Appropriate expectations are of great significance for adolescents’ psychological adjustment and healthy growth. Based on “China Education Panel Survey (CEPS)” data, this research analyzes how perceived parental expectations, adolescents’ self-expectations, and parent-child expectation discrepancies affect adolescent mental health. This paper focuses on three major aspects of expectations towards adolescents: educational achievement, residential place and general development, and explores how expectation discrepancies affect the influences of expectations on adolescent mental health. Results of linear regression models indicate that adolescents’ self-expectation on general development has positive impact on their mental health while the parent-child difference in general development expectation poses negative impact. Moderating effect tests clarify the differentiated influences of general development expectations on adolescent mental health at different levels of expectation discrepancies towards general development. In all cases, increases in general development expectations have positive effects on mental health. However, when the expectation discrepancy is small, the perceived parental expectation has a stronger effect than when the discrepancy is large. In addition, under the same levels of general development expectations, adolescents with lower parent-child expectation difference have better mental health status. Accordingly, an entry point of mental health intervention for adolescents within the family is parent-child communication reciprocity.