The Relationship between Parents’ Social Comparison Orientation and Educational Anxiety of Preschool Children Aged 2-5 Years Old in A District of Jilin Province, China: the Mediating Role of Parental Educational Expectations

Educational involution is a major concern in the field of education in China and needs to be solved urgently. In this study, we investigated the effect of parents’ social comparison orientation on educational anxiety in preschool children aged 2-5 years old. A mediation model was constructed from “social comparison orientation” to “parental educational anxiety” with “parental educational expectation” as the mediator through structural equation modeling. The results of the study found that: (1) parents’ social comparison orientation significantly and positively predicted their level of educational anxiety; (2) parental educational expectations could partially mediate the relationship between social comparison orientation and parental educational anxiety. The results of this study suggest that parents’ individual factors, such as social comparison orientation, are also important factors that can catalyze educational involution. Parents could make changes in themselves to reduce the negative effects of involution on their children.