The myth of parental Fear of Missing Out on their children’s schooling in China: a tentative study to explore its effect on children’s learning engagement

Parental educational anxiety, characterised by worry and anxiety about their children’s education, has emerged as a significant social issue. Drawing upon the theory of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), this study introduces a specific type of parental educational anxiety—parental FoMO on their children’s schooling, arising from concerns that their children may miss out on academic opportunities and experiences. Using data from 549 parent-child dyads, the study explores whether, how, and when parental schooling FoMO influences children’s learning outcomes. The results showed that parental schooling FoMO had both positive and negative effects on children’s learning engagement. Specifically, it enhanced engagement through increased parental behavioural involvement but hindered it through decreased parental affective involvement. Furthermore, a negative parenting practice, specifically parental phubbing, attenuated the positive effect of parental involvement on children’s learning engagement. These findings reveal the dual nature of parental schooling FoMO and offer insights into optimising children’s academic development.