Family Background, Parent Involvement, and Shadow Education Participation of Middle School Students - Empirical Analysis from CEPS2015 Data

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man

Using the 2015 data of the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), the relationship between family socioeconomic background, parent involvement, and shadow education participation was explored through structural equations. Results indicate that parent involvement strengthens shadow education participation and partially mediates the effect of family socioeconomic background on participation. Findings also suggest that family advantages activate greater involvement, and families across different strata exhibit differentiated opportunities for shadow education participation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Equal educational opportunity and pathways

Literature Review

Definitions and operationalization of parent involvement

Influence of family background on shadow education

Influence of family background on parent involvement

Study Framework and Empirical Analysis

Family Background, Parent Involvement, and Shadow Education Participation of Middle School Students: Empirical Analysis from CEPS2015 Data Xiang Gao, Haiping Xue Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China | Abstract. Using the 2015 data of the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), the relationship between family socioeconomic background, parent involvement, and shadow education participation was explored through structural equations. The results showed that: parent involvement strengthened shadow education participation; parent involvement played a part in the mediating role in the influence offamily socioeconomic background on shadow education participation. Parent involvement activates the advantage offamily socioeconomic background. Families with high socioeconomic backgrounds are more active in participating in shadow education, and families of different strata are divided into opportunities for participation in shadow education.
Best Evidence in Chinese Education 2021; 7(1):893-905.
Doi: [10.15354/bece.21.ar004](10.15354/bece.21.ar004). | | --- | | How to Cite: Gao, X. & Xue, H. (2021). Family background, parent involvement, and shadow education participation of middle school students: Empirical analysis from CEPS2015 data. Best Evidence in Chinese Education, 7(1):893-905. | Keywords: Shadow Education; Parent Involvement; Family Socioeconomic Background; High-Order Mediation Effect; Structural Equation Model About the Authors: Xiang Gao, Ed.D. Candidate, School of Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China. Email: [393156557@qq.com](393156557@qq.com). Correspondence to: Haiping Xue, Professor, Director, Institute of Educational Economics and Management, School of Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, [China. Email: xuehaiping_416@163.com](China. Email: xuehaiping_416@163.com). Funding: This study is a phased achievement of the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s general project “Family Capital, Shadow Education and Social Reproduction”(Project \#: 71774112). Conflict of Interests: None. © 2021 Insights Publisher. All rights reserved. Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Crea tive Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by](http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by)nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed by the Insights Publisher. IN the 1960s, Coleman and his colleagues published the “Equal Educational Oppor tunity Report.” The report found that family background is an essential factor that affects student development and academic performance, and is the regenerating source of educational inequality and even social inequality, and has a more significant impact than school (Coleman, 1966) . Family background currently affects student development through two main paths: parental participation in education and providing children with differentiated educational opportunities. Parents’ educational participation indicates that parents influence students’ learning and promote students’ development through direct participation in students’ learning guidance and supervision (Epstein, 1986) . In the case of the same school, parents provide differentiated educational opportunities for their children outside the school mainly by participating in “shadow education”(that is, extracurricular tutoring) to improve students’ educational competitiveness (Zhang & Bray, 2018) . So what is the relationship between these two paths? What role does parent involvement play in the influence of family socioeconomic background on shadow education participation? Literature Review Coleman, Hill, Bronfenbrenner, Joyce Epstein, and others have defined parent involvement (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Coleman, 1988; Epstein, 1987 ; Hill & Taylor, 2004) . The more

FAQs

What data source and method are used to analyze the relationships among family background, parent involvement, and shadow education?

The study uses 2015 data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) and applies structural equation modeling to test relationships among the variables.

How does parent involvement affect shadow education participation?

Parent involvement strengthens shadow education participation. It also plays a mediating role in how family socioeconomic background influences participation.

What educational pathways connect family socioeconomic background to shadow education participation?

The document describes two main paths: parental participation in education and the provision of differentiated educational opportunities through extracurricular tutoring (shadow education).

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man