Adolescents’ perceived parental psychological control and test anxiety: Mediating role of academic self-efficacy

We examined the relationship between parental psychological control and their children’s test anxiety in the Chinese cultural context, and tested the mediating role of the children’s academic self-efficacy in this relationship. Chinese high-school students (N = 401, 158 boys and 243 girls), aged between 15 and 18 years, completed a self-report survey assessing parental psychological control, academic self-efficacy, and test anxiety. The results showed a positive association between parental psychological control and the students’ test anxiety. The students’ academic self-efficacy was negatively correlated with parental psychological control and the students’ test anxiety. Additionally, results of structural equation modeling indicated that the students’ academic self-efficacy partially mediated the effect of their perception of parental psychological control on their test anxiety. These results reveal the negative influence of parental psychological control on their children’s test anxiety and identify academic self-efficacy as a mediating variable through which parental psychological control exerts effects on their children’s test anxiety.