Parents’ academic expectations and psychological distress among adolescents in
secondary schools
There are cases where parents have a lower expectation than their children of their academic
performance. This equally can affect the well-being of the adolescent because their
expectations do not match those of their parents who are supposed to support them
emotionally and financially to continue with their studies. A longitudinal survey comprising
parents' and their children's opinions (children aged 13 years) responded three-year
questionnaires by Almroth, Laszlo, Kosidou, and Rosaria (2019) in Sweden on scholastic
expectations and mental health of teenagers. The strengths and problems questionnaire's
internalizing and externalizing subscales were used to assess the children's mental health. A
multilevel logistic model for repeated measure was created to investigate the relationships
between parental expectations and kid expectations, as well as the child's high internalizing.
The findings demonstrated a link between lower parental expectations than those of a
university and a higher risk of significant externalizing difficulties in offspring. When the
adolescent's or parent's expectations were lower than university, the likelihood of the
adolescents having high externalizing scores were higher than when both expected a
university degree. Internalizing issues, on the other hand, were not shown to have any
meaningful connections. As a result, the study indicated that parents' low academic
expectations for their children may have a negative impact on their children's externalizing
symptoms. Similar findings are found in the current study when it comes to determining the
prevalence of psychological discomfort among teenagers in connection to their parents'
scholastic expectations.
Every parent wants their children to achieve academic success. They become their pride in
this way, and in poor families, a source of hope for improving the family's economic situation.
Little do the parents realize that their high expectations on their children expose them to the
risk of mental health disorders, which can impact the child's academic performance or even
lead to the adolescent's low mental well-being. Academic stress, parental pressure, anxiety,
and mental health among Indian high school students were studied by Deb et al., (2015). The
poll included 190 pupils from three government schools and three private schools in Kolkata,
with an average age of 16.72 years. The information was gathered through a structured
questionnaire as well as a general health questionnaire. Almost two-thirds of students (63.5
percent) said they were stressed out by academic pressure, although there were no significant
variations in gender, grade, age, or other personal factors. Again, 66 percent of students said
their parents put pressure on them to achieve better academically. However, parental pressure
levels varied significantly depending on the parents' educational levels, the mother's
occupation, the number of private tutors, and the learner's academic success. Parents put more
pressure on children whose fathers had a poor educational level to achieve better. The study
went on to find that one-third of the students (32.6%) had mental symptoms, and 81.6 percent
had exam-related anxiety. The following study clearly shows how parents have a significant
impact on their children's academic achievement, implying that students are often driven to
follow their parents' ambitions. As a result, they become vulnerable to mental health
difficulties. The goal of this study was to see if Kenyan students, particularly those in private
secondary schools, are subjected to the same academic pressure as Indian secondary school
students. This gap was filled by this study since the researcher discovered that parents'
academic expectations at private secondary schools had a weak positive relationship with
depression, stress, and anxiety symptoms that adolescents in private secondary schools in
Nairobi County, Kenya.
Another study in Hong Kong looked at the impact of high parental expectations on teenage
academic performance. This study used a descriptive survey in which the researcher used
convenience sampling to obtain data from seven secondary schools in Hong Kong. The study
included 872 adolescent participants. High Parental Expectations (HPE; Fuligni, 1997),
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC), General
Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (GPSES; Schwarzer 1993), and Child and Adolescent Social
Support Scale were used to collect data (CASSS by Malecki, Demaray & Elliott 2000). The
methodologies used were descriptive analysis, route analysis, and bootstrapping. High
parental expectations were directly associated to adolescents' academic achievement and
further positively related to their depression, according to the findings (Ma, Siu & Shing,
2018). The study used convenience sampling, which has the potential to be limited and biased
in terms of providing accurate data. This gap was filled in this work by using mixed methods
paradigms that used simple random, proportionate, and purposive sampling techniques, which
reported fairly similar results.
Crete, Wirthwein, McElvany, and Steinmayr (2015) conducted a study in Germany on
adolescents' academic achievement and life satisfaction: the role of parents' education, which
found that mothers' education was a significant moderator of the association between
academic achievement and students' life satisfaction, while fathers' education was not. The
study employed a convenience sample method to recruit 411 German high school students for
a cross-sectional survey. The General Life Contentment Scale by Dalbert (2003) was used to
measure students' academic progress. To make sense of the data, descriptive, inter-correlation,
and moderator analyses were used. This Germany study highlights how parents' education
influences students' aspirations and life satisfaction, but it does not go on to examine how the
same influences the psychological well-being of the school-aged adolescent, which is a gap
that the current study fills by demonstrating that the father's educational level has a significant
impact on depression symptoms of the school-aged adolescent. The educational level of the
mother, on the other hand, had a substantial impact on the stress symptoms of teenagers, but
not on depression or anxiety symptoms.
The source of academic expectations for pupils is influenced by a number of things. Although
parents have been identified as a source of academic expectation for teenagers in secondary
schools, it is clear that the level of academic expectation varies from parent to parent, based
on their own educational level, vocations, and socioeconomic status. Lukeine, Okoth, and
Njagi (2014) conducted a study in Kenya on parental traits impacting students' performance in
public secondary schools in the Isinya area, and found that parents' attitudes encouraged kids
to enjoy their studies and do well. A little more than a third of the students said that their
parents' level of education had an impact on their performance because it drove them to aim
higher in order to match their parents' expectations. This study used a descriptive survey
research approach, including 42 PTA members, 150 students, and four principals as
participants. Questionnaires and interview guides were used to gather information. The
current study filled a gap in understanding how parents' expectations for teenagers at private
secondary schools in Kenya and in a different county, Nairobi, changed depending on their
educational levels. The purpose of this study was to show that parents' educational levels had
no bearing on the academic expectations they had for their children in private secondary
schools in Nairobi County, Kenya.
When parents or teachers in schools have no expectations of teenagers, it indicates they are
less involved, and the adolescent is likely to feel less important, which is also damaging.
Mburu, Macharia, and Muiru (2016) conducted a study on parental participation and self-
esteem among teenagers in secondary schools in Kieni West District, Nyeri County, Kenya. A
mixed method triangulation design was adopted in this study. In the quantitative component, a
descriptive survey design was used, while in the qualitative component, ethnography in the
form of a case study was used. Questionnaires and unstructured interviews were used as
instruments. The quantitative data came from 200 people, whereas the qualitative data came
from eight people. Inferential statistics were used to evaluate quantitative data, while
qualitative material was coded and categorized for thematic arrangement. The study
discovered a substantial relationship between the variables, with a link between adolescent
self-esteem and parental participation. This is an area that the current study did not cover, and
it is a research gap that needs to be filled. Therefore, the researcher feels similar studies could
be conducted in other Counties in Kenya.
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