ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 14 July 2022

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.786298

Relationship Between Perceived

Parental Academic Expectations and
Students’ Self-Regulated Learning
Ability: A Cross-Sectional Study
Ling Xu 1,2*, Lijun Ma 2 and Peng Duan 3
1
School of Business, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China, 2 School of Education, The Philippine Women’s University,
Manila, Philippines, 3 School of Computer Science, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China

In the field of self-regulated learning ability for college students, prior research usually
neglected the role of parents when considering the physical distance between college
and home. Indeed, an underlying describable driving force of learning remains embedded
in the relationship between parents and students, even at the college stage. This study
aimed to explore the relationships among perceived parental academic expectations,
Edited by: mastery goal orientation, self-reflection, and self-regulated learning ability of college
Fabio Alivernini,
students. Mediation and moderated mediation analyses were employed to analyze a
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
sample of 691 college students. The results indicate that mastery goal orientation partially
Reviewed by:
Angelica Moè, mediates the relationship between perceived parental academic expectations and
University of Padua, Italy self-regulated learning. In addition, self-reflection moderates the relationship between
Evangelia Karagiannopoulou,
University of Ioannina, Greece
perceived parental academic expectations and self-regulated learning. The positive
Sheyla Blumen, correlation between perceived parental academic expectation and self-regulated learning
Pontifical Catholic University of
is stronger for students with low self-reflection than those with high self-reflection.
Peru, Peru
Elisa Cavicchiolo, Keywords: perceived parental academic expectations, mastery goal orientation, self-regulated learning ability,
University of Salerno, Italy self-reflection, college students
*Correspondence:
Ling Xu
[email protected] 1. INTRODUCTION
Specialty section: Self-regulated learning (SRL) is an active, motivational and volitional learning process that includes
This article was submitted to but is not limited to metacognitive strategies, goal setting, time management, task strategies,
Educational Psychology, environment structuring, and self-reflection (Schunk and Zimmerman, 2007). As an important
a section of the journal learning ability, especially for college students, SRL not only helps them to study well in school
Frontiers in Psychology
but also has a profound impact on their lifelong development after leaving school. Researchers
Received: 30 September 2021 have proposed many models to illustrate the working mechanism of SRL. For example, Winne and
Accepted: 16 June 2022 Hadwin (2013) determined that the SRL process has five parts: task interpretation, learning goal
Published: 14 July 2022
setting, learning strategy selection, strategy application, and learning result obtainment. Pintrich
Citation: (2000) presented a learning conceptual framework model that divided SRL into four stages:
Xu L, Ma L and Duan P (2022)
thinking activation, monitoring, control, and reflection. Rozendaal et al. (2005) investigated a
Relationship Between Perceived
Parental Academic Expectations and
dual SRL model that described the interaction between the growth goals and the wellbeing goals.
Students’ Self-Regulated Learning Zimmerman (2000) developed a social cognitive model that divided SRL into three stages: planning,
Ability: A Cross-Sectional Study. behavior or volition control stage, and self-reflection. From the perspective of the aforementioned
Front. Psychol. 13:786298. SRL models, although models have some differences in the details, most emphasize the importance
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.786298 of initiative, goal orientation, and self-control in the learning process. Meanwhile, another common

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Xu et al. Relationship Between PPAEs and SSRLA

feature of these models is that they ignore the importance of with other types of parental involvement, such as participation
the social environment (peers, teachers, parents, etc.) in self- in school activities, parent-child communication, and homework
regulation and its development (Panadero and Alonso Tapia, help, parents’ academic expectations had the greatest impact
2014). Aware of this limitation, numerous researchers focused on academic performance (Jaiswal and Choudhuri, 2017).
their attention on the learner’s surrounding environment, Studies find that students whose parents have high expectations
such as classmates, friends, teachers, and family members receive better grades than those whose parents have low
(Panadero et al., 2016). There is strong evidence that cultural expectations (Yamamoto and Holloway, 2010). As we know,
values play an important role in educational achievements. due to the distance from their family and the associated daily
For example, Asian students are always taught to obey their constraints, college students exhibit diverse learning styles and
parents, respect their elders, and establish a good family are independently in control of their learning time; as such,
reputation by making outstanding achievements in life (Zhang students’ academic performance is more closely related to their
and Carrasquillo, 1995). Indeed, compared with teachers and SRL ability (Wolters and Hussain, 2015). However, regarding SRL
peers, parents have a lasting and profound influence on their ability, few studies investigated the effect of parents’ expectations
children. For most students, as they grow older, their sense of on young adults, especially college students. Compared with
responsibility to build a good family reputation significantly primary and secondary school students, college students are
increases, which will motivate them to work hard to meet more likely to self-reflect when their parents’ expectations
their parents’ requirements or expectations (LaRocque et al., are inconsistent with their academic performance (Wang and
2011). This is a striking indication of how parents play a Heppner, 2002). Self-reflection in SRL refers to the processes
significant role in their children’s educational achievement. of learner looking back on their past learning experiences,
Increasing numbers of researchers have focused on the influence including what they did to enable learning to occur, and
of parents’ management of their children’s education, parents’ exploring connections between the knowledge that was taught
expectations, and parents’ participation in school activities on the and the learner’s ideas (Lew and Schmidt, 2011). Zimmerman and
academic performance of primary and secondary school students Schunk (2011a) found that self-reflection was an important factor
(Jaiswal and Choudhuri, 2017). However, current research in SRL that regulates learners’ behaviors.
lacks exploration and further explanation of the relationship In this paper, we first investigate the association between
between parental academic expectations and students’ SRL students’ perceived parental academic expectations and students’
ability, especially for college students. SRL ability. Then, we analyze the mediating role of mastery goal
Mastery goal orientation focuses on developing of competence orientation between perceived parental academic expectations
and task mastery and leads to positive educational outcomes, and students’ SRL ability. Third, we explore the moderating
including human cognition, behavior, persistence, and emotions role of self-reflection in the direct correlation between perceived
(Nelson et al., 2015). Most researchers believed that goal parental academic expectations and students’ SRL ability.
orientation was characteristic, stable, and derived from individual
differences, yet it was difficult to explain the underlying 1.1. Perceived Parental Academic
process and dynamics. Button et al. (1996) elaborated that goal Expectations and Students’ SRL Ability
orientation as a state variable instead of a constant structure Parents’ academic expectations drive children’s behavior and
and proposed that individuals could selectively employ goal promote their success in school and life (Wang, 2015). According
orientation. Cerasoli and Ford (2014) found that students who to the expectation effect theory, human expectations, as a
adopted a mastery goal orientation had a generally positive changeable psychological state, not only promotes but also
patterns of motivational beliefs, including adaptive levels of influences others’ behaviors (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968). The
task value, self-efficacy, and academic performance. In addition, ecological systems theory emphasizes that personal growth is
Kaplan and Flum (2010) confirmed the potential reciprocal nested in series of environmental systems influencing each other,
relationship between adolescents’ academic achievement goal and under that theory, parents play a significant role in the
orientation and their identity formation style. However, recent growth of their children (Guy-Evans, 2020). Many subsequent
studies mainly emphasized the important role of goal orientation studies support that parents’ educational expectations influence
in the growth of the individual, without elaborating the formation their children’s academic performance (Cheng and Starks, 2002;
mechanism of goal orientation. Hence, the relevant factors Yamamoto and Holloway, 2010). In general, students’ academic
of individual goal orientation have become popular in the performance is inseparable from their SRL ability, especially for
research field. college students.
Since the expectation effect theory was proposed by Rosenthal
and Jacobson (1968), the role of expectations has received
increasing attention from researchers. Relevant work includes
1.2. Perceived Parental Academic
teachers’ expectations for students and parents’ expectations Expectations, Students’ SRL Ability, and
for children (Zhang, 2015). For example, Benner and Mistry Mastery Goal Orientation
(2007) found that teachers’ expectations were related to students’ Goal orientation guides human thought, action, and emotion,
perceptions of their math reading skills and ability to learn new as well as individual behaviors (Kaplan and Maehr, 2007).
concepts. Similarly, parents’ academic expectations have been Students dominated by mastery goal orientation are likely to
a variable in many studies of parental involvement. Compared learn new skills, master new methods, and improve their abilities

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Xu et al. Relationship Between PPAEs and SSRLA

(Dweck et al., 2004). Almost all researchers believe that mastery

goal orientation has positive effects on individual cognition,
motivation, self-reflection, deep learning, perseverance, and
performance (Cerasoli and Ford, 2014). As a personality trait,
individual mastery goal orientation has both a stable and
an unstable side. Elliot and Thrash (2001) pointed out that
individual goal was influenced by the environment. Researchers
also found that students’ mastery goal orientation enhanced
their self-regulation (Zimmerman and Schunk, 2011b). Different FIGURE 1 | The hypothesis model of the relationships between perceived
environmental conditions affect individuals’ different goals and parental academic expectations, mastery goal orientation, self-regulated
behaviors (Murayama and Elliot, 2009). Parents, teachers, and learning ability, and self-reflection.
friends are environmental factors that influence students’ SRL
ability, among which the educational perspective of parents plays
a leading role (Daniel et al., 2016). Influenced by traditional
culture, Chinese students’ goal orientation often directly or Hypothesis 2: Students’ self-reflection moderates the strength
indirectly reflects the wishes of their parents. Students usually of the direct association between perceived parental academic
respect the opinions of their parents and consult their parents’ expectations and students’ SRL ability. Figure 1 illustrates the
ideas when setting learning goals. Parents express expectations proposed model.
for their children without reservation in all areas. As a
sensitive motivating factor of SRL ability, such expectations 2. METHODS
from parents have a potential promoting effect on students’
mastery goal orientation that could mediate the relationship
2.1. Study Design
This study was based on cross-sectional data collected from 691
between perceived parental academic expectations and students’
college students in China. All participants came from cities in
SRL ability. Considering the above arguments, we proposed the
Shandong Province.
following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: Mastery goal orientation mediates the 2.2. Participants and Data Collection
relationship between perceived parental academic expectations We distributed 720 questionnaires, and 691 usable questionnaires
and students’ SRL ability. were returned (the efficiency response rate was 96%). Among the
students, 59% (n = 408) were female, and 41% (n = 283) were
male. As for their age, 100% (n = 691) of the students were aged
1.3. The Moderating Role of Students’ 17–24, and their average age was 19.49 years old (SD = 0.526). In
the survey, the students completed the questionnaires to measure
Self-Reflection their mastery goal orientation levels, the actual states of their SRL
Self-reflection is the inspection and evaluation of individual ability, their self-reflection levels, and the perceptions of their
thought, feeling, behavior, and insight. It is a metacognition parents’ expectations. We explained the survey purpose to all the
of change processes with purpose and direction (Scheier and students before they completed the questionnaire. We obtained
Carver, 1983). Relevant research on self-reflection mainly focuses approval from the ethics committee of Liaocheng University. The
on positive psychological qualities, such as self-development, participants filled out the surveys anonymously and voluntarily
self-integrity, and cognition (Fernández-Álvarez et al., 2015; with no negative consequences for not filling.
Abitova et al., 2020). However, researchers have also found a
significant positive correlation between individual self-reflection 2.3. Instruments
and problem coping strategies (Burwell and Shirk, 2007). The questionnaire items were written in English and translated
Meanwhile, students with high self-reflection are good at into Chinese. To ensure cross-linguistic equivalence, the
evaluating their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, which enables results were independently translated back to English by two
them to make strategic adjustments to situational changes English professors.
(Stefan and Cheie, 2022). Indeed, individuals’ self-reflection is
correlated with their metacognition, learning strategies, and 2.3.1. Perceived Parental Academic Expectations
future achievement. In the systemic self-reflection model, self- We measured the students’ perceived parental academic
reflection is more likely to occur during moderate stress to expectations using the modified Parental Expectations Scale
regulate individual thoughts and behavior; thus, adaptive self- (PES) (Eisen et al., 2004). The PES is a 20-item parents’ self-
reflection is more likely to occur in response to daily stressful report instrument with items rated on 5-point Likert-type scales
events (Crane et al., 2019). Students who are learning under ranging from 1 (not very true) to 5 (extremely true). The
strong parental academic expectations are used to comparing PES assesses parents’ expectancies in five dimensions, namely,
their academic performance with parents’ expectations and academic achievement, extracurricular activities, household
reflecting on their learning behavior, which could help further responsibilities, peer activities, and general success. Because we
improve their SRL ability. Considering the above arguments, we were only concerned with the academic expectations, we only
proposed the following hypothesis. administered the portion of the PES that addressed academic

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Xu et al. Relationship Between PPAEs and SSRLA

achievements (e.g., “My parents think academic success is an 2.4. Data Analysis and Availability
important goal for me.”). For this study, the students completed We used SPSS 22.0 for partial correlation analysis (age is
the scale themselves rather than their parents. We employed controlled) to determine the relationships among perceived
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test all variables’ construct parental academic expectations, students’ SRL ability, mastery
validity and used the standards for good fit to determine whether goal orientation, and self-reflection in females and males,
the variable had good structural validity (Hu and Bentler, 1998): respectively. We then used mediation modeling analysis (Model
X 2 /df < 5, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) 4, SPSS 22.0 PROCESS macro) to test whether mastery goal
< 0.1, and comparative fit index (CFI) > 0.90. The perceived orientation mediated the association between perceived parental
parental academic expectations indicators of CFA were X 2 /df = academic expectations and SRL ability. Finally, we employed
3.98, RMSEA = 0.07, and CFI = 0.99. The Cronbach’s α for the moderated mediation modeling analysis (Model 59) to test for
measure of perceived parental academic expectations is 0.84. a moderating effect of students’ self-reflection on the proposed
mediation model. All variables were centralized to reduce
2.3.2. Mastery Goal Orientation collinearity in the moderation analysis. The bootstrap confidence
To assess students’ mastery goal orientation, we administered interval (CI) for the indirect effect was estimated based on
the Intrinsic Goal Orientation Scale (IGOS) in the Motivated 5,000 bootstrap samples and was bias-corrected. In all statistical
Strategies for Learning Questionnaire Manual (Pintrich et al., analyses, p< 0.05 was significant.
1991). This scale includes four items that concern students’
reasons for their task participation. An example item from the
IGOS is “I prefer subjects with challenging contents, so I can learn
3. RESULTS
new knowledge.” The responses are rated on a 5-point Likert 3.1. Descriptive and Correlation Statistics
scale ranging from 1 (none at all) to 5 (a great deal). CFA results Table 1 summarizes the means, standard deviations, and
showed that the fit indices were X 2 /df = 1.92, RMSEA = 0.04, and correlations among the study variables. From Table 1, we
CFI = 0.99. The Cronbach’s α for mastery goal orientation is 0.79. can observe that perceived parental academic expectations are
positively related to students’ mastery goal orientation and SRL
2.3.3. Self-Regulated Learning Ability
ability. The results also indicate that self-reflection is positively
The SRL ability scale was taken from Zhang and Li (2007).
correlated with parents’ academic expectations and students’
This scale has 30 items measuring four dimensions: learning
mastery goal orientation. In addition, we can see that the
motivation (8 items), self-management ability (11 items),
correlations among these variables are different in female and
cooperative learning ability (5 items), and information quality
male students. In detail, female students’ perceived academic
(6 items). An item from this scale is “I pay more attention to
expectations are more related with mastery goal orientation, SRL
mastering professional knowledge and skills instead of passing
ability, and self-reflection. This could be because female students
examinations.” Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The
are emotionally closer to their parents than male students in
SRL variables exhibited good convergent validity indicated by the
daily life (Sax and Weintraub, 2014). However, male students’
fit indices: X 2 /df = 2.9, RMSEA = 0.05, and CFI = 0.94. The
mastery goal orientation was related more with SRL ability and
Cronbach’s α for SRL ability is 0.78, and the Cronbach’s α values
self-reflection. In addition, the correlation between self-reflection
for the dimensions of SRL ability ranged from 0.74 to 0.82. Hence,
and SRL ability in male students was more significant than that in
this was an appropriate survey for measuring SRL ability.
female students.
2.3.4. Self-Reflection
We used two of the subscales of the Self-reflection and Insight
3.2. Mediation Model Analysis
Hypothesis 1 proposed that mastery goal orientation would
Scale (Grant et al., 2002) to measure the students’ self-reflection.
mediate the link between perceived parental academic
The subscale items are divided into two dimensions: active
expectations and students’ SRL ability. To examine this
reflection and analytic reflection. Active reflection is the self-
exploration of human thought, feeling, and behaviors, for
instance, “I frequently take time to reflect on my thoughts.” TABLE 1 | Means, standard deviations, and correlations of all measures.
Analytic reflection means the deep contemplation of individual
thought, feeling, and actions, for instance, “It is important for me Gender Mean SD 1 2 3
to evaluate the things that I do.” We used the average score of
1. Perceived parental academic Females 4.09 0.44
all items to indicate the students’ self-reflection. The indicators expections
of validity using CFA were X 2 /df = 3.0, RMSEA = 0.05, and Males 4.06 0.45
CFI = 0.97. The Cronbach’s α for self-reflection is 0.91, and the 2. Mastery goal orientation Females 3.87 0.58 0.453**
Cronbach’s α values for the dimensions of self-reflection ranged Males 3.97 0.66 0.448**
from 0.88 to 0.92. 3. SRL ability Females 3.98 0.49 0.556** 0.711**
Males 3.96 0.63 0.539** 0.733**
2.3.5. Controls
4. Self-reflection Females 3.70 0.40 0.558** 0.519** 0.642**
We measured and controlled for differences of participants,
Males 3.58 0.44 0.520** 0.577** 0.691**
including age, gender in the mediation and moderated mediation
analyses in this study. n = 691; **p < 0.01.

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Xu et al. Relationship Between PPAEs and SSRLA

TABLE 2 | The mediation effect of mastery goal orientation.

Predictors Model 1 (MGO) Model 2 (SRL)

b t b t

PPAE 0.65 13.30** * 0.37 10.15***

MGO 0.53 21.07***
2
R 0.23 0.58
F 67.57*** 240.94***

n = 691; Each column is a regression model that predicts the criterion at the top of the
column. PPAE, perceived parental academic expectation; MGO, mastery goal orientation;
SRL, self-regulated learning. ***p < 0.001.

TABLE 3 | Distribution of the total effect, direct effect, and intermediary effect. FIGURE 2 | Statistical diagram of moderated mediation model in this study. ∗ p
< 0.05, ∗∗∗ p < 0.001.
Effect SE LLCI ULCI Effect proportion (%)

Total effect 0.71 0.04 0.63 0.79

Indirect effect 0.34 0.03 0.29 0.40 47.89 TABLE 4 | Testing the moderated mediation effect of perceived parental
Direct effect 0.37 0.04 0.30 0.44 52.11 academic expectation on SRL ability.

n = 691; CI, confidence interval; LL, lower limit; UL, upper limit. Predictors Model 1 (MGO) Model 2 (SRL)

b t b t
hypothesis, we employed Model 4 in the SPSS macro to examine
the mediation effect under the control of gender and age, and PPAE 0.33 5.93*** 0.18 4.85* **
the mediation model was significant: R2 = 0.58, F = 240.94, p SR 0.58 10.50 ** *
0.45 11.34***
< 0.001. Table 2 demonstrates that students’ perceived parental PPAE×SR −0.06 −0.62 −0.15 −2.03*
academic expectations are significantly associated with their SRL MGO 0.42 16.95***
ability (b = 0.37, p < 0.001; see Model 2 of Table 2). Students’ MGO×SR 0.08 1.52
perceived parental academic expectations was significantly R2 0.34 0.65
associated with their mastery goal orientation (b = 0.65, p < F 69.62*** 181.52***
0.001; see Model 1 of Table 2). Students’ mastery goal orientation n = 691. PPAE, perceived parental academic expectation; MGO, mastery goal orientation;
was significantly associated with their SRL ability (b = 0.53, p < SRL, self-regulated learning; *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001.
0.001; see Model 2 of Table 2).
The bootstrapping results in Table 3 indicate that the direct
effect (0.37) and intermediate effect (0.34) accounted for 52.11 The interaction effect demonstrated that as the self-reflection
and 47.89% of the total effect (0.71), respectively. In addition, the levels increased, the effect of perceived parental academic
upper and lower bounds of the 95% CI for the indirect effect of expectations on SRL ability decreased. Table 5 shows that
students’ perceived parental academic expectations on their SRL the conditional direct effect of perceived parental academic
ability ranged from 0.29 to 0.40, not containing zero (Table 3). In expectations on students’ SRL ability was much stronger among
short, these findings reflect an association of perceived parental students with low self-reflection (conditional direct effect =
academic expectations and students’ SRL ability. Furthermore, 0.25 and p < 0.01, with 95% CIs of 0.16–0.33), compared
mastery goal orientation plays a mediating role in regulating with students who showed moderate (conditional direct effect
this association. Therefore, hypothesis 1 of a mediating effect = 0.18 and p < 0.01, with 95% CIs of 0.11–0.26) and
is supported. high (conditional direct effect = 0.12 and p < 0.05, with
95% CIs of 0.01–0.23) self-reflection. Figure 3 presents the
3.3. Testing for Moderated Mediation Effect interaction pattern of perceived parental academic expectations
To examine the moderating role of self-reflection, we employed with students’ SRL ability at different self-reflection levels.
the PROCESS macro Model 59 developed by Hayes and Preacher The results indicate that the students with high level self-
(2013). Figure 2 and Table 4 present the path results of the reflection have significantly stronger SRL ability than those
hypothesized moderated mediation model, and the final model with low level self-reflection. In addition, as perceived parental
was significant: R2 = 0.65, F = 181.52, p < 0.001. Figure 2 academic expectations increased, the students’ SRL ability scores
illustrates all statistically significant paths with standardized increased more for the students with low level self-reflection than
beta (b) weights in the final model. Self-reflection significantly those with high level self-reflection. This finding suggests that
moderated the association between perceived parental academic perceived parental academic expectations relate to student’s SRL
expectations and SRL ability (b = −0.15, p < 0.05). However, the ability more significantly among students with low level self-
moderating effect of self-reflection on the link between perceived reflection. In sum, self-reflection acted as a moderator of the
parental academic expectations and mastery goal orientation on relationship between perceived parental academic expectations
SRL ability was not significant. and students’ SRL ability.

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Xu et al. Relationship Between PPAEs and SSRLA

TABLE 5 | Results of the conditional direct effect of perceived parental academic Scholars believe that the positive effect of parents’ academic
expectation on students’ SRL ability across different levels of self-reflection. expectations on students’ SRL ability could be related to students’
Self-reflection Mean Conditional t p LLCI ULCI
positive self-motivation (Harackiewicz et al., 2000; Linnenbrink-
level direct effect
Garcia et al., 2008). As parents’ academic expectations are
a continuous and stable incentive, they can easily have
Low (M-1SD) −0.42 0.25 5.80** * ≤0.01** 0.16 0.33 profound effects on students’ academic career. Considering
Moderate level 0 0.18 4.85** * ≤0.01** 0.11 0.26 the independent learning style of college students, we tend to
High (M+1SD) 0.42 0.12 2.16* 0.03* 0.01 0.23 believe that parents’ academic expectations with rich emotions
and family responsibilities can promote students’ development
n = 691; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; CI, confidence interval; LL, lower limit; UL,
upper limit.
toward achieving their parents’ desired goals for them. Indeed,
the greater parents’ emotional investment (or emotional labor)
in their children’s education, such as maintaining a harmonious
family atmosphere, the more likely their children will succeed
in education as a kind of emotional support (Wong, 2022). As
we know, goal orientation is an intrinsic belief easily influenced
by environmental factors e.g., parents’ perspectives and teachers’
policies and procedures (Geitz et al., 2016). For example,
Panadero (2017) demonstrated that SRL ability was a goal-driven
process and correlated with motivation. Maehr and Zusho (2009)
found that mastery goal orientation was associated with high
academic achievements. In this study, we confirmed multiple
associations among parents’ academic expectations, students’
mastery goal orientation, and SRL ability. In detail, perceived
parental academic expectations have a positive relationship with
students’ SRL ability via mastery goal orientation.
Annual reports from many universities have indicated that
external expectations such as parental attitude and high parental
expectations, cause stress among school students; academic
expectations that are too heavy to have a negative influence,
leading to severe anxiety and sense of failure (Deb et al., 2015).
We found that self-reflection helps students confidently adapt
FIGURE 3 | Simple slopes of perceived parental academic expectations to their parents’ academic expectations. Students with high
(PPAEs) predicting SRL ability with low (one SD below M) and high (one SD self-reflection level seem to have lower acceptance of parental
above M) levels of self-reflection. expectations than those with low self-reflection (Frederick, 2005).
One interesting finding was that the direct correlation between
parents’ academic expectations and SRL ability was stronger
4. DISCUSSION for students with low self-reflection level than those with high
self-reflection level. High self-reflection might reduce excessive
Previous studies have demonstrated that parents’ academic pressure caused by high academic expectations.
expectations influence students’ academic achievements, The contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) This
especially for primary and secondary school students study enriches the discussion of social environmental factors in
(Nihal Lindberg et al., 2019). However, for college students, the theoretical model of self-regulated learning by identifying
most studies emphasized the psychological pressure and anxiety that perceived parental academic expectations are positively
caused by parents’ academic expectations while ignoring the associated with students’ SRL ability. (2) We explained a
positive role (Cooper and Cefai, 2013). In view of the significant new indirect association between perceived parental academic
positive correlation between academic performance and SRL expectations and students’ SRL ability via mastery goal
ability (Hong and Park, 2012), this study aimed to investigate the orientation. Furthermore, we examined the moderating effect
effect of perceived parental academic expectations on students’ of self-reflection in the direct association between perceived
SRL ability through mastery goal orientation. Our findings show parental academic expectations and students’ SRL ability. (3)
a positive correlation between perceived parental academic These findings have implications for parents’ involvement in
expectations and students’ SRL ability, indicating the importance their children’s education. Studies have demonstrated that
of parents’ participation in cultivating students’ SRL ability. The an autonomy-supportive parenting style effectively improved
findings that students working under their parents’ high level parents’ remote supervision, and established the compatibility
academic expectations demonstrate high SRL ability is consistent of supervision and autonomy support (Rodríguez-Meirinhos
with previous findings that parents’ academic expectations et al., 2020). Parents could actively experiment with the
have long-lasting influence on children’s future achievements autonomy-supportive parenting style. Autonomy support acts
(Yamamoto and Holloway, 2010). on children’s proximal development zone, which enhanced their

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Xu et al. Relationship Between PPAEs and SSRLA

motivation and self-efficacy and helped them better achieve and recognition regulation (Alivernini et al., 2019). In addition,
parents’ expectations (Distefano et al., 2018; Moè et al., 2018). personality traits, self-esteem, critical thinking, and self-efficacy
With parents’ autonomy support, children feel their parents’ belief also have an impact on motivation (Alivernini et al.,
care and listening, which alleviates pressure and anxiety caused 2021). Moreover, autonomic forms of support from parents
by their studies (Moe et al., 2020). Based on this research, and teachers promoted autonomic motivation and self-efficacy,
parents can provide an atmosphere of emotional warmth and which in turn predicted the academic adjustment of first-year
support in which high academic expectations are conveyed, university students (Girelli et al., 2018). Educators should pay
students should show higher motivation under greater academic more attention to students’ personality antecedents, and then
expectations from their parents. It should be noted that studies adjust their motivation and learning activities (Di Giunta et al.,
have demonstrated that parents’ high level academic expectations 2013; Manganelli et al., 2019; Samuel and Burger, 2020). Hence,
can be detrimental to students’ mental health. Thus, parents in future studies, we will try our best to analyze the potential
need to know their children’s abilities and maintain their effect of confounding factors, including achievement goals and
academic expectations within a certain range to avoid inducing motivation, personality, teacher support, and other variables,
academic stress and anxiety. Parents also need to pay attention on students’ SRL ability. Third, we collected all questionnaire
to cultivating children’s self-reflection ability. In goal guidance, data as self-reports by the students themselves, including on
parents and teachers focus on cultivating children for the their parents’ academic expectations. Future research could
purpose of mastering knowledge. In this way, children often also seek to identify differences between parents’ own self-
hold positive, adaptive patterns of intrinsic motivation. The reported academic expectations and what their children perceive
intrinsic motivation model enables students to effectively use through interviews or parents’ reporting to achieve more
deep processing strategies, while maintaining positive emotions, effective transmission of academic expectations between parents
generating lasting motivation, and promoting students to achieve and children.
greater achievements.
6. CONCLUSION
5. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
SUGGESTIONS In this study, when students perceived high parental academic
expectations, their SRL ability increased through mastery goal
One shortcoming of this research is that we studied the orientation, especially for those with low self-reflection level.
relationship between perceived parental academic expectations Perceived parental academic expectations are directly and
and students’ SRL ability but only focused on college students; positively correlated with students’ SRL ability, and mastery
we did not include primary and middle school students goal orientation partly mediates that relationship. Self-reflection
in the research scope. Compared with primary and middle significantly moderated the association between perceived
school students, college students have stronger self-reflection parental academic expectations and students’ SRL ability. In
ability and higher independent SRL ability; thus, the effect of conclusion, parental academic expectations can be useful for
perceived parental academic expectations on college students building in students a mastery goal orientation and improving
is different from that on younger students. For this reason, their SRL ability.
these research results might not be generalizable. Another
shortcoming of this research was that this is cross-sectional DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
rather than longitudinal. The study results show relationships
among the variables, but we did not verify causality. The The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be
findings from the cross-sectional model presented in this made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
paper indicate that parental academic expectations, as an
environmental factor, influence children’s development. Parental AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
academic expectations cultivated students’ SRL ability by
strengthening their mastery goal orientation. Previous research LX provided substantial contributions to the research
on goal orientation has demonstrated that individual goals conception and design. LX and LM analyzed and
are susceptible to external and internal factors (Manganelli interpreted the data. LX and PD wrote the paper. All
et al., 2015; Hadwin et al., 2017), and there are strong authors contributed to the article and approved the
correlations between motivational variables and deep learning submitted version.
strategies (Cassidy, 2011; Diseth, 2011). For example, in a
mastery goal-oriented classroom, students’ personal goals tend to FUNDING
converge in the same direction. This phenomenon demonstrates
that motivation has a positive impact on students’ academic This research was partially supported by Teaching Reform
performance (Alivernini et al., 2018). In addition, research Project of Liaocheng University (G202119, G202120, G202103,
found that individual motivation presented different responses and G201721), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong
in different student groups (Manganelli et al., 2021). Specifically, Province (ZR2016FL13), Doctoral Research Foundation Project
compared with peers with high socioeconomic status, adolescents of Liaocheng University (318051532), and the Key Teaching
with low socioeconomic status had lower intrinsic motivation Reform Project of Shandong Province (Z2021159).

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Xu et al. Relationship Between PPAEs and SSRLA

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