Relationship Among Fathers' Occupation, Fathers' Parenting Behaviors and Children's Academic Performance during Early Adolescence in Modern China

The purpose of this study is to clarify two points: (1) whether or not there are differences in parenting behaviors of parents depending on strata and (2) how parenting behaviors of parents influence the accomplishment of children’s education.  By incorporating cultural capital in Bourdieu’s theory of reproduction, therefore, an empirical study was conducted by putting together a study concept of “economic strata of fathers (occupations) → fathers’ parenting behaviors → accomplishment of children’s education” by considering parenting behaviors of parents as cultural capital.  The subjects included 746 groups of second-year high school students and their fathers and mothers, and a questionnaire survey was conducted in the rural part of the Shanxi Province in 2009 and the urban area in 2010.  The most important aspect as a result of analysis was the strong influence of the “father’s occupation” on academic performance of children.  Therefore, it was successfully confirmed that economic strata cannot be ignored and Bourdieu’s theory of reproduction can be applicable to society in China, with a significant influence from fathers’ parenting behaviors on self-esteem and academic performance of children.  First of all, parenting behaviors of parents in the blue-collar stratum including farmers and temporary workers have a weak influence on self-esteem and academic performance of children, with a higher reliance on school education than home education.  On the other hand, fathers in the white-collar stratum who work for government institutions, corporations and organizations gain a relatively higher income than the blue-collar stratum and emphasize more on parenting; therefore provide more home education to children.  Self-employed fathers have higher income than blue-collar and white-collar strata and own abundant network resources; however emphasize education for males over females.