School-age children’s development and parent’s well-being in contemporary China

Children are a central source of parental well-being, as suggested by the “linked lives” perspective. However, the role of school-age children’s development has received limited attention, especially in highly competitive educational settings such as China, where children’s academic and psychological outcomes may confer both considerable value and stress to parents. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies, this study examines how children’s academic performance and mental health are associated with parental well-being and how these associations vary across family and socioeconomic contexts. Results show that both academic performance and the mental health of children are positively associated with parental well-being. Notably, urban parents’ well-being is more closely correlated with children’s mental health, whereas rural parents’ well-being shows a clearer correlation with academic performance. Among urban families, the relationship between children’s development and parents’ well-being diminishes with rising parental socioeconomic status, and the correlation between children’s mental health and parents’ well-being intensifies with larger family size. These findings highlight unequal intergenerational linkages and underscore the importance of considering both educational and psychological dimensions of child development in understanding parental well-being.