Parenting behaviors and school burnout among Chinese primary school students: mediation model of ego-resilience

Background: School burnout (SBO) poses a growing threat to the psychological well-being of primary school students in high-pressure educational systems. While negative parenting has been implicated in academic maladjustment, the psychological mechanisms underlying this association and whether they operate consistently across both parents remain poorly understood. This study investigates the mediating role of ego-resilience (ER) in the association between fathers' and mothers' negative parenting behaviors (rejection, overprotection, and lack of emotional warmth) and SBO among Chinese primary school students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a public primary school in Hebei Province, China, involving 853 students from grades 4 through 6. Fathers' and mothers' parenting behaviors were assessed using the Chinese version of the Short-form Egna Minnen av. Barndoms Uppfostran (S-EMBU-C); SBO was evaluated using the Adolescent Student Burnout Inventory (ASBI), and ER was measured using the Chinese version of the Ego-Resilience Scale (ER89-C). Data were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation and mediation analysis via PROCESS macro (Model 4) to test the indirect effects of parenting behavior on SBO through ER. Results: = 0.16, 95% CI: [0.13, 0.20]), accounting for 31.9 and 31.5% of the total effects, respectively. Conclusion: ER functions as a pivotal psychological mechanism through which both fathers' and mothers' negative parenting behaviors are associated with SBO. The structural consistency across both parents suggests that preserving students' ER represents a universal protective target independent of parental role. These findings offer a theoretically grounded basis for family-school interventions aimed at fostering adaptive capacity and mitigating SBO in competitive educational contexts.