Homework Responsibility and Parent–Adolescent Communication: Maternal and Paternal Associations with Academic and Psychological Adjustment Among Chinese Adolescents

Abstract

Responsibility for homework and parent–adolescent communication may have different associations with adolescent adjustment. Using two waves of the China Education Panel Survey (2013–2015), we examined these parent-specific behaviors in outcome-specific analytic samples ranging from 7457 to 7604 adolescents. Ordinary least squares models included the four parental measures jointly and adjusted for corresponding baseline outcomes, covariates, and class fixed effects. The principal predictors and outcomes were measured concurrently at follow-up. Maternal communication was positively associated with cognitive ability and academic achievement, whereas maternal homework responsibility had negative associations in the additive main models. Communication with either parent and paternal responsibility were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Direct coefficient comparisons distinguished maternal responsibility from maternal communication across all three outcomes after multiple-testing adjustment. These associations were small and do not establish causal effects. The study adds a joint, parent-specific comparison across academic and psychological outcomes, distinguishing reported homework responsibility from communication frequency rather than treating involvement as a single behavior.