Wang Ningning
School of Sociology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Jan 24;14(2):84. doi: 10.3390/bs14020084.
Previous studies have fully discussed the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and achievement, but few of them regarded urban-rural differences as the moderating factor, which is an essential issue in urban-rural educational equalization in terms of educational outcomes. This study discusses the urban-rural heterogeneous effect of family SES on achievement and manifests the mediating role of education-related cultural factors. Based on the China Education Panel Survey data of 18,672 junior high school students, this study found the following: (1) family SES had a weaker positive effect among rural children than among urban children; (2) the urban-rural heterogeneous effect could be mediated by education-related cultural factors, i.e., learning environments and beliefs; and (3) in this regard, contemporary China is experiencing cultural reproduction rather than a cultural mobility mode. In Conclusion, although the urban-rural achievement gap will be maintained or even expanded in China, improving rural children's learning environments and beliefs opens up the possibility of alleviating disadvantages in achievement resulting from family socioeconomic disadvantages. Therefore, narrowing down the urban-rural achievement gap from a cultural perspective provides policy implications for educational development in rural areas.
以往的研究已经充分讨论了家庭社会经济地位（SES）与学业成就之间的关系，但很少有研究将城乡差异视为调节因素，而从教育结果来看，这是城乡教育均等化中的一个关键问题。本研究探讨了家庭SES对学业成就的城乡异质性影响，并揭示了与教育相关的文化因素的中介作用。基于对18672名初中生的中国教育追踪调查数据，本研究发现如下：（1）家庭SES对农村儿童学业成就的正向影响弱于城市儿童；（2）城乡异质性影响可由与教育相关的文化因素，即学习环境和信念来中介；（3）在这方面，当代中国正经历文化再生产而非文化流动模式。总之，尽管中国城乡学业成就差距将持续存在甚至扩大，但改善农村儿童的学习环境和信念为减轻因家庭社会经济劣势导致的学业成就劣势开辟了可能性。因此，从文化视角缩小城乡学业成就差距为农村地区的教育发展提供了政策启示。
