Maternal education and adolescent psychological symptom severity: the synergistic reversal trade-offs between perceived maternal support and parental educational expectations

Abstract

Background Adolescence is a critical period with a high incidence of psychological and behavioral problems. In China, adolescent mental health presents a severe challenge. The family serves as the core environment for adolescent development, within which maternal education is a key factor influencing adolescent mental health. Methods Based on the data from the “Database of Youth Health” (DYH), this study employed a cross-sectional design and used a quadratic regression model to examine the impact of maternal education on adolescent psychological symptom severity (APSS), with a focus on testing for non-linear effects. The robustness of the findings was verified through a U-test for non-linearity and an instrumental variable approach. Additionally, mediation and moderation analyses were conducted to explore the underlying mechanisms and heterogeneity involved. Results Regression analysis revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between maternal education and APSS (higher SCL-90 scores indicate greater severity), with the peak occurring at 6.442 years of maternal education. This non-linear relationship emerged from synergistic reversal trade-offs between perceived maternal support and parental educational expectations. Heterogeneity analysis indicated that before the educational inflection point, non-only children exhibited significantly lower APSS, whereas beyond this point, only children demonstrated a steeper reduction in symptom severity. Conclusion This study reveals an inverted U-shaped relationship, driven by a “synergistic reversal trade-off” mechanism: as maternal education increases, both perceived maternal support and parental educational expectations simultaneously shift from risk to protective factors. The dual-pathway reversal is amplified in only-child families, revealing steeper risks at low education levels and stronger protective benefits at high levels. These findings offer empirical evidence for differentiated, mechanism-driven family interventions.