The Relationship Between China’s “Double Reduction” Policy and Educational Anxiety Among Rural Middle School Parents: The Mediating Role of Satisfaction with Home-School Collaboration

Background China’s “Double Reduction” Policy represents a pivotal document in the context of China’s educational development and reform, aiming to reduce students’ academic burden and alleviate parental educational anxiety. This study investigates the impact of the “Double Reduction” Policy on the educational anxiety of rural middle school parents, as well as the mediating role of satisfaction with home-school collaboration. Methods A random sample of 442 parents from a province in eastern China participated by completing three key measures: perceived understanding of the “Double Reduction” Policy, levels of educational anxiety, and satisfaction with home-school collaboration. Results The results revealed that: (a) parents’ understanding of the “Double Reduction” Policy significantly and negatively predicted their educational anxiety, suggesting that greater alignment with and awareness of the policy corresponded with reduced anxiety; (b) Parents’ satisfaction with home-school collaboration positively predicted the school selection anxiety but did not significantly relate to concerns about academic performance or future development; and (c) Parents’ satisfaction with home-school collaboration significantly moderated the relationship between their understanding of the “Double Reduction” Policy and different dimensions of educational anxiety, though the strength of this moderation varied across dimensions. Conclusions These findings suggest that reducing rural parental educational anxiety requires not only strengthening awareness of the policy and improving home-school collaboration but also deepening the implementation of the “Double Reduction” strategy and reforming the school selection system.