In recent years, parental psychological stress has emerged as a growing public concern. Understanding its influencing factors is essential for improving family mental health and advancing social governance. Grounded in social capital theory and supplemented by human capital theory and the stress-buffering model, this study utilizes data from the 2022 wave of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to systematically examine the impact and underlying mechanisms of parental education on parental psychological stress. Employing multiple linear regression models, the study focuses on testing the effect of the highest parental education level on parental psychological stress, measured by the standardized CESD20 depression scale scores. Robustness checks and multidimensional heterogeneity analyses are conducted to enhance the reliability of the results. Empirical findings reveal a significant negative association between parental education and psychological stress among parents. Moreover, notable heterogeneity is observed across different household registration (hukou) types, income groups, and gender categories. Further analysis indicates that family behavioral factors, such as the frequency of parent–child interactions, play an important mediating role in this relationship.
Zhang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.