Table 8 The definition of key variables
From: Education Fever in China: Children’s Academic Performance and Parents’ Life Satisfaction
| Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
| Dependent variable | |
| Life satisfaction | Life satisfaction, ranging from 1 to 5 |
| Happiness | Happiness, ranging from 0–10 |
| Academic performance | |
| Ranking | Children’s academic score ranking in class, ranging from 1 to 5. 1 (bottom 24%), 2 (top 51 to top 75%), 3 (top 26 to top 50%), 4 (top 11% to top 25%), 5 (top 10%) |
| Language evaluation | Parent’s evaluation of child’s academic performance in language, ranging from 1 to 4 |
| Math evaluation | Parent’s evaluation of child’s academic performance in math, ranging from 1 to 4 |
| Child characteristics | |
| Gender | Gender of the child. If male, then Gender = 1; otherwise Gender = 0 |
| Health | Self-rated health status of the child. If healthy, then Health = 1; otherwise Health = 0 |
| Sibling size | Number of children in the family |
| Key school | Indicator for key school. If the child attends key school, then Key school = 1; otherwise Key school = 0 |
| Key class | Indicator for key class. If child attends key class, then Key class = 1; otherwise Key class = 0 |
| Parent characteristics | |
| Ln_income | Logarithm of annual household per capital income (CNY) |
| Relative income | Self-rated relative income status, ranging from 1 to 5 |
| Age2 | The square of the age (÷10) of parent |
| Marry | If the parent is married, then Marry = 1; otherwise Marry = 0 |
| Health | Self-rated health status of the parent. If healthy, then Health = 1; otherwise Health = 0 |
| Employ | Employment status of the parent. If the parent is employed, then Employ = 1; otherwise Employ = 0 |
| Education level | Education level of the parent, ranging from 0 to 8, 0 (illiterate/semi-literate), 1 (kindergarten), 2 (primary school), 3 (middle school), 4 (high school), 5 (2- or 3-year college), 6 (4-year college/Bachelor’s degree), 7 (master’s degree), 8 (doctoral degree) |
| Ln_comm | Logarithm of monthly communication fee (CNY) |
| Region characteristics | |
| GDP | Logarithm of province-level per capita GDP (CNY) |
| Urbanization | The percentage of the total population living in urban areas, defined by the province |
| Expenditure rate | The ratio of science, education and social security expenditure of total public expenditure, defined by the province |
| Parent involvement | |
| Training | Indicator for attending private tutoring classes. If the child attended private tutoring last month, then Training = 1; otherwise Training = 0 |
| Ln_fee | Logarithm of private tutoring fees that year (CNY) |
| Instrumental variables | |
| Class satisfaction | Student’s satisfaction towards class teacher, ranging from 1 to 5 |
| Language satisfaction | Student’s satisfaction towards Chinese language teacher, ranging from 1 to 5 |
| Math satisfaction | Student’s satisfaction towards math teacher, ranging from 1 to 5 |