Exploring academic stress and assessing the impacts of the “Double Reduction” Policy on academic stress among Chinese middle school students

Abstract

This study explores academic stress among Chinese middle school students in Zhengzhou (Henan Province) in the context of the “Double Reduction” policy, which aims to reduce homework and off-campus tutoring burdens. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model and developed through a critical extension of its application to contemporary Chinese schooling, the study conceptualises academic stress as a multi-layered, contextually embedded phenomenon produced through interactions between adolescents and their family, school, community, and wider socio-cultural and policy environments. This framework not only organises the empirical analysis but critically foregrounds the relational and systemic dimensions of stress that unidimensional approaches routinely overlook. Methodologically, the study adopts a mixed-methods design: the Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents (ESSA) was administered to assess students’ academic stress profiles quantitatively, while semi-structured interviews with students, parents, and teachers provided rich qualitative insight into stakeholder interpretations of academic stress, experiences of the policy, and perceived mechanisms through which stress is generated and sustained. The interview data were analysed thematically and organised in alignment with the ecological framework to identify both convergent patterns and position-dependent divergences across stakeholder groups. Findings indicate that academic stress remains pervasive despite policy intervention. Rather than reducing the stress, the “Double Reduction” policy appears to have reshaped how academic stress is experienced. Stakeholders articulated broadly convergent assessments of the key drivers of stress and policy experiences, yet their accounts diverged in emphasis and interpretation in ways that reflect their distinct positions within the educational ecology. The thesis contributes an ecologically grounded account of academic stress under policy reform and offers evidence-informed recommendations for policymakers, schools, and families to mitigate stress through coordinated, system-level changes in evaluation practices, home–school collaboration, student support, and equity-oriented resource allocation.