Beyond the cities: socioemotional mediators of the link between childhood maltreatment and academic outcomes in rural Chinese adolescents

Xiaohui Sun; Yu Xue; Zhiyu Chen; Hongzhu Sun

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1786513

Beyond the cities: socioemotional mediators of the link between childhood maltreatment and academic outcomes in rural Chinese adolescents

Xiaohui Sun (Lead / Corresponding author)
, Yu Xue
, Zhiyu Chen
, Hongzhu Sun

Education and Society

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Childhood maltreatment has been evidenced compromising academic outcomes, yet mechanisms remain unclear, particularly in rural populations facing educational inequalities. This study examined whether socioemotional capacities of empathy and prosocial behavior mediate maltreatment’s association with academic performance among 547 rural Chinese adolescents (mean age = 14.475; 51.2% male) based on cross-sectional data. Participants completed measures of childhood maltreatment, empathy, prosocial behavior, and academic performance. Structural equation modeling tested a chain mediation model. Results revealed that maltreatment directly associated with poorer academic performance. Prosocial behavior independently mediated this relationship, while empathy alone did not show significant mediation. However, a sequential pathway from empathy through prosocial behavior to academic performance was significant. Findings suggested that maltreatment disrupted academic achievement partially through impaired socioemotional development, with behavioral manifestations (prosocial behavior) more proximally linked to academic outcomes than internal emotional capacities (empathy) alone. This study suggested that interventions for prosocial skills and translation from internal empathetic concern to external prosocial actions, as well as maltreatment prevention were potentially helpful to support educational outcomes in vulnerable rural adolescents. These findings extended Western-based theories to the Chinese rural context and underscored socioemotional pathways as intervention targets for mitigating maltreatment’s educational consequences.

Original language	English
Article number	1786513
Number of pages	12
Journal	Frontiers in Psychology
Volume	17
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1786513
Publication status	Published - 10 Apr 2026

Keywords

academic performance
childhood maltreatment
Chinese rural adolescents
empathy
prosocial behavior
socioemotional development

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Psychology

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10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1786513Licence: CC BY

Final published version
© 2026 Sun, Xue, Chen and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Final published version, 787 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Beyond the cities: socioemotional mediators of the link between childhood maltreatment and academic outcomes in rural Chinese adolescents",

abstract = "Childhood maltreatment has been evidenced compromising academic outcomes, yet mechanisms remain unclear, particularly in rural populations facing educational inequalities. This study examined whether socioemotional capacities of empathy and prosocial behavior mediate maltreatment{\textquoteright}s association with academic performance among 547 rural Chinese adolescents (mean age = 14.475; 51.2\% male) based on cross-sectional data. Participants completed measures of childhood maltreatment, empathy, prosocial behavior, and academic performance. Structural equation modeling tested a chain mediation model. Results revealed that maltreatment directly associated with poorer academic performance. Prosocial behavior independently mediated this relationship, while empathy alone did not show significant mediation. However, a sequential pathway from empathy through prosocial behavior to academic performance was significant. Findings suggested that maltreatment disrupted academic achievement partially through impaired socioemotional development, with behavioral manifestations (prosocial behavior) more proximally linked to academic outcomes than internal emotional capacities (empathy) alone. This study suggested that interventions for prosocial skills and translation from internal empathetic concern to external prosocial actions, as well as maltreatment prevention were potentially helpful to support educational outcomes in vulnerable rural adolescents. These findings extended Western-based theories to the Chinese rural context and underscored socioemotional pathways as intervention targets for mitigating maltreatment{\textquoteright}s educational consequences.",

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Beyond the cities: socioemotional mediators of the link between childhood maltreatment and academic outcomes in rural Chinese adolescents

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Keywords

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