ABSTRACT This study investigates how welfare participation affected parental educational involvement and the mediating role of their educational aspiration in China. Using nationally representative data from the China Education Panel Survey and a PSM‐DID method, we find that Dibao participation was negatively associated with home‐based parental educational involvement, i.e., providing study‐related behaviour monitoring and assistance with homework, whereas it showed an insignificant correlation with school‐based involvement. These correlations varied across the urban–rural divide. The negative correlation of Dibao with study‐related behaviour monitoring was significant only in rural areas. Parental educational aspiration played a mediating role in the relationship between welfare participation and parents' study‐related behaviour monitoring. Because of parental involvement in education being demonstrated to be particularly important for children from economically disadvantaged families, the overall negative impact of Dibao on parental educational involvement should be taken seriously.
Huo et al. (2026) studied this question.