Competition and game-playing: The academic returns and mental health costs of private tutoring

Given the intense academic competition in China, we ask the question of whether the academic returns to private tutoring come at the expense of students’ mental health. This topic involves the investigation and analysis of the dual effect of private tutoring. By using China Education Panel Survey data for 2014 and 2015, this study consistently finds that although investing time in private tutoring can boost academic achievement, it has a significant negative impact on students’ mental health. With an increase in average time spent and proportional participation in tutoring at the class level, the positive effect of the time invested in after-school tutoring on academic performance continues to weaken while the negative impact on mental health is gradually enhanced for a given individual. The main triggers for the worsening of mental health are the weakening of the social comparison effect as well as the enhancement of the role stress effect and the sleep deprivation effect.