New research suggests parents' high expectations for their children's academic achievement could end up hurting their children's school performance, The Telegraph reported.

Researchers from the University of Reading found that when parents have unrealistic hopes for their children's academic achievement children may not perform well in school.

"Our research revealed both positive and negative aspects of parents' aspiration for their children's academic performance. Although parental aspiration can help improve children's academic performance, excessive parental aspiration can be poisonous," Kou Murayama, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 3,500 secondary school students and their parents in Germany, The Guardian reported. The study assessed student math achievement as well as parental aspiration (how much they want their child to earn a particular grade) and expectation (how much they believe their child can achieve a certain grade) on an annual basis.

Researchers found that high parental aspiration led to increased academic achievement, but only when it did not overly exceed realistic expectation. When aspiration exceeded expectation, the children's achievement decreased proportionately.

Previous psychological research has found the association between aspiration and academic achievement, but this study highlights a caveat, Murayama said.

"Much of the previous literature conveyed a simple, straightforward message to parents -- aim high for your children and they will achieve more," Murayama said.

In fact, getting parents to have higher hopes for their children has often been a goal of programs designed to improve academic performance in schools. This study suggests that the focus of such educational programs should not be on blindly increasing parental aspiration but on giving parents the information they need to develop realistic expectations.

"Unrealistically high aspiration may hinder academic performance. Simply raising aspiration cannot be an effective solution to improve success in education," he said.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.