Existing studies have rarely focused on the current status of parenting anxiety among teachers in the compulsory education stage. Yet, such anxiety exerts considerable social impacts, which makes this research of notable practical significance. This study conducts an empirical investigation on 567 young teachers in compulsory education in Shaanxi Province by adopting questionnaire survey and interview methods. It aims to analyze the characteristics of parenting anxiety among this group and propose targeted improvement paths. The findings reveal several prominent characteristics of the group’s parenting anxiety: the overall level of parenting anxiety is relatively high, with female teachers experiencing higher anxiety than male counterparts; in terms of age at childbirth, teachers with more than five years of work experience report the lowest anxiety levels; among the group, mothers in traditional families with three generations living together have the lowest anxiety levels; and parents in two-child families show lower parenting anxiety than those in one-child families. Accordingly, based on Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development, this study explores improvement paths from four dimensions: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem. It is expected to provide valuable references for alleviating the role pressure of young teachers and enhancing their professional well-being.