Objective: Explored the characteristics of parental rearing styles, and its association with depressive symptoms and the self-directed learning ability among high school students during COVID-19 epidemic, while providing a basis for family intervention in the area of adolescent mental health and students learning abilities. Methods: A total of 2 893 high school students from the southern, central, and northern regions of Anhui Province were selected using a stratified-cluster sampling method in Feb. 2020. The online questionnaire survey regarding depressive symptoms, self-directed learning abilities, and rearing styles was administered using the smartphone application Questionnaire Star. Results: The prevalence rate of depressive symptoms was 38.9% among high school students during the COVID-19 outbreak. The parental rearing styles of high school students who reported depressive symptoms were characterized as follows:the scores of the parental emotional warmth factor, while relatively high scores of other factors, except the preferred factor. In addition, all of the factors showed statistically significant differences(P<0.01). The parental rearing styles of high school students with a weak self-directed learning ability were characterized as low scores in parental emotional warmth, parents prefer, and paternal over-protection(P<0.05). Ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that the negative correlation between depressive symptoms, low self-learning ability and parents emotional warmth(father OR=0.95, mother OR=0.95) and father over involvement(OR=0.95), the positive correlation between depressive symptoms, low self-learning ability and father rejection(OR=1.07) and over protection(OR=1.06). Conclusion Depressive symptoms and the self-directed learning ability of high school students might be associated with paternal rearing styles, particularly in the case of emotional warmth.