Sichuan Mental Health 2025;38(5):442-449
doi:10.11886/scjsws20250323001
Relationship between negative parenting styles and adolescent depressive symptoms: a structural equation modeling approach to multiple mediation pathways
Peiqi TANG 1 ; Liyuan LI 2 ; Yuxuan GUO 3 ; Juexi LI 1 ; Ting YANG 1 ; Ting PU 1 ; Haixi ZUO 4 ; Bo ZHOU 1
Affiliations
Keywords
Parenting styles; Social support; Psychological resilience; Depression; Adolescents
Country
China
Language
Chinese
Abstract
BackgroundThe distressingly high prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents exerts profound impacts on their physical and psychological development, urgently necessitating effective preventive interventions. Existing studies, however, have predominantly focused on isolated risk factors, neglecting to construct an integrated model that systematically disentangles the intricate relationships linking parenting styles, learning burnout, and childhood trauma to adolescent depressive symptoms. Moreover, the potential protective roles of social support and psychological resilience in this context remain insufficiently elucidated. ObjectiveTo construct a structural equation model encompassing multiple pathways to unravel the comprehensive mechanisms through which negative parenting styles, childhood trauma, learning burnout, psychological resilience, and social support collectively influence adolescent depressive symptoms, thereby providing evidence-based intervention strategies. MethodsA stratified sampling technique was utilized to recruit 5 865 students from 12 middle schools in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province from March to May 2022. Participants were assessed using the following validated instruments: the Short-form Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (s-EMBU), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Adolescent Student Burnout Inventory, the Patients' Health Questionnaire Depression Scale-9 item (PHQ-9), the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS),and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was employed to construct a predictive framework examining the complex network of pathways through which negative parenting styles, childhood trauma, learning burnout, psychological resilience,and social support collectively influence depressive symptoms in adolescents. ResultsThe PHQ-9 scores demonstrated significant positive correlations with the scores on s-EMBU overprotection subscale (r=0.272, P<0.01), s-EMBU rejection subscale (r=0.368, P<0.01), CTQ-SF (r=0.288, P<0.01) and Adolescent Student Burnout Inventory (r=0.587, P<0.01). Conversely, significant negative correlations were observed between PHQ-9 scores and both SSRS (r=-0.532, P<0.01) and CD-RISC scores (r=-0.418, P<0.01). Negative parenting styles (β=0.113, 95% CI: 0.087-0.138) and learning burnout (β=0.339, 95% CI: 0.315-0.364) emerged as significant positive predictors of depressive symptoms, with childhood trauma mediating the relationship between negative parenting styles and depressive symptoms (effect size=0.018, 95% CI: 0.013-0.024). Social support servesed as a mediating pathway between negative parenting styles and depressive symptoms (β=0.080, 95% CI: 0.069-0.092), as well as between negative parenting styles and childhood trauma (β=0.041, 95% CI: 0.032-0.050). It also functioned as an intermediary pathway linking learning burnout to depressive symptoms (β=0.092, 95% CI: 0.081-0.104) and connecting learning burnout with childhood trauma (β=0.048, 95% CI: 0.037-0.058). Additionally, psychological resilience serveed as a mediating pathway between negative parenting styles and depressive symptoms (β=0.004, 95% CI: 0.002-0.007), between learning burnout and depressive symptoms (β=0.037, 95% CI: 0.023-0.052), and between childhood trauma and depressive symptoms (β=0.003, 95% CI: 0.001-0.006). ConclusionLearning burnout exerts a direct effect on adolescent depressive symptoms. Negative parenting styles influence depressive symptoms both directly and indirectly through childhood trauma. Furthermore, social support and psychological resilience serve as mediator linking negative parenting styles and learning burnout to depressive symptoms in adolescents. [Funded by Science and Technology Project of the Health Commission of Sichuan Province (number, 24LCYJPT18)]
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