Parenting Style and Adolescent Mental Health: The Chain Mediating Effects of Self-Esteem and Psychological Inflexibility

Abstract

Based on interpersonal acceptance–rejection theory, family systems theory, and psychological inflexibility theory, this study aimed to examine the mediating roles of a protective factor (self-esteem) and a risk factor (psychological inflexibility) on the influence of parenting style on adolescent mental health. A sample of Chinese adolescents (n = 916, 46% male, mean age = 14.44 years, SD = 1.84 years) completed the Short Egna Minnen Barndoms Uppfostran, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Depression Subscale of the Youth Self-Report. Results show that the self-esteem and psychological inflexibility play a chain mediating role in the relationship between parenting style and adolescent mental health. Specifically, parental emotional warmth had a positive effect on adolescent mental health through the chain mediating effects of self-esteem and psychological inflexibility. Parental rejection and parental over-protection had negative effects on adolescent mental health by lowering self-esteem but increasing psychological inflexibility. These results provide further guidance in the prevention of and intervention in adolescent mental health problems.

Parental Support and Problematic Smartphone Use: A Serial Mediating Model of Self-Esteem and Fear of Missing Out

“…The findings of this study show that self-esteem plays a mediating role in the relationship between parental support and PSU (hypothesis 2). In other words, parental support is positively related to self-esteem, which in turn affects adolescents' PSU, supporting the results of preceding studies [23,27,52]. According to the IPAR theory [13], parental acceptance and support pose a positive influence on adolescents' self-esteem, emotional stability, and viewpoints.…”

“…To recover the self-esteem damaged by relationships offline, adolescents with low self-esteem tend to focus on communicating with friends and partners on their smartphones, raising the risk of addiction [27,40]. Furthermore, low self-esteem can cause other negative cognitions and make emotional aspects vulnerable [40,52].…”

Family functioning and adolescent depression: A moderated mediation model of self-esteem and peer relationships

“…Family support, parental emotional warmth, and a positive parent–child relationship are all important factors influencing a child’s self-esteem ( Franco and Levitt, 1998 ; Bulanda and Majumdar, 2009 ; Peng et al, 2021a ). According to the circumplex model of marital and family systems, family functions manifest primarily as family cohesion, adaptability (or flexibility), and communication, which can affect both adolescent depression and self-esteem.…”

Factor Structure of the AUDIM-M Dimensional Self-Concept Questionnaire in Mexican Adolescents

“…This is due to the fact that parental rejection and overprotection reduces self-esteem and increases psychological inflexibility. By contrast, the emotional warmth of parents has a positive influence [ 71 ], hence the need to have valid and reliable instruments for its measurement. Therefore, the present study analyzes the psychometric properties proposed by Aguirre, Blanco, Peinado, Mondaca and Rangel [ 57 ] for the AUDIM-M self-concept questionnaire.…”