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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Mood Disorders
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1417355
This article is part of the Research Topic Neurobiological, Psychological, and Environmental Influences on Parenting and Child Development: An Inclusive and Interdisciplinary Perspective View all 7 articles

Perceived parental rearing styles and depression in Chinese adolescents: the mediating role of self-compassion

Provisionally accepted
Yanzhen Ren Yanzhen Ren 1Shining Zhang Shining Zhang 1Caiying Huang Caiying Huang 2Jie Zhang Jie Zhang 3Tingyun Jiang Tingyun Jiang 1*Yuan Fang Yuan Fang 1*
  • 1 Zhongshan Mental Health Center, The Third People's Hospital of Zhongshan, Zhongshan, China
  • 2 Department of Medical, The Third People's Hospital of Zhongshan, Zhongshan, China
  • 3 Department of Pediatric Psychology, The Third People's Hospital of Zhongshan, Zhongshan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Adolescence is a period characterized by rapid biological and psychological change, and adolescents have a heightened risk of depression. Parental rearing is an important influencing factor for depression in adolescence. However, the mechanism of influence needs further exploration.Methods: A total of 1839 adolescents were recruited from a junior and a senior high school in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China. They were requested to completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), and Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21(DASS-21).Results: Adolescents recalled their mothers as being more caring and controlling than their fathers. Parental care (maternal care, paternal care) and parental encouragement of autonomy (maternal encouragement of autonomy, paternal encouragement of autonomy) were both negative predictors of depression, while parental control (maternal control, paternal control) was positive predictor of depression. Self-compassion mediated all relationships between parental rearing styles (parental care, parental encouragement of autonomy, and parental control) and depression but played different mediating roles (complete or incomplete mediating role) in different relationships.Self-compassion plays a mediator role in all relationships between perceived parental rearing styles (parental care, parental encouragement of autonomy, and parental control) and depression. Adolescents who grown up with less parental care, less parental encouragement of autonomy, and high parental control deserve special attention. Educators and clinicians could help those adolescents reduce the occurrence of depression by increasing their level of self-compassion.

    Keywords: Perceived parental rearing styles, Depression, self-compassion, adolescents, parental care, Parental encouragement of autonomy, parental control

    Received: 14 Apr 2024; Accepted: 28 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ren, Zhang, Huang, Zhang, Jiang and Fang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Tingyun Jiang, Zhongshan Mental Health Center, The Third People's Hospital of Zhongshan, Zhongshan, China
    Yuan Fang, Zhongshan Mental Health Center, The Third People's Hospital of Zhongshan, Zhongshan, China

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