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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1500937
This article is part of the Research Topic The Intersection of Psychology, Healthy Behaviors, and its Outcomes View all 43 articles

Parental Democratic Communication and Adolescent Well-Being in an Era of Loneliness: The Mediating Role of Societal Trust

Provisionally accepted
SiMin Liu SiMin Liu 1,2Sydney X. Hu Sydney X. Hu 1*Lanxin Su Lanxin Su 1,2
  • 1 Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Macao, Macao, SAR China
  • 2 College of Medicine, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China

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

    Background: In an era marked by increasing loneliness, understanding the impact of parenting practices on adolescent well-being and resilience is crucial. This study investigates the relationship between parental democratic communication and key indicators of adolescent adjustment and well-being in China, with a focus on the mediating role of societal trust.Objective: The study aimed to examine the direct effects of parental democratic communication on Chinese adolescents' subjective well-being and to explore the mediating roles of societal trust in this relationship.Methods: Data were collected from 691 high school students as part of the 2020 Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS). The sample was divided into two age groups: 16-17 years old (n=493) and 18 years old (n=198). Multi-group Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data.Results: SEM analysis revealed age-specific effects of parental democratic communication (PDC) on subjective well-being (SWB). For ages 16-17, PDC directly influenced SWB (β=0.269, p<0.001) with significant serial mediations through societal trust, negative emotion, and pleasant life experiences. For 18-year-olds, only societal trust mediated the PDC-SWB relationship (β=0.16, p<0.01). Meanwhile, the effect of societal trust is superior to that of other mediating variables in both groups. Multi-group analysis showed measurement invariance but differences in structural relationships across age groups.Conclusions: Parental democratic communication has a direct as well as serial 2 mediated impact on mid-adolescents' subjective well-being and an indirect impact through societal trust in late adolescence, among Chinese adolescents. These results point to a pattern we term "Societal Trust-Mediated Well-Being," which appears to wield greater influence than negative emotions or pleasant life experiences, particularly among older adolescents. These results underscore the need for developmentally tailored approaches and integrative interventions that adapt to the changing dynamics of adolescent well-being in a rapidly evolving society.

    Keywords: Trust-Mediated Well-Being, Parental Democratic Communication, Loneliness, Chinese adolescents, Multi-group SEM

    Received: 24 Sep 2024; Accepted: 25 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liu, Hu and Su. 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: Sydney X. Hu, Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Macao, Macao, SAR China

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