IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i21p14029-d955813.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Parental Autonomy Support and Mental Health among Chinese Adolescents and Emerging Adults: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

Author

Listed:
  • Chunhua Ma

    (College of Educational Science and Technology, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China)

  • Yongfeng Ma

    (College of Educational Science and Technology, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China)

  • Youpeng Wang

    (Department of Petrochemical Engineering, Lanzhou Petrochemical University of Vocational Technology, Lanzhou 730060, China)

Abstract

Guided by the dual-factor model and self-determination theory, this study explored the relationship between parental autonomy support and mental health (i.e., life satisfaction and emotional problems) in adolescents and emerging adults, with a focus on the mediating role of self-esteem. We conducted two studies among independent samples in China, including 1617 adolescents aged 10 to 17 years ( M age =12.79, SD = 1.63; 50.7% girls; Study 1) and 1274 emerging adults aged 17 to 26 years ( M age = 20.31, SD = 1.63; 56.6% women; Study 2). All participants completed a set of self-reported questionnaires. The results of both studies validated our hypothesis; specifically, parental autonomy support was positively associated with life satisfaction, but negatively associated with emotional problems (emotional symptoms in Study 1 and depressive symptoms in Study 2). Meanwhile, self-esteem partially mediated the positive relationship between parental autonomy support and life satisfaction ( R 2 = 0.33 in Study 1; R 2 = 0.38 in Study 2), and partially mediated the negative relationship between parental autonomy support and emotional problems ( R 2 = 0.16 in Study 1; R 2 = 0.42 in Study 2). In summary, this suggests that the common antecedents of positive and negative indicators of mental health addressed in this study are prevalent in adolescents and emerging adults. These findings have important implications for preventive and interventional efforts aimed at mental health problems in both demographics.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunhua Ma & Yongfeng Ma & Youpeng Wang, 2022. "Parental Autonomy Support and Mental Health among Chinese Adolescents and Emerging Adults: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14029-:d:955813
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14029/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14029/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang Liu & Jie Mei & Lili Tian & E. Huebner, 2016. "Age and Gender Differences in the Relation Between School-Related Social Support and Subjective Well-Being in School Among Students," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 1065-1083, February.
    2. Mohsen Joshanloo & Samaneh Afshari, 2011. "Big Five Personality Traits and Self-Esteem as Predictors of Life Satisfaction in Iranian Muslim University Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 105-113, March.
    3. William Boyce & Torbjorn Torsheim & Candace Currie & Alessio Zambon, 2006. "The Family Affluence Scale as a Measure of National Wealth: Validation of an Adolescent Self-Report Measure," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 473-487, September.
    4. Lavrič, Miran & Naterer, Andrej, 2020. "The power of authoritative parenting: A cross-national study of effects of exposure to different parenting styles on life satisfaction," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiaofeng Xu & Qingqing Nie & Wang Liu & E. Scott Huebner & Lili Tian, 2022. "Children’s Life Satisfaction: Developmental Trajectories and Environmental and Personality Predictors," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2805-2826, August.
    2. Mia Hakovirta & Johanna Kallio, 2016. "Children’s Perceptions of Poverty," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(2), pages 317-334, June.
    3. Jaroslava Kopcakova & Zuzana Dankulincova Veselska & Andrea Madarasova Geckova & Daniel Klein & Jitse P. Dijk & Sijmen A. Reijneveld, 2018. "Are school factors and urbanization supportive for being physically active and engaging in less screen-based activities?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(3), pages 359-366, April.
    4. Rui-Ping Zhang, 2016. "Positive Affect and Self-Efficacy as Mediators Between Personality and Life Satisfaction in Chinese College Freshmen," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 2007-2021, October.
    5. Heidi Carlerby & Eija Viitasara & Anders Knutsson & Katja Gillander Gådin, 2011. "Subjective health complaints among boys and girls in the Swedish HBSC study: focussing on parental foreign background," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 56(5), pages 457-464, October.
    6. Brock Boudreau & Christiane Poulin, 2009. "An examination of the validity of the Family Affluence Scale II (FAS II) in a general adolescent population of Canada," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 29-42, October.
    7. Jaroslava Voráčová & Erik Sigmund & Dagmar Sigmundová & Michal Kalman, 2016. "Family Affluence and the Eating Habits of 11- to 15-Year-Old Czech Adolescents: HBSC 2002 and 2014," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-11, October.
    8. Corominas, Mari & González-Carrasco, Mònica & Casas, Ferran, 2021. "Analyzing factors for an optimum play environment through children’s subjective well-being indicators," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    9. Don C. Zhang & Tyler L. Renshaw, 2020. "Personality and College Student Subjective Wellbeing: A Domain-Specific Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 997-1014, March.
    10. Elgar, Frank J. & De Clercq, Bart & Schnohr, Christina W. & Bird, Phillippa & Pickett, Kate E. & Torsheim, Torbjørn & Hofmann, Felix & Currie, Candace, 2013. "Absolute and relative family affluence and psychosomatic symptoms in adolescents," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 25-31.
    11. Maria Aymerich & Ramon Cladellas & Antoni Castelló & Ferran Casas & Mònica Cunill, 2021. "The Evolution of Life Satisfaction Throughout Childhood and Adolescence: Differences in Young People’s Evaluations According to Age and Gender," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(6), pages 2347-2369, December.
    12. Natalia Arias & María Dolores Calvo & José Alberto Benítez-Andrades & María José Álvarez & Beatriz Alonso-Cortés & Carmen Benavides, 2018. "Socioeconomic Status in Adolescents: A Study of Its Relationship with Overweight and Obesity and Influence on Social Network Configuration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, September.
    13. Bernadette R. Pacaña, 2024. "The Mediating Effect of Parental Involvement on the Relationship Between Teacher Support and Student Motivation in Learning Science," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(3s), pages 1245-1262, March.
    14. Jacky C. K. Ng & Victor C. Y. Lau & Sylvia Xiahua Chen, 2020. "Why are Dispositional Enviers not Satisfied With Their Lives? An Investigation of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Pathways Among Adolescents and Young Adults," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 525-545, February.
    15. Klocke, Andreas & Stadtmüller, Sven, 2024. "Two generations later: New evidence on health equalisation in youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).
    16. Sebastian Wachs & Michelle F. Wright, 2018. "Associations between Bystanders and Perpetrators of Online Hate: The Moderating Role of Toxic Online Disinhibition," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-9, September.
    17. Rahel Mathews & Danielle Nadorff, 2022. "Too Many Treats or Not Enough to Eat? The Impact of Caregiving Grandparents on Child Food Security and Nutrition," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-10, May.
    18. Daniela Raccanello & Giada Vicentini & Elena Trifiletti & Roberto Burro, 2020. "A Rasch Analysis of the School-Related Well-Being (SRW) Scale: Measuring Well-Being in the Transition from Primary to Secondary School," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-17, December.
    19. Lena Detlefsen & Andreas Friedl & Katharina Lima de Miranda & Ulrich Schmidt & Matthias Sutter, 2018. "Are economic preferences shaped by the family context? The impact of birth order and siblings’ sex composition on economic preferences," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2018_12, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    20. Joanne Nicole Luke & Alister Thorpe & Carlina Black & Lisa Thorpe & David Thomas & Sandra Eades & Kevin Rowley, 2021. "Collaborative Social-Epidemiology: A Co-analysis of the Cultural and Structural Determinants of Health for Aboriginal Youth in Victorian Schools," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-22, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14029-:d:955813. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.