Longitudinal Links Between Maternal and Paternal Parenting Styles and Chinese Adolescents' Well-Being: Sequential Mediation by Parental Trust and Support and Adolescent Resilience.

INTRODUCTION Parenting styles are associated with adolescent well-being, yet the mechanisms linking family relational resources and individual traits remain less clear, particularly regarding potential differences between maternal and paternal influences.

Methods

This longitudinal study included 824 early adolescents from China (MAge = 12.68 ± 0.43, 53.90% boys), followed across 4 waves over 18 months. Structural equation modeling was used to examine whether perceived parental trust and support (PTS) and adolescent resilience sequentially mediated the associations between parenting styles (emotional warmth, rejection, and overprotection) and adolescent well-being. Multi-group analyses were conducted to explore adolescent gender differences.

Results

Maternal emotional warmth was positively associated with adolescent well-being by fostering PTS and resilience, whereas maternal rejection and overprotection were indirectly associated with lower adolescent well-being through reduced PTS and the sequential pathway. Crucially, paternal effects were mainly observed in relation to emotional warmth. Multi-group analyses suggested some gender differences, with stronger indirect associations observed among girls for all three parenting styles.

Conclusions

These findings highlight a sequential pathway linking parenting styles to adolescent well-being through interconnected relational and individual processes and suggest that maternal and paternal parenting, as well as gender differences, should be interpreted with caution. Interventions targeting parent-child relationships may benefit from focusing on enhancing adolescents' perceptions of trust and support.