Effects Of Parenting Style On Mental Health

In order to explore the influence of parenting style on the mental health of college students(both undergraduate and graduate students),two studies were conducted to explore the mediating roles of perceived social support,self-esteem,and life meaning.In the first study,A total of 1007 college students in South China were enrolled to complete the Simplistic Parenting Style Assessment Questionnaire(S-EMBU-C),the General Health Questionnaire(GHQ-12),the Perceived Social Support Scale(PSSS)and the Self-esteem Scale(SES).The results of Study 1 showed that:(1)Parenting styles of college students are significantly different in gender,single child or not,and left-behind experience;There are significant differences among college students in the Perceived social support in gender and single child or not.(2)Paternal emotional warmth and maternal emotional warmth were significantly positively correlated with the level of mental health,perceived social support and self-esteem.Paternal rejection,maternal rejection,paternal over-protection and maternal over-protection were significantly negatively correlated with the level of mental health,perceived social support and self-esteem.(3)Parenting styles can influence mental health through perceived social support,and perceived social support plays a partial mediating role between positive and negative parenting styles and mental health,respectively.If the level of support provided by parents is not as good as it could be,social support can compensate,can help make up for the loss.(4)Parenting styles can influence college students’ mental health through self-esteem,and social support plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between positive and negative parenting styles and mental health.Parenting styles can influence college students’ mental health by expressing encouragement and making an effort to boost their self-esteem.(5)Social support and self-esteem play chain mediating roles together in the influence of parental rearing style on mental health.In the second study,542 college students were tested on the Sense of Life(MLQ),Short Parenting Style Assessment Questionnaire and General Health Questionnaire to explore whether the sense of life meaning,and the two sub-dimensions of the sense of meaning,play a mediating role in the mechanism of the influence of parenting style on mental health.The results of study 2 showed that:(1)Positive parenting style has a significant positive correlation with life meaning,while negative parenting style has a significant negative correlation with life meaning.(2)The positive parenting style and the emotional warmth of the father and the emotional warmth of the mother were significantly positive in predicting the sense of life meaning of college students,while the negative parenting style was negative in predicting the sense of life meaning of college students.(3)The sense of purpose and meaning in life has a partial mediating effect on the consequence of parental rearing style on mental health.In conclusion,parental rearing styles can not only directly affect the mental health of college students,but also indirectly affect the mental health through the perceived chain mediating effect of social support and self-esteem.Parenting style can also indirectly affect the mental health of college students through the mediating effect of having sense of meaning.