Academic but not social self-esteem mediates the association between Chinese adolescents’ perceived parental psychological control and depressive symptoms

Parental psychological control has been consistently shown to have a strong impact on adolescents’ self-development and mental well-being. However, the majority of research on the link between parental psychological control, self-esteem, and mental health is conducted in Western nations and has primary focused on global self-esteem. The current study drew on non-Western data and tested a mediation model in which adolescents’ academic and social self-esteem were hypothesized to mediate the association between parental psychological control and depression. A large sample ( N = 3,257) of adolescents in southern China reported perceived psychological control from both their mother and father, their academic and social self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Structural equation modeling results indicated that both mother and father control had significant direct effects on adolescent depression as well as significant indirect effects on depression through lower academic self-esteem. Social self-esteem failed to mediate the association between parental control and depression. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.