INTRODUCTION: The self-awareness of college students will have an impact on their future development, especially their mental health and employment. This study explored the relationship between self-identity and future orientation with self-continuity as a chain-mediating variable, as well as the moderating role of parenting style in the direct and indirect effects of self-identity on future orientation among college students. METHODS: Data were collected from 563 college students from universities aged 18-23 years ( = 20.75, SD = 1.42). A self-identity scale, self-continuity questionnaire, and scale of consideration of future consequences were used to evaluate self-identity, past self-continuity, future self-continuity, and future orientation, respectively. Hayes' PROCESS macro for SPSS was utilized to test relationships among the variables. RESULTS: Past self-continuity and future self-continuity had an independent-mediating and chain-mediating effect on the relationship between self-identity and future orientation, respectively. Parenting style had a moderating effect in the chain-mediation model. Specifically, among those reporting democratic parenting, self-identity is a stronger positive predictor of past self-continuity, and among those reporting non-democratic parenting, past self-continuity was a stronger negative predictor of future orientation. CONCLUSION: Self-continuity is a critical mediating mechanism through which self-identity is associated with future orientation among college students, and self-reported parenting style serves as a moderating variable in the indirect influence of self-identity on future orientation. These findings underscore the importance of considering both individual and environmental factors in shaping the future trajectories of college students.