Zhao Bao, Wang Xiaoyu, Jiang Xinyao, Zhuang Ruixue, Li Jiaqi, Ji Nian, Boyanton Dengting
School of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jun 20;16:1584212. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1584212. eCollection 2025.
Depressive symptoms is extremely prevalent in college students nowadays. It can cause long-term suffering and may even lead to suicidal ideation. It has been indicated by research that depression is related to a variety of psychosocial factors, the most notable being neuroticism and parenting. However, the underlying mechanisms of these variables have remained unclear. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the interaction between maternal parenting practices and neuroticism and its effects on depression.
A total of 2,692 undergraduate students were enrolled in this cross-sectional investigation from four universities located in Shandong Province, China. Participants filled simplified versions of the Big Five Personality Inventory, Parental Bonding Instrument, and Self-Rating Depressive Symptoms Scale. After eliminating entries with incomplete values, the dataset comprised 2,588 complete responses for analysis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed using SPSS 22.0 and the PROCESS macro for data analysis.
The results indicated that both neuroticism ( = 0.572, < 0.001) and maternal control factor ( = 0.253, < 0.001) displayed strong positive correlation with depression; whereas maternal care factor ( = -0.402, < 0.001) and maternal encouraging autonomy factor ( = -0.345, < 0.001) are negatively correlated with depression. Additionally, neuroticism demonstrated a significant direct effect on depression (β = 0.571, < 0.001). Moderation models were employed to examine the relationship between depression, maternal parenting practices, and neuroticism. Specifically, a high level of maternal care (Δ = 0.001, = 0.046) and maternal encouraging autonomy (Δ = 0.0046, = 0.004) significantly weakened the connections between neuroticism and depression, while an elevated level of maternal control enhanced the relationship between neuroticism and depression (Δ = 0.0019, = 0.038).
This study presents initial evidence for the moderating role of maternal parenting practices in the neuroticism-depression association. These results may facilitate the development of targeted intervention protocols tailored to university student subgroups based on different socioeconomic demographic characteristics and personality profiles.
如今，抑郁症状在大学生中极为普遍。它会导致长期痛苦，甚至可能引发自杀念头。研究表明，抑郁症与多种心理社会因素有关，其中最显著的是神经质和养育方式。然而，这些变量的潜在机制仍不清楚。本研究的目的是探讨母亲养育方式与神经质之间的相互作用及其对抑郁症的影响。
本横断面调查共纳入了来自中国山东省四所大学的2692名本科生。参与者填写了简化版的大五人格量表、父母教养方式问卷和自评抑郁症状量表。在剔除数据不完整的条目后，数据集包含2588份完整回复用于分析。使用SPSS 22.0和PROCESS宏进行结构方程模型（SEM）数据分析。
结果表明，神经质（=0.572，<0.001）和母亲控制因子（=0.253，<0.001）与抑郁症呈强正相关；而母亲关爱因子（=-0.402，<0.001）和母亲鼓励自主因子（=-0.345，<0.001）与抑郁症呈负相关。此外，神经质对抑郁症有显著的直接影响（β=0.571，<0.001）。采用调节模型来检验抑郁症、母亲养育方式和神经质之间的关系。具体而言，高水平的母亲关爱（Δ=0.001，=0.046）和母亲鼓励自主（Δ=0.0046，=0.004）显著削弱了神经质与抑郁症之间的联系，而高水平的母亲控制则增强了神经质与抑郁症之间的关系（Δ=0.0019，=0.038）。
本研究为母亲养育方式在神经质-抑郁症关联中的调节作用提供了初步证据。这些结果可能有助于根据不同的社会经济人口特征和人格概况，为大学生亚群体制定有针对性的干预方案。
