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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

The Relationship Between Stressful Life Events and Depressive Symptoms in College Students: mediation by Parenting Style and Gender’s Moderating Effect

, , , , , & show all
Pages 1975-1989 | Received 25 Jan 2024, Accepted 01 May 2024, Published online: 13 May 2024
 

Abstract

Aim

Stressful life events have a significant impact on the mental health of college students. Depression, as a prevalent psychological issue, has garnered attention in the field of college student mental health and is closely linked to it. Additionally, parenting style is identified as an important factor influencing the development of college students’ mental health. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between these three factors.

Methods

A total of 8079 first-year college students from two medical universities in Shandong Province, China were surveyed. The Beck Depression Inventory was utilized to evaluate depressive symptoms among the college students, while the Adolescent Self-rating Life Events Checklist and the Egna Minnen Beträfande Uppfostran were employed to gather data. Subsequently, the SPSS macro program PROCESS was utilized to analyze both the mediating and moderating effects. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0.

Results

The study found a detection rate of 6.3% for depressive symptoms among college students. The correlation analysis of this study showed that the stressful life events of college students were significantly positively correlated with depressive symptoms (r=0.261, p< 0.01). Each dimension of parenting style was associated with depressive symptoms in different degrees and directions. At the same time, parenting styles of all sizes play a partial mediating role between stressful life events and depressive symptoms in college students, gender plays a crucial regulatory role in this mediation.

Conclusion

Stressful life events experienced by college students have a significant impact on their mental health. Early intervention through positive parenting styles from parents may prove to be beneficial in promoting the development of good mental health among college students.

Data Sharing Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be available from the authors on reasonable requests.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

Informed consent was obtained from each participant prior to data collection. The Research Ethics Committee of Jining Medical University approved this study. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the participants for their involvement in this study.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest associated with this work.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province (tsqn201909145), the National Natural Science Foundation (81901391), the Shandong Natural Science Foundation (ZR2019MH095).