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

Figures & data

Table 1 Participants’ Demographic Information

Variables		N(%)	Mean±SD
Sex
	Male	3225 (39.9)
	Female	4854 (60.1)
City
	Jining	4428 (54.8)
	Rizhao	1066 (13.2)
	Weifang	2585 (32.0)
Residence
	Urban	2995 (37.1)
	Rural	5084 (62.9)
Single child
	No	4922 (61.5)
	Yes	3075 (38.5)
Major
	Non-medicine major	2349 (29.1)
	Medicine major	5730 (70.9)
ASLEC^a
	0–3	1794 (22.8)
	4–6	2220 (28.2)
	7–9	1944 (24.7)
	≥10	1908 (24.3)
Father parenting style dimension
	Emotional warmth		53.90±10.84
	Severe punishment		16.92±5.171
	Excessive interference		19.44±4.091
	Favoring subjects		9.94±3.612
	Rejection and denial		8.97±2.821
	Over-protection		12.05±2.845
Mother parenting style dimension
	Emotional warmth		54.45±10.555
	Over-protection		32.96±6.701
	Rejection and denial		12.22±3.791
	Severe punishment		12.16±3.896
	Favoring subjects		10.02±3.608
Depression^b		509 (6.3)	3.31±5.598

Notes: ^aSressful life events. ^bDepressive symptoms.

Table 2 Single-Sample ANOVA for Age and Independent Sample T-Test for Gender

	Age		Gender
	Fa	P	Male(Mean±SD)	Female(Mean±SD)	Fb	P
Depression^a	2.822	<0.01	3.222±5.923	3.372±5.323	2.785	0.237
ASLEC^b	5.509	<0.01	6.469±4.496	6.932±3.873	82.677	<0.01
F1^c	2.393	<0.01	53.468±11.017	54.181±10.620	6.75	<0.01
F2^d	3.067	<0.01	12.416±2.919	11.802±2.743	3.98	<0.01
F3^e	4.475	<0.01	9.548±3.107	8.579±2.515	172.32	<0.01
F4^f	5.465	<0.01	18.004±5.634	16.198±4.655	178.782	<0.01
F5^g	0.902	0.55	10.008±3.722	9.896±3.505	8.37	0.175
F6^h	3.206	<0.01	20.132±4.092	18.987±3.992	1.096	<0.01
M1^i	3.203	<0.01	53.782±10.950	54.888±10.170	18.464	<0.01
M2^j	5.38	<0.01	33.946±6.670	32.301±6.585	2.794	<0.01
M3^k	3.867	<0.01	12.767±4.084	11.851±3.503	94.465	<0.01
M4^l	4.988	<0.01	12.853±4.308	11.706±3.486	205.06	<0.01
M5^m	0.959	0.49	10.136±3.749	9.935±3.479	21.852	0.015

Notes: ^aDepressive symptoms. ^bSressful life events. ^cPaternal emotional warmth. ^dPaternal over-protection. ^ePaternal rejection and denial. ^fPaternal severe punishment. ^gPaternal favoring subjects. ^hPaternal excessive interference. ⁱMaternal emotional warmth. ^jMaternal over-protection. ^kMaternal rejection and denial. ^lMaternal severe punishment. ^mMaternal favoring subjects.

Table 3 Correlation Analysis

Variables	ASLEC^a	Depression^b	1^i	2^j	3^k	4^l	5^m	6^h
ASLEC^a	1	0.261*	−0.069*	0.238*	0.183*	0.118*	0.049*	–
Depression^b	0.261*	1	−0.176*	0.234*	0.262*	0.239*	0.060*	–
1^c	−0.110*	−0.206*	1	−0.083*	−0.333*	−0.366*	0.226*	–
2^d	0.180*	0.194*	0.070*	1	0.629*	0.536*	0.230*	–
3^e	0.151*	0.246*	−0.341*	0.513*	1	0.771*	0.160*	–
4^f	0.116*	0.230*	−0.368*	0.469*	0.779*	1	0.154*	–
5^g	0.042*	0.048*	0.227*	0.232*	0.146*	0.135*	1	–
6^h	0.130*	0.156*	−0.173*	0.599*	0.602*	0.609*	0.135*	1

Notes: * P<0.01, The lower left corner of the diagonal represents the father’s parenting styles, while the upper right corner of the diagonal represents the mother’s parenting styles. ^aDepressive symptoms. ^bSressful life events. ^cPaternal emotional warmth. ^dPaternal over-protection. ^ePaternal rejection and denial. ^fPaternal severe punishment. ^gPaternal favoring subjects. ^hPaternal excessive interference. ⁱMaternal emotional warmth. ^jMaternal over-protection. ^kMaternal rejection and denial. ^lMaternal severe punishment. ^mMaternal favoring subjects.

Figure 1 Mediating model of parenting style. (A) The mediating effect of father’s parenting style, (B) the mediating effect of mother’s parenting style.

Note: *P < 0.01.

Table 4 Analysis of Mediating Effects of Sex Regulation

		Age			ASLEC^b			Int (ASLEC^b*Sex)			R2	F
		β	SE	t	β	SE	t	β	SE	t
Father	Depression^a	0.062	0.067	0.922	0.158	0.045	3.514*	0.079	0.028	2.821*	0.001	7.958*
	F1^c	−0.388	0.139	−2.803	−0.321	0.029	−11.021*	−0.318	0.058	−5.517*	0.004	30.433*
	F2^d	−0.013	0.036	−0.368	0.132	0.008	17.471*	0.06	0.015	4.000*	0.002	16.000*
	F3^e	0.050	0.035	1.424	0.115	0.07	15.438*	0.071	0.015	4.798*	0.003	23.02*
	F4^f	0.213	0.065	3.275*	0.170	0.014	12.425*	0.148	0.027	5.468*	0.004	29.896*
	F5^g	0.007	0.047	0.140	0.038	0.010	3.878*	0.013	0.019	0.648	0	0.419
	F6^h	−0.045	0.052	−0.878	0.140	0.011	12.896*	0.073	0.022	3.400*	0.001	11.559*
Mother	Depression^a	0.062	0.067	0.092	0.286	0.015	19.545*	0.081	0.028	2.891*	0.001	8.360*
	M1^i	−0.466	0.135	−3.447*	−0.211	0.028	−7.418*	−0.317	0.056	−5.631*	0.004	31.709*
	M2^j	−0.259	0.083	−3.121*	0.400	0.017	22.896*	0.122	0.035	3.537*	0.001	12.514*
	M3^k	0.044	0.048	0.923	0.183	0.010	18.305*	0.131	0.020	6.625*	0.005	43.885*
	M4^l	0.091	0.049	1.858	0.128	0.010	12.394*	0.125	0.020	6.102*	0.004	37.240*
	M5^m	0.015	0.046	0.328	0.045	0.010	4.587*	0.004	0.019	0.183	0	0.033

Notes: ^aDepressive symptoms. ^bSressful life events. ^cPaternal emotional warmth. ^dPaternal over-protection. ^ePaternal rejection and denial. ^fPaternal severe punishment. ^gPaternal favoring subjects. ^hPaternal excessive interference. ⁱMaternal emotional warmth. ^jMaternal over-protection. ^kMaternal rejection and denial. ^lMaternal severe punishment. ^mMaternal favoring subjects.

Figure 2 Models of the moderating effect of gender on the mediating effect of parenting style. (A) The moderating effect of gender on the mediating effect of father’s parenting style, and (B) the moderating effect of gender on the mediating effect of mother’s parenting style.

Note: *P < 0.01.

Figure 3 Moderation effect of gender on stressful life events and depressive symptoms in college students.

Note: ^aThe intermediary is the father’s parenting style. ^bThe intermediary is the mother’s parenting style.

Figure 4 Moderation effects of gender on stressful life events and parenting styles in college students.