Open Access

ARTICLE

Parental Psychological Control and Adolescent Anxiety in China: A Chain Mediation Model of Basic Psychological Needs and Self-Compassion

Yuhan Guo¹, Jiayi Li², Shuai Chen³, Yanling Liu^2,*
1 Office of Information Technology Development, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
2 Research Center of Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
3 School of Psychology & Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
* Corresponding Author: Yanling Liu. Email:

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2026.075377

Received 30 October 2025; Accepted 23 January 2026; Published online 04 March 2026

Abstract

Background: In adolescence, anxiety symptoms are a common mental health problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible chain-mediating functions of fundamental psychological needs satisfaction and self-compassion in the link between adolescent anxiety and parental psychological control. Methods: Convenience sampling was used to pick 8342 middle school pupils from the Chinese regions of Sichuan and Hebei for this cross-sectional study. Participants filled out validated measures of anxiety symptoms, self-compassion, fundamental psychological needs satisfaction, and parental psychological control. To test the suggested chain mediation model, data were examined using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling (using Mplus). Results: Anxiety symptoms were significantly predicted by parental psychological control (β = 0.192, p < 0.001). This link was significantly mediated by meeting basic psychological requirements (β = 0.136, 95% CI [0.116, 0.156]), which accounted for 36.86% of the total effect. A significant chain mediation pathway was found (β = 0.040, 95% CI [0.025, 0.055]), suggesting that parental psychological control increased anxiety by first undermining basic psychological needs, which in turn decreased self-compassion, even though self-compassion did not directly mediate the relationship. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that adolescent anxiety is directly predicted by parental psychological control and, more importantly, that this control is exerted through a major chain mediation pathway: by weakening basic psychological needs, which in turn diminishes self-compassion and exacerbates anxiety symptoms.

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Keywords

Parental psychological control; self-compassion; anxiety; basic psychological needs satisfaction

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