TY  - EJOU
AU  - Guo, Yuhan 
AU  - Li, Jiayi 
AU  - Chen, Shuai 
AU  - Liu, Yanling 

TI  - Parental Psychological Control and Adolescent Anxiety in China: A Chain Mediation Model of Basic Psychological Needs and Self-Compassion
T2  - International Journal of Mental Health Promotion

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 2049-8543

AB  - <b>Background:</b> 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. <b>Methods:</b> 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). <b>Results:</b> Anxiety symptoms were significantly predicted by parental psychological control (β = 0.192, <i>p</i> &lt; 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. <b>Conclusion:</b> 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.
KW  - Parental psychological control; self-compassion; anxiety; basic psychological needs satisfaction

DO  - 10.32604/ijmhp.2026.075377