Parental psychological control and depression from late childhood to early adolescence: a four-wave longitudinal study of emotional resilience and gender differences.

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Learn more: PMC Disclaimer | PMC Copyright Notice BMC Psychol . 2026 Apr 21;14:808. doi: 10.1186/s40359-026-04583-6 Parental psychological control and depression from late childhood to early adolescence: a four-wave longitudinal study of emotional resilience and gender differences Chengwei Zhu 1 , Shixiu Ren 2 , Jiale Li 3 , Xinhai Tong 4 , Xin Liu 5 , Danhui Zhang 1, ✉ Author information Article notes Copyright and License information 1 Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China 2 Tianjin Academy of Educational Sciences, Tianjin, China 3 No.1 Senior High School in Baotou, Baotou, China 4 Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI USA 5 Qingdao West Coast New Area Emeishan Road Primary School, Qingdao, China ✉ Corresponding author. Received 2026 Feb 2; Accepted 2026 Apr 15; Collection date 2026. © The Author(s) 2026 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ . PMC Copyright notice PMCID: PMC13227791  PMID: 42015223 Abstract Background Parental psychological control has been found to be associated with children’s depression; however, the longitudinal mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. Methods Grounded in the bioecological model, this study adopted a four-wave longitudinal design to examine the bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and depression, with emotional resilience as a mediator and gender as a moderator. Participants were 555 primary school students ( M age at T1 = 9.51 years, 49.0% girls) from eastern China. Results Cross-lagged panel models showed that parental psychological control was associated with later depression indirectly through emotional resilience, with a significant indirect effect ( β = 0.096, 95% CI [0.037,0.155]). This indirect pathway differed by gender: it was significant among boys ( β = 0.105, 95% CI [0.022,0.234]) but not among girls. Conclusions These findings provide empirical evidence for understanding the development of depression during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence and highlight the importance of considering gender differences when examining the developmental processes underlying children’s emotional problems. Keywords: Parental psychological control, Depression, Emotional resilience, Gender difference, Early adolescents Introduction Globally, depression among children and adolescents has become a major public health concern [ 4 , 36 , 53 ]. In China, more than 12.8% of children and adolescents are at risk of depression [ 58 ]. Given its substantial psychosocial impairment and long-term societal burden [ 33 ], identifying the developmental factors underlying depression remains an important research priority. According to bioecological model [ 5 ], individual development is shaped by the complex and dynamic interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors. Within this framework, the family represents one of the most immediate and influential microsystems, and parenting behaviors constitute important proximal processes that shape children’s psychological adjustment [ 24 , 38 ]. Parental psychological control, as a maladaptive parenting practice, may therefore serve as an important family-level risk factor for the development of depression. At the same time, children’s adjustment is also influenced by individual characteristics, such as emotional resilience, which may protect against the negative emotional consequences of adverse experiences [ 20 ]. Gender is also important in this context because it represents a biologically grounded source of developmental variation. Boys and girls differ in hormonal development, pubertal trajectories, and vulnerability to depression, suggesting that the developmental pathways linking family influences and children’s adjustment may not operate identically across gender groups [ 24 , 38 , 47 ]. Thus, from a bioecological perspective, parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and gender should be considered together in understanding the development of depression over time. Although previous research on depression has provided important insights, several gaps remain. First, few research has simultaneously examined the roles of parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and gender within the same developmental framework, leaving insufficient understanding of how social, individual, and biological factors jointly shape depression over time. Second, much of the existing evidence has focused on broader adolescent or adult samples, whereas research specifically targeting the transition from late childhood to early adolescence remains relatively limited. This developmental stage is particularly important because children undergo rapid physical, emotional, and social changes. Thus, family influences may shift as autonomy needs increase, and gender differences in pubertal and emotional functioning become more salient [ 56 ]. Accordingly, the present study used a four-wave longitudinal design spanning Grades 4 to 6 to investigate the bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and depression, the role of emotional resilience in these longitudinal associations, and possible gender differences in these developmental pathways. By doing so, it advances a more integrated understanding of how social, individual, and biological factors jointly shape the emergence and development of emotional problems during the critical transition from late childhood to early adolescence. Research background Psychological control and depression in children and adolescents Parental psychological control refers to an intrusive parenting strategy through which parents attempt to pressure children to think, feel, and behave in accordance with parental expectations and norms [ 55 ]. It includes a generalized pattern of behaviors, including inducing guilt, expressing disappointment, withdrawing love, isolating the child, and engaging in shaming practices [ 2 , 25 ]. Within the bioecological framework, parents constitute one of the most important social environmental influences in children’s development, shaping the climate in which they grow up and live [ 5 ]. When parents habitually adopt psychologically controlling behaviors, children may experience this family environment as overly controlling, which in turn may hinder the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs. According to self-determination theory (SDT), autonomy is a fundamental psychological need reflecting individuals’ sense of volition, self-direction, and psychological freedom [ 51 , 52 ]. Excessive parental control, especially when it intrudes into children’s psychological and emotional experiences, can undermine this need, restrict autonomy, and hinder the development of an independent sense of self [ 34 , 66 ]. From the perspective of SDT, when basic psychological needs are thwarted, children are more likely to experience maladjustment, reduced well-being, and greater vulnerability to psychological problems, including depressive symptoms [ 62 ]. Many studies have demonstrated that parental psychological control is significantly associated with adverse emotional outcomes in children and adolescents ([ 14 ]; Ha & Jue, 2018; [ 34 ]). At the same time, bioecological theory emphasizes bidirectional developmental processes [ 5 ], suggesting that children’s depression may also influence how they perceive parental behavior and alter subsequent parent–child interactions. Thus, the longitudinal association between perceived parental control and depression can be understood as a dynamic, cumulative, and bidirectional developmental process embedded within the family microsystem. Indeed, Soenens et al., [ 55 ] found bidirectional longitudinal associations between parental psychological control and adolescent depression, indicating a mutually reinforcing process. Similarly, Sun et al., [ 59 ] reported that adolescents’ depressive and anxiety symptoms predicted subsequent increases in parental psychological control. These findings highlight a potential negative cycle in which parental control and child depression reciprocally exacerbate one another over time. Therefore, the present study proposed the Hypothesis 1: Parental psychological control would be positively associated with later depression over time. In addition, possible bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and depression were expected. The mediating role of emotional resilience Within the bioecological framework, children’s development is shaped not only by environmental influences but also by their own personal characteristics. In addition to contextual supports, positive individual traits provide important internal resources that help children adapt to challenges, maintain psychological functioning, and achieve healthy development over time [ 5 , 20 ]. As an important individual emotional characteristic, emotional resilience provides individuals with constructive coping strategies, optimism, positive affect, and a sense of purpose in life [ 54 ]. Emotional resilience refers to individuals’ capacity to generate positive emotions and to recover quickly from negative emotional experiences [ 13 , 15 , 37 , 60 ]. According to stress coping theory [ 3 , 30 , 31 ], individuals appraise stressors and experience negative emotions when confronted with stressful events, and effective regulation of these emotions is central to successful coping. From this perspective, emotional resilience plays a critical role in managing stress and protecting individuals from the adverse psychological consequences of negative experiences. High levels of emotional resilience enable individuals to maintain positive emotions and to recover more rapidly from negative emotional states when facing stressors [ 7 , 20 , 40 , 64 ]. In contrast, individuals with low emotional resilience are less able to utilize positive emotions to buffer negative experiences and are therefore more likely to experience persistent negative affect when exposed to stress, which in turn increases their risk of depression [ 16 , 35 ]. Consequently, emotional resilience may help individuals cope more effectively with external stressors and perceive lower levels of psychological control from parents. More importantly, emotional resilience facilitates the regulation of negative emotions, reduces vulnerability to depression, and serves as an important protective factor for mental health. However, the development of emotional resilience depends heavily on a supportive environment [ 46 ]. Maladaptive parenting styles have been shown to undermine children’s emotional resilience [ 39 ]. As a form of emotional manipulation, parental psychological control may undermine children’s emotional functioning (Ha & Jue, 2018; [ 41 , 42 , 67 ]). Empirical evidence indicates that higher levels of parental psychological control are associated with lower levels of emotional resilience among children and adolescents [ 57 ]. Similarly, Elrefaay and Elyzal (2024) found that emotional resilience mediated the association between childhood trauma and depression, such that adverse experiences weakened emotional resilience and subsequently increased vulnerability to depression. In addition to environmental influences, emotional resilience is also shaped by individuals’ mental health status [ 29 , 65 ]. Children and adolescents with poorer mental health may experience greater difficulty in developing or maintaining emotional resilience and may even fall into a “Matthew effect,” whereby existing strengths or weaknesses become increasingly amplified over time [ 29 , 65 ]. Taken together, these findings suggest that emotional resilience may serve as a key mechanism linking parental psychological control and depression. From a longitudinal perspective, emotional resilience is likely to function as a bidirectional mediator in the association between parental psychological control and children’s depression. On the one hand, emotional resilience can buffer the negative impact of parental psychological control by supporting emotional regulation and psychological adjustment. On the other hand, emotional resilience itself may be eroded by exposure to psychologically controlling parenting and by depression, thereby increasing children’s vulnerability to subsequent emotional problems. Examining emotional resilience within a longitudinal framework may therefore provide critical insights into the dynamic processes underlying the development of depression in children and adolescents. Therefore, the present study proposed the Hypothesis 2: Emotional resilience would play a mediating role in the longitudinal association between parental psychological control and depression. The moderating role of gender Within the bioecological framework, gender represents an important biological characteristic that may shape children’s developmental responses to their environments. Gender differences have long been a central topic in research on children’s and adolescents’ mental health. As a salient biological characteristic, gender is closely associated with hormonal development, which may influence individuals’ emotional regulation and vulnerability to psychological problems. Boys and girls experience distinct pubertal trajectories during childhood and adolescence, and these biological differences may contribute to variations in their susceptibility to depression [ 44 ]. In addition to biological factors, gender differences are also shaped by social norms and expectations. Parenting practices and parental responses often differ for boys and girls, reflecting culturally embedded gender-role expectations [ 17 , 27 ]. Empirical studies have shown that boys and girls differ in their exposure to and perception of parental psychological control, as well as in their emotional and psychological characteristics. Compared with boys, girls may experience lower levels of psychological control [ 32 , 66 ], demonstrate higher levels of emotional resilience [ 69 ], and show lower levels of maladaptive emotional regulation strategies [ 61 ]. These differences suggest that gender may shape both the experience of parenting behaviors and children’s psychological responses to those behaviors. Gender differences have also been observed in the functioning of emotional resilience. Zhang et al., [ 69 ] found that females’ emotional resilience was more strongly influenced by mindfulness than males’. Lei et al., [ 32 ] further demonstrated that emotional resilience mediated the association between growth mindset and negative mental health outcomes among girls but not among boys. These findings suggest that the role of emotional resilience in psychological adjustment may differ by gender, potentially altering its protective function in the context of parental psychological control. However, evidence regarding gender differences remains mixed. Some studies have reported that boys and girls experience similar levels of parental psychological control [ 50 ] and are affected by such control to a comparable extent [ 14 , 70 ]. Other studies have suggested that boys may be more sensitive to certain aspects of parenting, such as parental responsiveness [ 1 , 70 ]. These inconsistent findings indicate that gender may not exert a uniform effect but instead moderate the associations between parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and depression in more complex ways. Taken together, existing research suggests that gender may shape not only the level of exposure to parental psychological control but also the pathways through which such control influences children’s emotional resilience and depression. Given the distinct social expectations, emotional regulation patterns, and developmental trajectories of boys and girls, it is essential to examine gender as a moderating factor in the developmental mechanisms of depression. Such an approach may help clarify gender-specific pathways and inform the design of more targeted and effective intervention strategies. Therefore, the present study proposed the Hypothesis 3: The longitudinal pathways among parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and depression were expected to differ across boys and girls. The present study Taken together, prior research suggests that parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and gender may all play important roles in the development of depression, but their joint influence during late childhood to early adolescence remains insufficiently understood. This developmental stage is particularly important because children are undergoing rapid physical, emotional, and social changes. As autonomy needs increase and parent–child dynamics become more complex, the influence of family experiences may shift quickly. At the same time, pubertal and emotional differences between boys and girls become more salient, suggesting that the mechanisms underlying depression may not operate in the same way across gender. To address these issues, the present study focused on students moving through this sensitive developmental period. Using four-wave longitudinal data collected from students in Grades 4 to 6, the study applied cross-lagged panel modeling to examine the bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and depression, test whether emotional resilience was involved as a mediating mechanism, and investigate whether these developmental pathways differed across boys and girls. The conceptual model guiding the present study is presented in Fig. 1 . Fig. 1. Open in a new tab The cross-lagged panel model of the present study Method Participants This study collected data from primary school students attending an urban school in eastern China across four measurement waves. At Time 1 (September 2023), 535 students participated (297 fourth-grade students and 238 fifth-grade students; 264 girls and 271 boys). At Time 2 (May 2024), 514 students participated (288 fourth-grade students and 226 fifth-grade students; 255 girls and 259 boys). At Time 3 (September 2024), 531 students participated (303 fifth-grade students and 228 sixth-grade students; 259 girls and 272 boys). At Time 4 (May 2025), 494 students participated (287 fifth-grade students and 207 sixth-grade students; 239 girls and 255 boys). Among the 598 students who participated at least once, 395 students completed all four waves, and 160 students participated in at least two waves. Forty-three students who participated at only one wave were excluded from subsequent analyses. The final analytic sample consisted of 555 students (272 girls and 283 boys), with a mean age of 9.51 years at Time 1 (SD = 0.82). Regarding parental education, 10.9% of parents had a junior high school education or lower, 15.2% had completed senior high school, 63.5% held a college diploma or bachelor’s degree, and 10.5% had a master’s degree or higher. Measurement Parental psychological control Parental psychological control was assessed using the 8-item Psychological Control Scale–Youth Self-Report (PCS–YSR; [ 2 ]), which was translated into Chinese by Wang et al., [ 63 ]. The scale comprises four dimensions: invalidating feelings (Item 1), constraining verbal expressions (Items 2–3), personal attacks (Items 4–5), and love withdrawal (Items 6–8). Sample items include “My parents often interrupt me” and “My parents are always trying to change how I feel or think about things.” Responses were rated on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 (not like him/her) to 3 (a lot like him/her), with higher mean scores indicating higher levels of perceived parental psychological control. Cronbach’s α values ranged from 0.81 to 0.85 across the four measurement waves. In addition, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) across waves was 0.451 (95% CI [0.397, 0.505]). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale had good structural validity, with acceptable model fit indices (CFI = 0.961, TLI = 0.946, RMSEA = 0.063). To simplify the cross-lagged panel model, mean scores for the four dimensions were used as indicators to construct a latent variable representing parental psychological control at each time point. Depression Children’s and adolescents’ depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9; [ 28 ]). The Chinese version of PHQ-9 has been validated in Chinese children and adolescents, and demonstrated acceptable reliability and construct validity [ 6 ]. The PHQ-9 consists of nine items, such as “Little interest or pleasure in doing things” and “Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless.” Items were rated on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day), with higher total scores indicating more severe depression. Cronbach’s α values ranged from 0.75 to 0.85 across the four waves. In addition, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) across waves was 0.407 (95% CI [0.354, 0.460]). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale had good structural validity, with acceptable model fit indices (CFI = 0.945, TLI = 0.924, RMSEA = 0.064). Given the unidimensional structure of the PHQ-9, the total score was used as an observed variable in subsequent analyses. Emotional resilience Emotional resilience was assessed using the 11-item Emotional Resilience Questionnaire [ 68 ]. This questionnaire includes two dimensions: the ability to generate positive emotions and the ability to recover from negative emotions. Sample items include “No matter what difficulties I encounter, I can maintain a good mood” and “I can adjust my negative emotions within a short period of time.” Responses were rated on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 (not true at all) to 6 (completely true). Higher mean scores on each dimension indicate higher levels of emotional resilience. Cronbach’s α values for the two dimensions were 0.81 and 0.80, respectively. In addition, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) across waves was 0.504 (95% CI [0.428, 0.573]). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale had good structural validity, with acceptable model fit indices (CFI = 0.947, TLI = 0.932, RMSEA = 0.071). Procedure At each wave of data collection, students and their parents provided informed consent prior to participation. Students completed the questionnaires at home via an online survey platform. Standardized instructions were provided by teachers to ensure that the questionnaires were completed independently by the students in a quiet environment. The survey required approximately 20 min to complete. Parental psychological control and depression were assessed at all four time points, whereas emotional resilience was assessed at Time 2 and Time 4. The school received detailed written information describing the study’s purpose and procedures. All participating students and their parents provided consent for participation and for the use of anonymized data in scientific research and publication. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the authors’ university. Data analysis Missing data analysis Due to the longitudinal design of the study, missing data were mainly attributable to student absences during data collection or students transferring to other schools. There were no missing data for gender or parental education. For the core study variables, the proportion of missing data ranged from 3.6% to 18.7%. The missing rate at the fourth wave was relatively high, which may have been related to an influenza outbreak at that time and the resulting increase in student absences. To examine the missing-data mechanism, Little’s Missing Completely at Random (MCAR) test was conducted on all study variables. The results indicated that the data were missing completely at random, χ ²(1133) = 1099.41, p = .76. In the subsequent cross-lagged panel model analyses, full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation was used to handle missing data, as this method makes use of all available information from cases with partial data, reduces the loss of sample size associated with listwise deletion, and provides less biased parameter estimates under MCAR or MAR assumptions [ 18 ]. Measurement invariance Before estimating the longitudinal structural models and conducting gender comparisons, measurement invariance was examined for the three focal constructs, namely parental psychological control, depressive symptoms, and emotional resilience. Following the general logic of invariance testing, configural and metric invariance were evaluated across waves and across gender groups. Invariance was judged based on changes in fit indices, with ΔCFI < 0.010 and ΔRMSEA < 0.015 indicating acceptable invariance [ 8 ]. Longitudinal invariance tests showed that the configural and metric models for all three constructs demonstrated acceptable fit, and the changes in fit indices were within the recommended thresholds. Specifically, the results supported longitudinal metric invariance for parental psychological control (ΔCFI = 0.003, ΔRMSEA = 0.000), depressive symptoms (ΔCFI = 0.004, ΔRMSEA = 0.000), and emotional resilience (ΔCFI = 0.001, ΔRMSEA = 0.001). Gender measurement invariance analyses showed that psychological control, depressive symptoms, and emotional resilience all demonstrated acceptable measurement invariance across gender. The changes in model fit from the configural model to the metric model were within acceptable ranges for psychological control (ΔCFI = 0.001–0.010, ΔRMSEA = 0.001–0.005), depressive symptoms (ΔCFI = 0.004–0.010, ΔRMSEA = 0.001–0.003), and emotional resilience (ΔCFI = 0.000–0.003, ΔRMSEA = 0.001–0.004). Data analysis strategy SPSS 26 was used to conduct descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analyses for the study variables. Independent-samples t tests were then performed to examine gender differences in the variables at different time points. To examine the longitudinal associations among parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and depressive symptoms, cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) were estimated in Mplus 8. In the full-sample CLPMs, gender and parental education were included as control variables at each time point. In the gender-specific multigroup models, parental education was retained as a control variable at each time point. To simplify the longitudinal models, mean scores for each dimension were used as observed indicators to define latent variables. Specifically, parental psychological control was specified as a latent construct with four indicators, and emotional resilience was specified as a latent construct with two indicators. Given the unidimensional structure of the PHQ-9, depressive symptoms were represented by the observed total score. To examine gender differences in the longitudinal associations among parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and depressive symptoms, a series of multigroup cross-lagged panel models were established. Chi-square tests were used to analyze the differences between two groups. All the above analysis were conducted in Mplus 8. Results Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics and correlations among the study variables are presented in Table 1 . Parental psychological control was positively correlated with children’s and adolescents’ depression at all four time points. Emotional resilience at Time 2 and Time 4 was negatively correlated with both depression and parental psychological control. Parental education was not significantly associated with the main study variables at most time points. Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlation results M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1.Depression_T1 1.97 2.56 2.Depression_T2 1.86 3.04 0.45 *** 3.Depression_T3 1.85 3.06 0.34 *** 0.50 *** 4.Depression_T4 1.43 2.56 0.34 *** 0.37 *** 0.50 *** 5.PSYCON_T1 1.39 0.35 0.46 *** 0.33 *** 0.23 *** 0.27 *** 6.PSYCON_T2 1.30 0.32 0.27 *** 0.50 *** 0.31 *** 0.24 *** 0.43 *** 7.PSYCON_T3 1.31 0.35 0.28 *** 0.31 *** 0.48 *** 0.30 *** 0.40 *** 0.49 *** 8.PSYCON_T4 1.23 0.31 0.31 *** 0.27 *** 0.32 *** 0.48 *** 0.44 *** 0.45 *** 0.54 *** 9.EMOR_T2 4.42 0.95 − 0.29 *** − 0.41 *** − 0.34 *** − 0.28 *** − 0.33 *** − 0.45 *** − 0.29 *** − 0.29 *** 10.EMOR_T4 4.61 0.98 − 0.25 *** − 0.34 *** − 0.39 *** − 0.53 *** − 0.29 *** − 0.32 *** − 0.34 *** − 0.52 *** 0.51 *** 11.GENDER 0.49 0.50 − 0.15 *** − 0.13 *** -0.03 -0.01 − 0.12 *** -0.08 -0.05 0.00 0.04 0.01 12.EDU 4.73 0.80 -0.03 -0.03 -0.03 0.00 0.00 -0.01 0.07 -0.01 0.12 *** 0.11 * 0.05 Open in a new tab PSYCON = psychological control; EMOR= emotional resilience; for gender, 0 = boys, 1 = girls * p < .05, *** p < .01, **** p < .001 Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics of the main study variables for boys and girls across the four waves. Boys reported significantly higher levels of depression than girls at Time 1 and Time 2, but no significant gender differences were observed at Time 3 or Time 4. Similarly, boys reported significantly higher parental psychological control than girls at Time 1, with a marginally significant difference at Time 2, whereas no significant gender differences were found at Time 3 or Time 4. Emotional resilience did not differ significantly between boys and girls at either time point. Overall, gender differences were more apparent at earlier waves and were mainly observed for depression and parental psychological control. Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Boys and Girls Boys Girls M SD M SD t p Depression_T1 2.36 2.82 1.57 2.20 3.61 0.000 Depression_T2 2.25 3.59 1.46 2.31 2.93 0.003 Depression_T3 1.96 2.99 1.73 3.14 0.63 0.531 Depression_T4 1.43 2.59 1.44 2.53 0.17 0.869 PSYCON_T1 1.43 0.38 1.34 0.31 2.88 0.004 PSYCON_T2 1.33 0.34 1.27 0.29 1.92 0.055 PSYCON_T3 1.34 0.36 1.29 0.34 1.26 0.210 PSYCON_T4 1.23 0.31 1.23 0.31 0.06 0.954 EMOR_T2 4.38 0.95 4.46 0.95 − 0.81 0.419 EMOR_T4 4.59 0.92 4.62 1.03 − 0.31 0.760 Open in a new tab The results of cross-lagged panel model To examine the bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and depression and to test the mediating role of emotional resilience, a cross-lagged panel model was estimated. Gender and parental education were included as control variables. The model demonstrated an adequate fit to the data, χ 2 /df = 1.86, CFI = 0.956, TLI = 0.942, RMSEA = 0.039. Figure 2 ; Table 3 present the standardized path coefficients of the cross-lagged panel model, and Table 4 shows the bootstrap estimates of the indirect effect. The results showed that parental psychological control at Time 1 was significantly associated with subsequent changes in depression at Time 2, whereas the corresponding cross-lagged paths at later waves were not significant, suggesting that the direct longitudinal association between parental psychological control and depression was not stable across time. Fig. 2. Open in a new tab Longitudinal relationships among psychological control, resilience and depression. Note. † p < .10, * p < .05, *** p < .01, **** p < .001. Bold lines represent statistically significant paths, thin lines represent marginally significant paths, and dashed lines represent non-significant paths Table 3. Standardized cross-lagged paths for the total sample, boys, and girls Path total sample boys girls β p β p β p PSYCON T1 → Depression T2 0.16 0.002 0.13 0.132 0.21 0.045 PSYCON T1 → EMOR T2 − 0.37 < 0.001 − 0.35 0.001 − 0.37 < 0.001 Depression T1 → PSYCON T2 0.06 0.323 0.00 0.971 0.12 0.209 Depression T1 → EMOR T2 − 0.16 0.008 − 0.20 0.028 − 0.13 0.187 EMOR T2 → PSYCON T3 − 0.15 0.048 − 0.26 0.056 0.04 0.954 EMOR T2 → Depression T3 − 0.26 < 0.001 − 0.30 0.004 − 0.23 0.771 PSYCON T2 → Depression T3 − 0.06 0.400 − 0.04 0.813 − 0.06 0.94 Depression T2 → PSYCON T3 0.01 0.845 − 0.16 0.162 0.22 0.067 PSYCON T3 → EMOR T4 − 0.17 0.009 − 0.19 0.034 − 0.18 0.086 PSYCON T3 → Depression T4 0.08 0.133 0.02 0.777 0.18 0.088 Depression T3 → PSYCON T4 0.05 0.366 0.08 0.401 0.00 0.983 Depression T3 → EMOR T4 − 0.22 < 0.001 − 0.22 0.002 − 0.21 0.047 Open in a new tab Table 4. Bootstrap estimates of indirect effects for the total sample, boys, and girls Indirect path Group Effect 95% CI Lower 95% CI Upper Significant PSYCON T1 → Total sample 0.096 0.037 0.167 Yes EMOR T2 → Boys 0.105 0.022 0.234 Yes Depression T3 Girls 0.082 -0.043 0.206 No Depression T1 → Total sample 0.024 -0.007 0.068 No EMOR T2 → Boys 0.054 -0.005 0.127 No PSYCON T3 Girls -0.005 -0.074 0.060 No Open in a new tab In contrast, parental psychological control and depression at Time 1 and Time 3 was significantly associated with subsequent changes in emotional resilience at Time 2 and Time 4, respectively. Emotional resilience at Time 2, in turn, negatively associated with both parental psychological control and depression at Time 3. As shown in Table 4 , for the total sample, the indirect effect of parental psychological control T1 to depression T3 via emotional resilience T2 was significant, whereas the reverse indirect effect from depression T1 to parental psychological control T3 via emotional resilience T2 was not significant. These findings indicate that emotional resilience significantly mediated the longitudinal association from parental psychological control to subsequent depression. Although the reverse indirect effect from depression to later parental psychological control via emotional resilience was not statistically significant, the corresponding longitudinal paths among these variables were still observed in the cross-lagged model. Gender differences A series of nested models was tested to evaluate measurement invariance and structural differences across gender, and results are shown in Table 5 . In Model 1 (structural form invariance), the same overall model structure was specified for boys and girls, including the same pattern of autoregressive paths, cross-lagged paths, and within-wave associations, while all substantive parameters were freely estimated across groups. In Model 2 (measurement structure invariance), the factor loadings of the latent variables were additionally constrained to be equal across boys and girls, while the structural paths remained freely estimated. In Model 3 (autoregressive invariance), the autoregressive paths of the same construct across adjacent waves were further constrained to equality across groups, in addition to the equality constraints on factor loadings. In Model 4 (autoregressive and cross-lagged invariance), the cross-lagged paths were additionally constrained to equality across groups, on top of the equality constraints on factor loadings and autoregressive paths. The results in Table 5 indicate that, while the overall model structure and measurement structure were comparable across gender, the autoregressive and cross-lagged relations were not fully invariant, supporting the presence of gender differences in the longitudinal pathways. Table 5. The fit results of multigroup comparison Model Description χ² df CFI TLI RMSEA Δχ² Δdf p ΔCFI ΔRMSEA Model 1 Structural form invariance 818.15 481 0.931 0.914 0.050 — — — — — Model 2 Measurement structure invariance 826.96 486 0.931 0.914 0.050 8.81 5 0.117 0.000 0.000 Model 3 Autoregressive invariance 843.29 493 0.929 0.913 0.051 16.33 7 0.023 0.002 0.001 Model 4 Autoregressive and cross-lagged invariance 871.42 505 0.925 0.911 0.051 28.13 12 0.005 0.004 0.000 Open in a new tab Figures 3 and 4 present the final gender-specific models for boys and girls, respectively. Table 3 reports the coefficients of the cross-lagged paths. For boys, the model fit was acceptable, χ 2 /df = 1.77, CFI = 0.928, TLI = 0.907, RMSEA = 0.052. The result showed that emotional resilience played a pronounced mediating role: parental psychological control and depression was associated with subsequent emotional resilience, which in turn was associated with later parental psychological control and depression. No significant direct bidirectional association between parental psychological control and depression was observed. In addition, the mediation results presented in Table 4 showed that the indirect effect from Parental psychological control T1 to depression T3 via emotional resilience T2 was significant among boys. Fig. 3. Open in a new tab Longitudinal associations among parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and depression in boys. Note. † p < .10, * p < .05, *** p < .01, **** p < .001. Bold lines represent statistically significant paths, thin lines represent marginally significant paths, and dashed lines represent non-significant paths Fig. 4. Open in a new tab Longitudinal associations among parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and depression in girls. Note. † p < .10, * p < .05, *** p < .01, **** p < .001. Bold lines represent statistically significant paths, thin lines represent marginally significant paths, and dashed lines represent non-significant paths For girls, the model fit was acceptable, χ 2 /df = 1.57, CFI = 0.947, TLI = 0.931, RMSEA = 0.046. The result showed that the mediating role of emotional resilience appeared to be weaker, and its longitudinal associations with parental psychological control and depression were attenuated (see Fig. 4 ; Table 3 ). Consistent with this pattern, the mediation analysis further showed that the indirect effects involving emotional resilience did not reach statistical significance (see Table 4 ). Instead, a significant direct bidirectional association emerged between parental psychological control and depression. Specifically, parental psychological control at Time 1 and Time 3 significantly were related to later depression at Time 2 and Time 4, respectively, and depression at Time 2 were significantly related to parental psychological control at Time 3. Discussion The present study examined the longitudinal associations among parental psychological control, emotional resilience, and depression from late childhood to early adolescence, while also considering gender differences in these developmental pathways. The findings contribute to the literature in two important ways. First, whereas previous research has often examined family environment, individual characteristics, or gender-related differences separately, the present study considered these factors within a unified bioecological framework. In doing so, it provides a more integrated understanding of how social, individual, and biological influences are jointly associated with changes in depression over time, and thus helps move the field beyond isolated explanations of children’s emotional problems. Second, much of the existing research on depression has focused on broader adolescent or adult samples, whereas the transition from late childhood to early adolescence has received relatively less attention. This developmental period is characterized by increasing autonomy needs, heightened sensitivity to parental influence, and emerging gender differences. By focusing on this critical developmental stage, the present study provides developmentally sensitive evidence that advances understanding of how depression-related processes emerge and begin to consolidate during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence. Parental psychological control and depression in children and adolescents Consistent with prior research, the descriptive analyses revealed robust concurrent associations between parental psychological control and depression across all measurement waves. This pattern suggests that children’s emotional states were particularly sensitive to psychologically controlling parenting practices in the short term, supporting previous findings that identify parental psychological control as a salient risk factor for internalizing problems [ 12 ]. However, the longitudinal analyses indicated that the direct association between parental psychological control and depression was not stable across time in the full sample. In the full sample, parental psychological control at Time 1 was related to later depression at Time 2, whereas comparable cross-lagged effects at later waves were not significant. This finding differs from some studies reporting persistent direct effects [ 49 , 55 ]. Gender-specific analyses further refined this pattern and provided partial support for both Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 3. During the transition from late childhood to early adolescence, children undergo rapid developmental changes during this period, and parents must also respond to the substantial changes taking place in their children [ 56 ]. According to the findings, at the earlier waves of the present study (T1 to T2), many children had not yet fully entered early adolescence, and family interaction patterns may therefore have remained relatively stable. Under these circumstances, parental psychological control showed a clearer association with subsequent psychological adjustment. During the subsequent period from T2 to T4, most children entered early adolescence and gender-specific developmental trajectory has also been observed. For boys, as their psychological capacities continue to mature, they are more likely to display more overt externalizing or behavioral changes [ 11 , 22 ]. As a result, parents are compelled to adjust their interaction patterns to accommodate their evolving psychological and physiological needs. Consequently, the association between parental psychological control and depression becomes less pronounced over longer intervals, as both parenting behaviors and children’s emotional states undergo dynamic shifts across the semester. However, for girls, they showed greater tendency toward rumination and lower perceived mastery [ 26 ], together with their earlier pubertal timing [ 19 ], could increase emotional sensitivity to parental behaviors during this developmental period [ 9 , 10 ]. When girls perceive parental control, their autonomy needs are persistently frustrated, which gradually give rise to maladaptive emotional and cognitive patterns, such as self-blame or emotional suppression, and ultimately have lasting negative consequences for mental health [ 12 ]. Meanwhile, when entered adolescence, girls are more likely than boys to internalize family stress rather than overt externalizing or behavioral changes [ 11 , 22 ]. As a result, changes in girls’ adjustment might be less outwardly visible in daily interaction, and parents show less fluctuation in their parenting responses, allowing parental psychological control to exert a more stable association with girl’s depression over time. This result aligns with previous evidence suggesting that psychologically controlling parenting exert stronger direct association with girls’ psychological adjustment [ 1 ]. In addition, a bidirectional association between parental psychological control and depression was observed among girls. Such finding is also consistent with the bioecological perspective [ 5 ]. Among girls, these factors may contribute to a reciprocal process in which parental psychological control and depression reinforce one another over time. Once children fall into a depressive state, parents experience greater parenting stress and respond by using more controlling behaviors in an effort to reduce children’s negative emotions. However, such responses instead intensify girls’ emotional difficulties, thereby creating a negative cycle between parental psychological control and depression. Although the direct longitudinal association between parental psychological control and depression was more evident among girls, this pattern should not be interpreted as suggesting that parental psychological control is unimportant for depression more generally. On the contrary, the concurrent results showed that parental psychological control was positively associated with depression at all four waves, indicating that the two variables were closely linked throughout the study period. Therefore, parental psychological control should still be regarded as an important factor in understanding the development of depression during this period. The mediating role of emotional resilience The findings suggest that emotional resilience functioned as an important intervening developmental process linking parental psychological control and depression. However, this pattern was not equally evident across gender groups. Specifically, the indirect pathway was significant among boys but not among girls, indicating that the mediating role of emotional resilience was more clearly observed in boys. Thus, the results provide partial support for Hypothesis 2 and support for Hypothesis 3. According to stress coping theory [ 3 , 30 , 31 ], emotional resilience reflects children’s ability to recover from negative emotional experiences, maintain emotional balance, and cope effectively with stress. When emotional resilience is weakened, children feel less able to cope with stress and more likely to remain in maladaptive emotional states. For boys, they place greater emphasis on independence and receive less social support [ 1 , 45 ]. Therefore, they depend more strongly on intrapersonal regulatory resources. Besides, boys also experience higher levels of parental control aimed at regulating behavior [ 66 ]. Reduced social support, combined with greater exposure to parental control, may increase stress among boys, making emotional resilience a particularly critical resource for coping with adversity and protecting mental health during this developmental period. Accordingly, the association between parental psychological control and boys’ later depression be characterized less by a direct reciprocal cycle and more by boys’ ability to recover from stress and maintain emotional balance. At the same time, even though the indirect effect from depression T1 to parental psychological control T3 via emotional resilience T2 did not reach significance, it should not be interpreted as indicating the absence of meaningful longitudinal relations, because the relevant longitudinal paths were still significant in the cross-lagged model. In contrast, this weaker longitudinal association still point to a potentially concerning cycle that deserves attention. Once boys fall into a depressive state, their emotional resilience could be undermined, making it more difficult for them to recover from negative emotions. As a result, they will become more sensitive to parental controlling behaviors and experience higher psychological control, which might in turn further impair their later emotional functioning and psychological health. For girls, by contrast, they rely more on interpersonal resources and external emotional support. Girls can benefit from broader social support networks, greater emotional expressiveness, and higher emotional self-acceptance [ 21 , 43 , 48 , 69 ]. When facing emotional difficulties and family-related stress, girls therefore are more likely to use these external relational resources to cope with stress. In this sense, the weaker mediating pattern observed among girls may suggest that their adjustment during this developmental period is shaped by a broader range of relational and emotional processes, some of which were not captured in the present model. Importantly, the non-significant mediating role of emotional resilience among girls should not be interpreted as indicating that emotional resilience is unimportant for their mental health. On the contrary, emotional resilience still play an essential role in girls’ development. As Rudolph et al. (2025) noted, learning to regulate emotions is a key developmental task that can shape future success across many life domains. Thus, even though emotional resilience did not emerge as a significant mediator for girls in the present model, it remains an important psychological resource for their longer-term adjustment and well-being. Implication and limitation Implication The findings of the present study have several important implications for supporting children’s and adolescents’ mental health. In particular, the results highlight the importance of considering gender-specific mechanisms when addressing the negative effects of parental psychological control. Boys have stronger autonomy expectations [ 9 ] and therefore are more adversely affected when these needs are not adequately supported. Parents may benefit from adopting more autonomy-supportive and flexible parenting practices rather than exerting excessive psychological control. Given that emotional resilience appears to play a particularly important protective role for boys, schools and families may consider providing emotional learning programs and supportive environments that help boys develop skills for emotional awareness, expression, and regulation. For girls, for whom parental psychological control appeared to be more directly associated with depressive symptoms, practical guidance may place greater emphasis on improving parent–child communication and reducing intrusive or hostile parenting practices. Given girls’ tendency to ruminate and internalize negative experiences, educators and schools may also support girls in developing adaptive coping strategies and reducing hypersensitivity to parental criticism or control. Limitation Several limitations of the present study should be acknowledged. First, all variables were assessed using self-report questionnaires, which introduce subjective response bias. Future research could incorporate multi-informant data (e.g., parent or teacher reports) to enhance measurement validity. Second, due to practical constraints in the broader longitudinal project, emotional resilience was assessed at only two time points rather than at every wave. This design limitation constrained the analytic strategy that could be used in the present study. Specifically, the study employed the traditional cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) to examine longitudinal associations. Although the random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) has been recommended in recent methodological literature, its application generally requires at least three waves of measurement for all key variables in order to separate within-person fluctuations from stable between-person differences [ 23 ]. Because emotional resilience was measured at only two time points, RI-CLPM could not be appropriately implemented in the present study. Accordingly, the findings should be interpreted as evidence of longitudinal associations rather than causal relations. Future research would benefit from assessing emotional resilience at every wave and using more intensive longitudinal designs to further disentangle within-person and between-person mechanisms. Finally, the generalizability of the present findings should be interpreted with caution. The sample was drawn from one urban school in eastern China, and therefore the results may not generalize directly to children and early adolescents from other regions, rural settings, or different educational and cultural contexts. Future research should include more diverse samples to examine whether the observed developmental patterns can be replicated across broader populations. Acknowledgements We are grateful to the adolescents and parents who participated in this study. We are grateful to the teachers and schools who assisted in the data collection. Authors’ contributions C.Z. and S.R. contributed to the conceptualization and methodology of the study. C.Z. conducted the formal analysis and wrote the original draft of the manuscript. C.Z. and D.Z. contributed to the review and editing of the manuscript. J.L., X.T., and X.L. were responsible for investigation and data collection. D.Z. acquired the funding. D.Z. supervised the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Funding This manuscript draws on research supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [number:1233200020]. Data availability The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate This study received ethics approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University (approval number: 2025-151). The school received a letter of information that detailed the study’s purpose and procedures, and all participants and their parents received the written informed consent. All participants and their parents agreed that they could take part in the program and consented to use the data and publish relevant results for scientific research. All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Consent for publication Not Applicable. During the preparation of this work, the authors used chatGPT to improve language. After using these tools, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Footnotes Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. References 1. Bacikova-Sleskova M, Barbierik L, Orosová O. Perceived Parental Control, Parent-Adolescent Relationship and Adolescents’ Psychological Adjustment. Does Gender Matter? J Child Fam stud. 2024;33(5):1632–46. 10.1007/s10826-023-02643-8. 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[ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ] Associated Data This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article. Data Availability Statement The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Articles from BMC Psychology are provided here courtesy of BMC ACTIONS View on publisher site PDF (1.8 MB) Cite Collections Permalink RESOURCES Similar articles Cited by other articles Links to NCBI Databases Follow NCBI NCBI on X (formerly known as Twitter) NCBI on Facebook NCBI on LinkedIn NCBI on GitHub NCBI RSS feed Connect with NLM NLM on X (formerly known as Twitter) NLM on Facebook NLM on YouTube National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20894 Web Policies FOIA HHS Vulnerability Disclosure Help Accessibility Careers NLM NIH HHS USA.gov Back to Top

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