How parenting styles affect subjective well-being in middle school students? The chain mediating role of family functioning and core self-evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: Parenting styles are crucial to adolescent development, yet how they affect subjective well-being (SWB) remains unclear. Grounded in ecological systems theory, this study examines the effects of parenting styles on middle school students' SWB and tests the chain mediation of family functioning and core self-evaluation. METHODS: Using cluster sampling, data on parenting styles, family functioning, core self-evaluation, and SWB were collected from 542 participants in two middle schools in Anhui Province. Questionnaire data were entered using Epidata 3.1 and exported to SPSS 26.0. Pearson's correlation analysis was performed using R 4.5.1 to examine the bivariate correlations among all study variables. Mediation analysis was conducted using Mplus 8.3 with maximum likelihood estimation and bootstrap resamples to test the chain mediating effects of family functioning and core self-evaluation between parenting styles and SWB. RESULTS: Positive parenting styles were significantly positively correlated with family functioning, core self-evaluation, and SWB (r = 0.45 ~ 0.68, p < 0.001), while negative parenting styles showed significant negative correlations with family functioning, core self-evaluation, and SWB (r = -0.41~ -0.31, p < 0.001). Regression models showed that positive parenting style positively predicted SWB (B = 0.411, p < 0.05) and negative parenting style negatively predicted SWB (B= -0.872, p < 0.001). The chain mediation effects of family functioning and core self-evaluation were significant for both positive parenting style (effect value: 0.243; 95% CI [0.135, 0.372]) and negative parenting style (effect value: -0.060; 95% CI [-0.127, -0.020]). CONCLUSION: Parenting styles influence middle school students' SWB directly and indirectly through family functioning and core self-evaluation. These findings provide important reference values for enhancing adolescent well-being.