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Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Studies

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ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jpbs.2025.12.005

The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience in the Relationship between Parent-child Attachment and Adolescent Depression

Ruizhen Du

University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.

*Corresponding author: Ruizhen Du

Published: December 22,2025

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between parent-child attachment and depression-anxiety-stress symptoms among adolescents, and to examine the mediating role of psychological resilience in this relationship. Methods: Using a longitudinal design, 380 junior high school students were surveyed three times at 6-month intervals. The Adolescent Parent-Child Attachment Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, and Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS-Y) were administered. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the predic-tive effect of parent-child attachment on emotional problems and the mediating pathway of psychological resilience. Results: Parent-child attachment not only directly negatively predicted adolescents' depression-anxiety-stress symptoms (β = -0.21, P< 0.001) but also produced a significant indirect effect by enhancing psychological resilience (β = -0.17, P< 0.001). The partial mediating effect of psychological resilience accounted for 44.7% of the total effect. Conclusion: Parent-child attachment serves as an important protective factor against emotional problems in adolescents, with psychological resilience playing a key mediating role. Families and schools should focus on building secure parent-child rela-tionships and enhancing adolescents’ emotional adaptability by fostering psy-chological resilience.

Keywords

Parent-child attachment; psychological resilience; depression-anxiety-stress; ado-lescents; mediating effect

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How to cite this paper

The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience in the Relationship between Parent-child Attachment and Adolescent Depression

How to cite this paper: Ruizhen Du. (2025). The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience in the Relationship between Parent-child Attachment and Adolescent Depression. Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Studies1(2), 91-98.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jpbs.2025.12.005