Association of parental warmth and harsh discipline with developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Chinese society

This article examines the relationship between parenting styles and the development of depressive symptoms among adolescents. We analyzed a nationally representative longitudinal data set of adolescents aged 12 to 14 in Taiwan. Results from growth mixture modeling revealed a nonlinear increase in the intensity of depressive symptoms between early and middle adolescence. More pronounced depressive symptoms in earlier years were also shown to be associated with more rapid development of similar symptoms later in adolescence. Perceived parenting styles, as manifest in parental warmth and harsh discipline, were categorized into 4 latent heterogeneous classes: attentive, reserved, austere, and conflicting. Adolescents living under austere parenting tend to report the most pronounced depressive symptoms from early to middle adolescence; however, the development of symptoms in this group was the slowest. We also discuss the role of harsh parenting in Chinese culture, as it pertains to the roles traditionally assumed by the father and mother.