Parenting styles affect college students’ adaptability: The mediating role of generativity

This study investigated generativity as a potential mediator of the relationship between parenting styles and college students’ adaptability. We collected cross-sectional data from 1,304 Chinese college students and conducted correlation, regression, and mediation analyses. The results revealed that women received significantly more paternal care than did men. Moreover, urban students received more paternal encouragement toward autonomy compared to their rural counterparts, and both generativity and adaptability were higher among urban students than rural students. Maternal control was negatively associated with generativity, whereas generativity positively predicted adaptability. Furthermore, maternal control showed no direct association with adaptability, suggesting that generativity fully mediated the relationship between maternal control and adaptability in our sample. The findings may inform school-based mental health interventions and family education programs designed to enhance students’ psychological well-being and social responsibility.