The Influence of an Authoritarian Parenting Style on Depressive Symptoms and Social Support Among Thai Undergraduates: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

The purpose of the research was to investigate the mediating influence of self-esteem on the link between authoritarian parenting style, and social support, and depressive symptoms among Thai undergraduates. A cross-sectional study to employ a multi-stage random sampling approach, 439 students were selected from a university in central Thailand. Self-report questionnaires, including the Thai version of the patient health questionnaire for adolescents, the parenting style questionnaire, and Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale, were utilized as research instruments. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling were used to explore the magnitude of direct and indirect effects on the depressive symptoms among the sample. The findings demonstrated that the modified model exhibited an acceptable fit with the data, revealing that a lower level of depressive symptoms is directly associated with lower levels authoritarian parenting style and higher levels of perceive social support and indirectly associated with these two variables through the mediating effect of self-esteem. The model accounted for 31% of the overall variance in prediction of depressive symptoms among undergraduate students. The findings highlighted the value of promoting self-esteem and social support in interventions targeted at preventing or addressing depressive symptoms in university students.