Parental Warmth and Adolescents’ Meaning in Life: Mediator of Perceived Control and Moderator of Relative Deprivation

This study establishes a moderated mediation model that incorporates the roles of perceived control and relative deprivation. Specifically, we hypothesized that parental warmth positively predicts adolescents’ meaning in life, with perceived control mediating this relationship. Furthermore, relative deprivation moderates both the direct effect of parental warmth on meaning in life and the indirect effect through perceived control. A total of 406 adolescents participated in this study. The results revealed that: (1) parental warmth positively related to adolescents’ meaning in life; (2) perceived control significantly mediated the relationship between parental warmth and meaning in life; and (3) relative deprivation moderated the association between parental warmth and perceived control, such that higher levels of relative deprivation attenuated the positive effect of parental warmth on perceived control. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the psychological mechanisms linking parental warmth to adolescents’ meaning in life and provide valuable insights for interventions aimed at fostering meaning development in youth.