Influence of Parental Warmth on Adolescent Life Satisfaction: Mediating Role of Emotional Regulation

The current research investigated how parental warmth would influence adolescents life satisfaction and if emotional regulation could act as a process through which parental warmth affects adolescents' life satisfaction. Participants included 320 university students between the ages of 18-27 years, who completed measures of parental warmth (Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire; PARQ), emotional regulation (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; ERQ), and life satisfaction (Satisfaction With Life Scale; SWLS). Correlational analyses indicated that parental warmth, emotional regulation, and life satisfaction were positively related. Regression analyses showed that parental warmth was significantly related to emotional regulation and life satisfaction. After establishing a relationship, mediation analysis indicated that emotional regulation partially mediated the relationship between parental warmth and life satisfaction. The result suggested that adolescents who experience parental warmth will develop better emotional regulation abilities, which will lead to an increase in adolescents' life satisfaction. The current study strengthens developmental theories that emphasize how family context can inlfuence emotional and psychological outcomes during adolescence. The findings highlight that parental warmth can be a direct and indirect influence on adolescents' well-being. Practical implications: Parenting interventions promoting warmth/responsiveness and programs developing adolescents’ emotional regulation skills are needed. Limitations of the study include the examination of relationships using a cross-sectional design and study variables that relied solely on self-report measures which limits inferences about causation. Future research directions to refine and extend these findings include examining longitudinal designs, cross-cultural comparisons, and intervention research.