Gender Matters: The Effect of Parental Violence on Youth Mental Health Mediated via Parenting Styles

ABSTRACT Objective This study examines how parenting styles mediate the relationship between parental violence and children's mental health, and how parental and child gender affect these relationships. Background Experiencing violence from parents has detrimental impact on youth mental health, while parenting styles can mediate this effect. However, how gender can affect these relationships remains understudied. Methods A representative sample of Taiwanese youth ( N = 2771, 49.1% males) self‐reported at two time points (age 10 and 12) their experiences of physical and psychological violence by their parents, perceived parenting styles, and their own psychological symptoms. A subsample of 1296 victimized youth (54.6% males) was selected for subsequent Structural Equation Modeling to clarify how parenting styles mediate between parental violence and youth mental health. Results Boys report higher rate of suffering physical and psychological violence from both parents compared to girls. Paternal physical violence affects youth mental health via authoritarian parenting style across both boys and girls. Maternal psychological violence impacts youth mental health via Chinese parenting styles for girls but not for boys. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate a gendered pathway between parental violence and youth mental health via universal and culturally specific parenting styles. Implications or Recommendations Such finding has important implications for mental health practitioners and policy makers on how interventions can be adjusted to be more culturally appropriate and gender sensitive.