Parental Psychological Control and Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in Predominantly Hispanic Middle School Students: Investigating the Mediating Role of Emotional Regulation Difficulties

ABSTRACT Youth mental health is crucial for overall well‐being, and its absence can have detrimental consequences. Parenting behaviors play a significant role in promoting or hindering youths' psychosocial development. In particular, parental psychological control has been linked to increased levels of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. Guided by theories and previous research, the current study investigated the associations between parental psychological control and symptoms of depression and anxiety and explored emotional regulation difficulties as a mediator in a sample of 144 predominantly Hispanic middle school students. The study found that parental psychological control was positively and significantly associated with middle school students' depression and anxiety symptoms, and emotional regulation difficulties mediated these associations. The findings offer important implications for school psychology practice by informing the development of culturally responsive and school‐based interventions aimed at strengthening emotional regulation skills among predominantly Hispanic adolescents exposed to parental psychological control and at risk for depression and anxiety.