Household work participation is associated with adolescent mental health through parent-child relationship and resilience

Adolescent mental health is a central concern in educational psychology and youth development. This study used data from a school-based survey on 1,152 junior middle school students in Xi’an, China and examined whether and how participation in household work was associated with adolescent mental health. We assessed a serial mediation model in which parent-child relationship and adolescent resilience were specified as potential mediators. Results revealed that household work participation was positively correlated with adolescent mental health, parent-child relationship, and resilience. Furthermore, household work participation was significantly associated with greater perceived closeness with parents and higher resilience, after adjusting for gender, grade, only-child status, academic performance, hukou status, school type, family structure, and parental education. Bootstrap mediation analyses indicated that the association between household work participation and mental health was consistent with an indirect-effects pattern that involved parent-child relationship, resilience, and their serial pathway. Among the indirect pathways, the resilience pathway accounted for the largest proportion of the total indirect effect. These findings suggest that household work may represent a meaningful family-based context associated with adolescent psychological well-being, greater perceived closeness with parents, and stronger psychological resources. This study contributes to research on adolescent mental health by highlighting the educational and developmental value of household work within family life.