Perceived parental rejection and depressive symptoms in Chinese university students through internalized shame and self-criticism, with resilience as a moderator

Introduction Perceived parental rejection in childhood is a robust correlate of depression, yet the mechanisms connecting it to depressive symptoms in Chinese university students remain underspecified. This study tested an indirect sequence from parental rejection to depressive symptoms through internalized shame and self-criticism, and examined trait resilience as a moderator of the final link in that sequence. Methods A total of 450 Chinese university students (aged 18–25; [XX]% women; [X] universities) completed validated Chinese versions of measures assessing parental rejection, internalized shame, self-criticism, trait resilience, and depressive symptoms in a single session. Results Structural equation modeling ([estimator]; CFI = , TLI = , RMSEA = , SRMR = ) showed that parental rejection was associated with higher internalized shame, which was associated with higher self-criticism, which in turn was associated with more depressive symptoms. The sequential indirect effect was significant ( β = , 95% CI [ , ]), as were the shorter indirect effects through shame and through self-criticism. The direct effect of rejection on depressive symptoms remained significant, indicating partial mediation (R ² = ). Trait resilience moderated the self-criticism–depression association ( β = , p = ); the conditional indirect effect was weaker at higher resilience (index of moderated mediation = , 95% CI [ , ]) but remained significant at +1 SD. Discussion These findings locate trait resilience at the proximal end of an indirect statistical sequence and identify self-criticism as a candidate target for intervention research. Because all variables were assessed concurrently by self-report, directionality cannot be established; longitudinal and experimental designs are required before causal or intervention inferences are warranted.