The impact of parenting styles on physical activity among adolescents: the mediating role of psychological resilience.

Gender and grade level were significantly associated with physical activity levels among junior high school students.

• Girls were more likely to be in the low-PA group, while boys were more likely to be in the medium- or high-PA groups.
• As grade level increased, the proportion of students in the low-PA group decreased and the medium-PA group increased, while the high-PA group remained stable.
• These differences were statistically significant (p < 0.01).
• No urban-rural differences in PA levels were observed.
• Sample consisted of 336 adolescents (195 boys, 141 girls) from Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, China.

Parental emotional warmth was positively correlated with physical activity, while paternal rejection was negatively correlated.

• Parenting styles were significantly associated with PA levels across the sample.
• Parental emotional warmth showed a positive correlation with PA.
• Paternal rejection showed a negative correlation with PA.
• Overprotection showed weaker but still significant effects on PA.
• Associations were assessed using Pearson correlation coefficients and logistic regression.

Hierarchical regression revealed that parental emotional warmth was a strong positive predictor of PA and paternal rejection was a negative predictor, with the final model explaining 49.8% of the variance in total PAQ scores.

• Parental emotional warmth emerged as a strong positive predictor of physical activity.
• Paternal rejection was identified as a negative predictor of physical activity.
• The final hierarchical regression model explained 49.8% of the variance in total PAQ scores.
• PA was measured using the Chinese version of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A).
• Parenting styles were measured using the Short-Form Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran for Children (s-EMBU-C).

Psychological resilience mediated the relationship between parenting styles and physical activity.

• Mediation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro (Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap samples.
• Emotional warmth had both direct and indirect effects on PA through psychological resilience.
• Paternal rejection and overprotection influenced PA indirectly through resilience, without significant direct effects implied.
• Paternal rejection exerted the strongest negative indirect effect on PA through resilience.
• Psychological resilience was measured using the Adolescent Resilience Scale.