The Longitudinal Impact of Father Presence on Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: The Mediating Role of Emotion Beliefs and Emotion Regulation

Background: Adolescence is a developmental period marked by heightened vulnerability to depressive symptoms. Although prior research highlights the significance of father presence in adolescent mental health, longitudinal evidence clarifying both its direct and indirect effects remains scarce. Methods: The present study used a two-wave longitudinal design to examine whether emotion beliefs and emotion regulation processes explain the link between father presence and depressive symptoms. Participants included 1075 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 16.06, SD = 0.43, girls = 52.9%). Results: Path models showed that higher perceived father presence predicted lower depressive symptoms over time. Emotion beliefs and cognitive reappraisal each served as significant mediators in this association. Moreover, a sequential pathway emerged that father presence predicted fewer maladaptive emotion beliefs, which in turn promoted the use of cognitive reappraisal, ultimately reducing depressive symptoms. Conclusions: These findings shed light on the cognitive and regulatory processes through which paternal presence contributes to adolescent emotional adjustment and provide support for incorporating paternal emotional engagement and emotion socialization strategies into family-based prevention and intervention programs targeting adolescent depression.