Relationship between parenting style and resilience among college students: Chain mediation roles of self-esteem and self-confidence

The current study examined the relationship between parenting style and resilience among university students, as well as the mediating roles of self-esteem and self-confidence. A cross-sectional investigation of 433 university students was conducted via the short-form Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran for China (s-EMBU-C), the College Student Resilience Questionnaire, the Self-Esteem scale (SES), and the Personal Evaluation Inventory (PEI). The results showed that positive parental rearing patterns exhibited a significant positive correlation with resilience (r = 0.605, p < 0.01), while negative parental rearing patterns exhibited a significant negative correlation with resilience (r = − 0.321, p < 0.01). Further, confidence was found to mediate the relationship between resilience and parental rearing patterns (p < 0.05) through the influence of self-esteem on self-confidence, suggesting a weak chain mediation effect between parental rearing patterns and resilience. Specifically, results indicated that increased positive parenting was associated with lower self-esteem, but higher self-confidence and stronger resilience; conversely, more negative parenting style was associated with higher self-esteem, but lower self-confidence and weaker resilience.