Direct and indirect effects of authoritative parenting and self-esteem on adolescent life satisfaction: A comparative study across varied migration statuses

Although prior research has exponentially investigated the robust linkage between authoritative parenting and adolescents? developmental outcomes, relatively scarce efforts have nevertheless been devoted to youth with different migration statuses particularly regarding their positive outcomes. In closing those gaps, the current study leveraged positive youth development perspective and simultaneously investigated the association between two conceptually distinct but empirically related authoritative parenting dimensions (autonomy support and warmth) and life satisfaction among adolescents with different migration statuses. Self-esteem was deliberately selected to deepen its conceptual understanding, and multi-group analysis was adopted to dismantle the commonality and specificity of those associations. We analyzed the unique data based on 1002 adolescents (M_age = 13.06, 50.4% girls), categorized into three groups: migrants (17.8%), left-behinds (23.2%), and non-migrants (59.0%). The results indicated that self-esteem partially mediated the positive relationship between authoritative parenting and life satisfaction. However, this mediation varied depending on the parenting dimension and migration status: significant for migrants and left-behinds in the context of parental autonomy support, and only for left-behinds regarding parental warmth. These findings offer a nuanced understanding of how different dimensions of authoritative parenting correlate with adolescents? positive developmental outcome in various migration contexts, providing valuable insights for designing supportive strategies and targeted interventions.