Effects of parenting style on depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and their comorbidity during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown among 3117 Chinese junior high school students

Introduction: Depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and comorbidity increased in junior high school students due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The objective of this study was to measure the impacts of parenting style on depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and their comorbidity in Chinese junior high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period.Methods: An online survey was conducted in June 2020 among 3117 junior high school students from Shandong Province, China. The Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran scale was used to measure parenting styles. The 9item Patient Health Questionnaire scale and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale were used to measure depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted with SPSS 25.0 Version.Results: 3117 junior school students enrolled in this study. The prevalence of depressive symptoms only, anxiety symptoms only, and comorbidity among junior high school students was 11.55 %, 5.29 %, and 22.97 %. Paternal over-protection was a risk factor not only for depressive symptoms only (OR = 1.075, 95 % CI = 1.020-1.134) but for anxiety symptoms only (OR = 1.090, 95 % CI = 1.016-1.170) and comorbidity (OR = 1.098, 95 % CI = 1.050-1.148). Paternal over-interference was a protective factor for depressive symptoms only (OR = 0.947, 95 % CI = 0.908-0.987) and comorbidity (OR = 0.953, 95 % CI = 0.921-0.986). However, maternal overinterference and over-protection were risk factors for depressive symptoms only (OR = 1.039, 95 % CI = 1.011-1.068). Limitations: This was a cross-sectional study and the causal inferences could not be conducted. Conclusions: Junior high school students with poorer family environmental factors were more likely to suffer from the comorbidity of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.Decision-makers from the government, educational, and healthcare institutions should pay more attention to junior high school students at higher risk of mental disorders due to poor parenting styles. We should discuss family interventions in the future to prevent mental disorders in junior high school students.