The Pathway from Maternal and Paternal Mindful Parenting to Adolescent Development: The Mediating Role of Social-Emotional Learning

Mindful parenting has emerged as a prominent approach in developmental research, emphasizing parental attentiveness and awareness in interactions with children. Empirical evidence indicates that mindful parenting can promote positive developmental competencies in adolescents, such as social-emotional learning (SEL), while also influencing behavioral outcomes. Despite this, the underlying mechanisms driving these associations remain insufficiently explored. This study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the mediating role of SEL in the associations between mindful parenting and adolescents' behavioral outcomes, including prosocial behaviors, conduct problems, and social media addiction. The analysis was conducted on data from 605 adolescent-parent dyads in China, with adolescents aged 13 to 17 (M = 14.41, SD = 1.32), and 47.1% identifying as female. Mindful parenting data were obtained via self-reports from parents, while SEL, prosocial behaviors, conduct problems, and social media addiction were assessed through adolescent self-reports. The results revealed that both paternal and maternal mindful parenting were indirectly associated with prosocial behaviors, conduct problems, and social media addiction, with these associations mediated by SEL and controlling for adolescent gender. Specifically, mindful parenting practices were linked to improved SEL, which in turn was associated with increased prosocial behaviors, reduced conduct problems, and lower levels of social media addiction among adolescents. These findings suggest that mindful parenting may promote positive behavioral outcomes and mitigate negative ones by improving SEL. The study highlights the potential of incorporating mindful parenting interventions as a strategy to support the development of adolescents.