Traditional values and adolescent depression: Unraveling mediating mechanisms through self-esteem

Abstract

Drawing on nationally representative data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this research examines the mechanisms through which traditional values influence adolescent depressive symptoms via self-esteem. Utilizing Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) decomposition analysis with a sample of 4,217 adolescents aged 10−19 years, we found that overall traditional values demonstrated a nonsignificant total effect (β = −0.471, p = 0.116) yet exhibited a significant indirect effect through self-esteem (β = −0.447, p < 0.01 = 0.001, 95% CI [−0.716, −0.177]). Material-oriented and mortality-related values, including pursuit of wealth (β = 0.222, p = 0.178), avoiding social disapproval (β = −0.388, p = 0.031), and posthumous remembrance (β = −0.065, p = 0.648), demonstrated no significant mediation effects. Future-oriented traditional values manifested complete mediation through self-esteem, with significant indirect effects for intimate relations (β = −0.155, p = 0.026), achievement orientation (β = −0.226, p = 0.005), family cohesion (β = −0.255, p = 0.019), lineage continuation (β = −0.159, p = 0.020), and offspring success (β = −0.166, p = 0.042). Hedonic value orientation manifested partial mediation with both significant direct (β = −0.410, p = 0.050) and indirect effects (β = −0.312, p = 0.001). These findings illuminate how traditional values influence adolescent mental health in contemporary China, where distal life-course values operate through self-evaluative mechanisms, while proximate experiential values maintain direct psychological effects.