Abstract Adolescent future orientation (AFO), recognized as a crucial psychological capital in the VUCA era marked with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, remains unclear in its association with parental autonomy support (PAS) and underlying mechanism. This study employs a moderated chain mediation model to examine how perceived PAS influences AFO development through growth mindset and hope, and how peer relationships perform a moderating effect. The Parental Autonomy Support Scale, the Future Orientation Scale, the Growth Mindset Scale, the Hope Scale, and the Peer Relationships Scale were used to measure 604 current middle school students in the suburbs of Beijing, China. The results showed that: (1) Parental autonomy support positively predicted adolescents' positive future orientations; (2) Growth mindset and hope played a chain mediating role between parental autonomy support and adolescents' positive future orientations; (3) Peer relationships moderated the relationship between parental autonomy support and growth mindset. At high levels of peer relationships, parental autonomy support was a stronger predictor of growth mindset. However, peer relationships did not moderate the association between parental autonomy support and hope. Conclusion: Parental autonomy support is strongly linked to adolescents' positive future orientations, with growth mindset, hope, and peer relationships playing a key role in their internal mechanisms.
Li et al. (Thu,) studied this question.