The Relationship Between Perceived Parenting Attitudes and Life Satisfaction in Middle School Students: The Longitudinal Mediating Effect of Teacher Relationship Perceptions

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the longitudinal mediating effect of teacher relationship perceptions on the relationship between middle school students' perceived parenting attitudes and life satisfaction, i.e., to determine how parenting attitudes affect adolescents' life satisfaction over time through teacher relationship perceptions. This study provides a basis for developing programs for adolescent mental health and highlights the importance of the role of teachers in guiding adolescents' lives. Methods The study utilized three years of data from 2019(middle 1) to 2021(middle 3) from the middle 1 panel of the Korea Child and Youth Panel Survey(KCYPS 2018). The total number of subjects was 2,325, and the data was analyzed using an autoregressive cross-lagged model. This model has the advantage of being able to consider temporal antecedence, which is difficult to reflect in conventional cross-sectional models, verify the size of the auto-regressive coefficient, and estimate the effect after controlling the prior state of the mediator and the dependent variable when estimating the mediating effect. Results Positive parenting attitudes at the earlier time point were found to have a positive effect on teacher relationship perceptions at the later time point, while negative parenting attitudes at the earlier time point had a negative effect on teacher relationship perceptions at the later time point. This suggests that adolescents' perceived parenting attitudes may closely influence the formation of relationships with teachers. In addition, we found that teacher relationship perceptions at the earlier time point influenced life satisfaction at the later time point. This means that the extent to which adolescents perceive their relationships with teachers to be positive affects their subsequent life satisfaction. In other words, teacher relationship perceptions have a longitudinal mediating effect on the relationship between parenting attitudes and life satisfaction. Conclusions These results suggest that the parents’ parenting attitudes at prior time points are influencing middle school students’ life satisfaction at later time points. We can also predict that adolescents' life satisfaction may vary depending on whether they perceive their teacher relationships as positive or negative in this pathway.