Parenting styles as a moderator in the relation between childhood trauma and psychotic-like experiences among Chinese college students: A cross-sectional study.

Childhood trauma (CT)victimization is associated with increased risk of psychotic-like experiences(PLEs) in students. However, little is known about the role of the parenting style in this association. We aimed to investigate the moderating effect of parenting styles in the above association among Chinese college students. To provide help for educators or parents to prevent students from serious psychological and mental diseases caused by CT. We employed a convenience sampling and snowball sampling to investigate the potential moderating effect of parenting style on this association among Chinese college students. A total of 750 freshmen from Qiqihar city, Heilongjiang Province, China, completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Prodromal Questionnaire, and the Simplified Parenting Style Scale. The positivity rate of CT and PLEs were 52.5% and 13.6% respectively. The detection rate of CT and PLEs in males all were higher than that in females. This study identified a high correlation between CT and psychotic experiences among college students. Parenting style has a moderating effect on CT-related psychotic experiences. The total moderating effect of 49.97% and the parallel moderating effects of rejection and emotional warmth of parenting styles accounted for 42.47% and 7.5%, respectively. This study highlights the importance of parenting style, suggesting that negative parenting may exacerbate trauma-related PLEs, whereas warm parenting may mitigate trauma-related PLEs.