Using a convenience sampling method, 1,000 questionnaires were distributed to students from grade 1 to grade 3 in a public junior high school in Anyang city, Henan Province. The response rate of the questionnaires was 90.9%. The final valid sample included 909 adolescents (13.60 ± 0.93 years old; 470 males, 51.71%; 439 females, 48.29%). All tests were conducted in Mandarin Chinese. Additionally, a demographic questionnaire compiled by the researchers was employed to collect information on the participants’ demographic characteristics, such as gender, age, grade, parents’ marital status, parents’ educational level, and daily guardian. Distribution of valid participants on demographic variables is presented in Table 1.

The present study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Jinan. After obtaining consent from the students and their parents, the school’s full-time psychology teacher assisted in distributing the questionnaire during a psychology class. The researchers explained the purpose of the research to the students and emphasized the principles of voluntary participation, anonymity, and truthful answers. Subsequently, the class was utilized as a group for group testing. The questionnaires required approximately 45 min to complete and were promptly collected afterward.

We used SPSS Version 25.0 along with the PROCESS v3.5 application developed by Hayes (2018) for statistical analysis. The PROCESS v3.5 application enabled us to accurately estimate the effect sizes and confidence intervals of each pathway, providing a robust statistical foundation for the reliability and validity of our research findings. Using PROCESS, we analyzed the impact of parental psychological control, with behavioral control as a covariate, and the impact of behavioral control, with psychological control as a covariate.

The specific analytical steps included: firstly, we conducted descriptive analysis and Pearson correlation analysis using SPSS v25.0 to understand the basic characteristics of the data and explore the relationships between variables; then, we used Model 6 of PROCESS v3.5 for chain mediating effect analysis, obtaining 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals through 5,000 bootstrap resampling iterations to test the significance of indirect effects. Indirect effects were considered significant if the 95% confidence interval did not include zero (Erceg-Hurn and Mirosevich, 2008). Through these analyses, we were able to gain a deeper understanding of the complex mechanisms among parental control, personal growth initiative, meaning in life, and future planning.

Table 2 presented the means, standard deviations, and Pearson correlation coefficients for parental behavioral control, parental psychological control, personal growth initiative, meaning in life, and future planning. The correlation analysis showed that adolescents’ parental behavioral control was positively correlated with parental psychological control (r = 0.26, p < 0.001), personal growth initiative (r = 0.43, p < 0.001), meaning in life (r = 0.36, p < 0.001), and future planning (r = 0.26, p < 0.001); parental psychological control was significantly positively correlated with meaning in life (r = 0.10, p < 0.01), but it was not significantly correlated with personal growth initiative (r = 0.06, p > 0.05) and future planning (r = −0.06, p > 0.05); personal growth initiative was significantly positively correlated with meaning in life (r = 0.70, p < 0.001) and future planning (r = 0.47, p < 0.001); meaning in life was significantly positively correlated with future planning (r = 0.47, p < 0.001). The results of the correlation analysis provided preliminary evidence for the hypotheses.

From the perspective of general mediation, although the correlation between parental psychological control and adolescents’ future planning was not significant (p > 0.05), existing studies have shown that parental psychological control, personal growth initiative, meaning in life, and future planning were related to each other. There is a close relationship between them, so the existence of a masking effect can be considered (Wen and Ye, 2014).

After controlling for participants’ grade and gender which showed significant differences for the study variables (Table 3), and controlling for parental behavioral control as a covariate, the results (Table 4) showed that parental psychological control could positively impact on junior high school students’ meaning in life (β = 0.07, p < 0.05) and negatively impact their personal growth initiative (β = −0.08, p < 0.05) and future planning (β = −0.11, p < 0.001). The personal growth initiative had a positive impact on meaning in life (β = 0.80, p < 0.001) and future planning (β = 0.16, p < 0.001); the meaning in life of junior high school students had a positive impact on their future planning (β = 0.17, p < 0.001).

The results of the mediating effect test were shown in Table 5, and the path diagram was shown in Figure 1. The results found that the 95% confidence intervals of the total effect, direct effect, and path 2 of the mediating model did not include 0, and the 95% confidence interval of the total indirect effect included 0, indicating that the total effect and direct effect were significant, the total indirect effect was not significant, but the effect of parental psychological control → meaning in life → future planning was significant.

After controlling for participants’ grade and gender, which showed significant differences for the study variables (Table 3), and controlling for parental psychological control as a covariate, the results showed (Table 6) parental behavioral control could positively impact on junior high school students’ personal growth initiative (β = 0.55, p < 0.001), meaning in life (β = 0.08, p < 0.05) and future planning (β = 0.06, p < 0.05); junior high school students’ personal growth initiative positively impacted their meaning in life (β = 0.80, p < 0.001) and future planning (β = 0.16, p < 0.001); and junior high school students’ meaning in life positively impacted their future planning (β = 0.17, p < 0.001).

The results of the mediating effect test were shown in Table 7, and the path diagram was shown in Figure 2. The results found that the 95% confidence intervals of the total effect, direct effect, and total indirect effect of the mediating model did not include 0, indicating the significance of both direct and indirect effects in this mediating model. The indirect effect of parental behavioral control on adolescents’ future planning occurred through two paths: Path 1, which included parental behavioral control → personal growth initiative → future planning; Path 3, which included parental behavioral control → personal growth initiative → meaning in life → future planning. The 95% confidence intervals of the two paths did not include 0, indicating that the mediating effect of personal growth initiative was significant, and the chain mediating effect produced by personal growth initiative and meaning in life was significant. However, the effect of path 2 parental behavioral control → meaning in life → future planning, was found to be insignificant.

Consistent with previous research findings indicating that parental psychological control has a negative impact on adolescents’ development, the direct effect of parental psychological control on adolescents’ future planning was significant and negative in the present study. The total indirect effect was insignificant, but it’s worth noting that the path of psychological control → meaning in life → future planning was significant and positive. This finding contradicted the direct effect in the present study and also contradicted the previous results (e.g., Romm et al., 2020; Shek et al., 2021).

The consensus among most researchers is that parental psychological control is a negative parenting style that reduces adolescents’ sense of control over their lives and negatively predicts adolescents’ sense of meaning in life (Romm et al., 2020; Shek et al., 2021). In this study, parental psychological control promoted adolescents’ meaning in life, and thus positively promoted adolescents’ future planning. The result is similar to several studies in China which find that parental psychological control has no significant negative impact on junior middle school students’ creative self-efficacy (Liu et al., 2020), and no significant negative impact on junior middle school students’ autonomous motivation (Ren et al., 2017). There were four possible reasons. First, there might be other mediating or moderating variables between parental psychological control and adolescents’ meaning in life. For example, self-differentiation can play a partial mediating role between adolescents’ emotional neglect and meaning in life (He et al., 2023a). According to the maintenance and flow model of meaning in life, when the lack of one kind of psychological resource leads to a reduction in an individual’s meaning in life, the individual will improve their sense of meaning by looking for other psychological resources (Zhao et al., 2017). Parental psychological control might stimulate other psychological resources for adolescents. When teenagers encounter difficulties in getting along with their parents, they will have a strong desire to get support from teachers and peers, thereby promoting their connection with school and improving their sense of meaning. Second, there were cultural differences in parenting styles. Studies have shown that in collectivist cultures such as Chinese culture, the negative influence of parental psychological control may be weak or even non-existent (Cheung and Pomerantz, 2011). In Chinese culture, more teenagers are willing to accept an authoritarian parenting style. Compared to Western teenagers, Chinese teenagers tend to interpret parental control as a sign of care and love (Soenens and Vansteenkiste, 2010; Liu et al., 2020). With a high degree of parental psychological control, the adolescents might be more likely to feel a close family connection and interdependence, achieve emotional integration, and thus feel that life was meaningful. Another empirical cross-cultural study also supports these findings (Chou and Chou, 2020). Cultural differences between the U. S. and Taiwan in the structures and levels of parental psychological and behavioral control, and the association between the two controls are found among emerging adults (Chou and Chou, 2020). The researchers discussed that the results from the U. S. sample suggested the conceptual distinction between behavioral and psychological control, reflecting the different functions of psychological control and behavioral control, while the results from the Taiwanese sample showed a positive association between behavioral control and psychological control and were in concordance with most findings from the Chinese mainland. Third, this study did not distinguish the different dimensions of psychological control which might have different influences on Chinese adolescents. For example, love withdrawal has a negative effect on adolescents’ psychological well-being, while guilt induction does not (Fang et al., 2022). Love withdrawal directly and negatively predicts adolescents’ academic achievement, while guilt induction and authority assertion are not significant direct predictors (Xu et al., 2024). The cultural difference between China and America also varies by these dimensions (Chou and Chou, 2020). Chinese parents may be more likely to use authority assertion and less likely to use love withdrawal (Liu et al., 2020). Fourthly, it was related to different life stages. The present study included junior high school students. The impact of parental psychological control on adolescents’ sense of meaning in life may show different patterns in early and late adolescence (Shek et al., 2021). Parental psychological control itself changes as time passes (He et al., 2023a,b; Sun et al., 2017). The current research findings on the influence of parental psychological control on adolescents’ sense of meaning in life are limited and inconclusive, and therefore need to be further investigated and verified. Whether directly or indirectly enhancing the sense of meaning in life will have a positive effect on individuals (Liu and Gan, 2010). Having a sense of meaning in life can help individuals integrate temporal continuity and motivate them to focus on their future potential (Baumeister et al., 2013; Miao and Gan, 2019; Miao et al., 2021), and promote them to consider future goals and guide them to achieve these goals (Hooker et al., 2018).

Personal growth initiative positively impacted future planning. However, unlike the meaning in life it did not have a mediating effect on the relationship between parental psychological control and adolescents’ future planning. This finding was specific to the sample in the present study and was also linked to the acceptance of parental psychological control in China. Personal growth initiative encompasses both initiative (autonomy, internal motivation) and promotion (development, future orientation). In Chinese culture, particularly in rural areas, parents prioritize their children’s future, even if their parenting styles were not always scientifically sound, democratic, or appropriate. Consequently, parental psychological control might only hinder Chinese rural adolescents’ autonomy within personal growth initiative, without necessarily impeding development or future orientation within this initiative. As a result, the impact of psychological control on personal growth initiative was not significant enough for personal growth initiative to act as a mediator between psychological control and future planning. Moreover, there were distinctions in the roles of fathers and mothers in Chinese rural families, which could affect the different aspects of their children’s personal growth initiative. The multidimensional nature of personal growth initiative should also be taken into account in future research.

In summary, although parental psychological control had a negative effect on adolescents’ future planning in terms of a direct relationship, its impact was alternatively positive due to the intervention of meaning in life. Meaning in life played a masking role, inhibiting the relationship between the predictor and outcome variables (Wen and Ye, 2014). In other words, the influence of parental psychological control on adolescents’ future planning might be both positive and negative, and its positive effect could be realized through increasing adolescents’ meaning in life. It could not negatively impact adolescents’ future planning through their personal growth initiative. Due to the complexity of psychological control and adolescents’ psychological development, further research is needed.

In line with previous research findings, parental behavioral control, identified as a form of positive parenting behavior (Wang et al., 2007), played a positive role in adolescents’ future planning in this study. This was observed through the direct effect, the mediating effect of personal growth initiative, and the chain mediating effect of personal growth initiative and meaning in life, which represents an advancement in existing research.

Parental behavioral control promoted adolescents’ future planning by influencing their personal growth initiative. Personal growth initiative refers to the proactive actions individuals take to achieve personal development, which can ignite their motivation to explore themselves and their surroundings. A higher level of personal growth initiative enables individuals to handle career development tasks more effectively (Robitschek and Cook, 1999). Positive parenting styles are strong predictors of adolescents’ personal growth initiative development (Hirata and Kamakura, 2018). Parental guidance and monitoring help adolescents identify their weaknesses and areas for improvement. Adolescents who recognize their own shortcomings and have a clear direction for progress demonstrate a high level of personal growth initiative, enabling them to generate more ideas and plans for their future.

The mediating effect of meaning in life on the relationship between behavioral control and future planning was insignificant, but the chain mediating effect was significant. This was also related to the sample in the present study. Chinese culture places much more emphasis on affective ties in family relationships. Behavioral control includes more rational instruction with relatively less emotional involvement. Therefore, it did not significantly influence future planning through meaning in life which was related to affections. However, rational behavioral control could impact personal growth initiative, which in turn could affect meaning in life. Promoting individuals’ personal growth initiative can improve their sense of meaning in life (Borowa et al., 2020; Vaksalla and Hashimah, 2015; Wang and Han, 2020). A high level of meaning in life can effectively promote adolescents’ future planning (Baumeister et al., 2013; Hooker et al., 2018; Miao and Gan, 2019; Miao et al., 2021). Of course, fathers’ and mothers’ different roles need to be considered in future research as well.

Generally, both psychological control and behavioral control impacted the future planning of Chinese rural adolescents, but their mechanisms were different. Psychological control could directly and negatively impact adolescents’ future planning, but it could positively influence their future planning through the mediating effect of meaning in life. It could not negatively impact their future planning through adolescents’ personal growth initiative. Behavioral control could directly and positively influence adolescents’ future planning, and could also positively influence it through the mediating effect of personal growth initiative and the chain mediating effect of personal growth initiative and meaning in life. In essence, different types of parental control impacted adolescents’ future planning through distinct pathways and psychological mechanisms. The role of meaning in life was particularly noteworthy. These findings might be attributed to the fact that the participants were junior high school students in rural China. Their understanding and acceptance of parental control might be unique, warranting further research.

These findings imply that parents should strive to become qualified parents by providing their children with proper guidance and paying attention to their own psychological characteristics. To better plan for adolescents’ future education, it is essential to effectively utilize the connection between parental control and adolescents’ psychological factors in order to have a positive impact.