# Status and influence of parental rearing style and social psychology process on social adaptability of medical students: using college students in Jilin Province, China, as an example

## TL;DR

This study explores how parental rearing styles and social psychology factors affect the social adaptability of medical students in China.

## Contribution

The study identifies specific parental rearing styles and social psychology factors that influence social adaptability in Chinese medical students.

## Key findings

- Social distress and avoidance significantly negatively affect social adaptability.
- Parental emotional warmth and overprotection are key factors influencing social adaptability.
- Mediation analysis shows these rearing styles affect adaptability through social avoidance and distress.

## Abstract

Although social adaptability is crucial for medical students, the combined influence of parental rearing styles and social psychology process on this competency is not well-explored, particularly in the context of China. This study examines their status and relationships among Chinese medical students.

An online questionnaire survey based on the web-based survey platform “Questionnaire Star” was performed with medical college students in Jilin Province, China. The questionnaire content comprised the status of the participants' parental rearing style, social avoidance and distress, and social adaptability by employing specific survey scales, and mediation effect analysis was conducted to examine the mediating role of social psychology process in the relationship between parental rearing styles and social adaptability.

Two thousand hundred and sixty-six medical college students were subjected to statistical analysis. Parental rearing styles and social avoidance and distress show differences among sociodemographic factors of gender, household registration, whether is one-child, and parental education (p < 0.05). Students from urban households, with one-child identities and those whose parents had high educational levels obtained high social adaptability scores (p < 0.05). The multivariate analysis results are as follows: social distress (β = −0.399, p < 0.001), social avoidance (β = −0.304, p < 0.001), mother's rearing style of “emotional warmth and understanding” (β = 0.135, p < 0.001), and father's rearing style of “overprotection” (β = −0.087, p < 0.001) are the independent factors influencing medical college students' social adaptability. Mediation effect analysis further reveal that parental rearing styles of “emotional warmth and understanding” and “overprotective” can directly or indirectly affect students' social avoidance and distress to influence their social adaptability.

Reducing students' social avoidance and distress, strengthening “emotional warmth and understanding,” and preventing “overprotective” parental rearing styles are effective ways to improve medical college students' social adaptability.