# Parental control and depressive symptoms in college freshmen with myopia: the mediating role of vision-related quality of life

## TL;DR

This study explores how myopia and vision-related quality of life affect depressive symptoms in college students, with parental control playing a mediating role.

## Contribution

The study reveals that vision-related quality of life mediates the link between parental control and depressive symptoms in myopic college freshmen.

## Key findings

- Participants with myopia were less likely to develop depressive symptoms than those without myopia.
- Vision-related quality of life mediated 15.69% of the effect of maternal control and 18.86% of paternal control on depressive symptoms.

## Abstract

Myopia is considered to be associated with depressive symptoms. Perceived parental control plays a critical role in children and adolescents’ mental health. The present study aimed to examine the role of myopia in depressive symptoms and whether parental control contributes to depressive symptoms via vision-related quality of life (QoL) in myopic students.

This study investigated the mediating role of vision-related QoL between parental control and depressive symptoms among Chinese children and adolescents with myopia. A total of 2014 college freshmen in China were included. Correlation analysis and mediation analysis were conducted. Mediation models were used to assess the potential mechanism of vision-related QoL in the association between parental control and depressive symptoms.

In our sample, participants with myopia were less likely to develop depressive symptoms than those without myopia (P = 0.01). Subsequently, analysis within the myopic group revealed that vision-related QoL significantly mediated the relationship between parental control and depressive symptoms, accounting for 15.69% (maternal control) and 18.86% (paternal control) of the total effect.

This study highlights the important role of myopia for depressive symptoms in college freshmen and demonstrates that vision-related QoL significant mediates the relationship between parental control and depressive symptoms.