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

Gang Liang¹Xing-Xuan Dong²Dan-Lin Li²Min-Xin Liu²Zhi-Jian Yin³Yue-Zu Li¹Tianyang Zhang^2*Chen-Wei Pan^2*

• ¹The Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan University, Kunming, China
• ²Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University School of Public Health, Suzhou, China
• ³The First Affiliated Hospital of Dali University, Dali, China

Objectives: 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. Methods: 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. Results: 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. Conclusions: 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.