The purpose of this research is to examine the mediating effects of separation-individuation and basic psychological needs satisfaction on relationships between parental psychological control and subjective well-being, depression of early adult children. A total of 340 undergraduate students completed an assessment battery consisting of the Dependency-oriented and Achievement-oriented Psychological Control(DAPCS), Separation-Individuation test for Adolescence(SITA), Basic Psychological Needs Scale(BPNS), Beck depression Inventory, Satisfaction With Life Scale(SWLS), and Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale(PANAS).
The results are summarized as follows. First, parental dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control was positively correlated with depression, and was negatively correlated with separation-individuation, basic psychological needs satisfaction and subjective well-being. Second, separation-individuation partially mediated the relationships between dependency-oriented psychological control and subjective well-being, meanwhile, separation-individuation mediated the relationships between dependency-oriented psychological control and depression. Furthermore, separation-individuation mediated the relationships between achievement-oriented psychological control and subjective well-being, depression respectively. Third, basic psychological needs satisfaction mediated the relationships between dependency-oriented psychological control and depression as well as subjective well-being. On the other hand, basic psychological needs satisfaction mediated the relationships between achievement-oriented psychological control and subjective well-being but partially mediated the relationships between achievement-oriented psychological control and depression. Finally, the limitations of this study and the suggestions for further research are discussed.