Skip to main content
Log in

Perceived Stress and Life Satisfaction: A Multiple Mediation Model of Self-control and Rumination

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

Previous research has documented that perceived stress is negatively associated with adolescent life satisfaction. However, the mediating mechanisms underlying this relation are largely unknown. The present study tested whether self-control and rumination mediate the link between perceived stress and adolescents’ lower life satisfaction.

Methods

A sample of 1196 senior high school students (ages 13–19, 54% boys) completed questionnaires regarding demographics, perceived stress, self-control, rumination and life satisfaction.

Results

After controlling for gender, the results indicated that: (a) perceived stress was negatively associated with life satisfaction; (b) both self-control and rumination partially mediated the link between perceived stress and life satisfaction in a parallel pattern; and (c) self-control and rumination also sequentially mediated the relation between perceived stress and life satisfaction.

Conclusions

The current study advances our understanding of how perceived stress might lead to poor life satisfaction. Furthermore, the multiple mediation analysis reveals that self-control and rumination can not only in parallel, but also sequentially mediate the relation between perceived stress and life satisfaction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Author Contributions

Y.Z. designed and executed the study, and wrote the paper. Z.Z. collaborated with the design and writing of the study. Q.L. analyzed the data and collaborated with the writing of the study. X.Y. collaborated in the writing and editing of the final manuscript. C.F. collaborated in the writing and editing of the final manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zongkui Zhou.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Central China Normal University had provided IRB approval for the study.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zheng, Y., Zhou, Z., Liu, Q. et al. Perceived Stress and Life Satisfaction: A Multiple Mediation Model of Self-control and Rumination. J Child Fam Stud 28, 3091–3097 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01486-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01486-6

Keywords

Navigation