Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the mediation effect of identity development between perceived parental academic achievement pressure (PPAAP) and mental health. Specifically, we examined whether the relation between PPAAP and mental health is mediated by the positive or negative aspects of identity development. Participants were 110 Korean college students. They completed online self-report questionnaires that included PPAAP, identity development, personal well-being, and depression. We found that PPAAP was negatively related to personal well-being and positively related to depression. Moreover, the relation between PPAAP and mental health was mediated only by the negative aspects of identity development. In other words, PPAAP was related to the negative aspects of identity development, which, in turn, was negatively associated with mental health. This study contributes to the literature in that it proposed identity development as a mediator between PPAAP and mental health and found that the negative, not positive, aspects of identity development mediated the relation. We suggest that institutional interventions that help develop identity can be an effective way to mitigate the negative impacts of PPAAP on mental health of children living in the highly competitive Korean society. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.