Parental Factors Associated with Mental Health, Prosociality, and Academic Performance in Adolescence: An Exploratory Study in Families from Spain and Colombia.

The family context is a fundamental determinant of adolescent mental health. Given the increasing psychological burden on caregivers, it is crucial to understand how parental emotional vulnerabilities and perceived competence shape youth outcomes. The objective of this exploratory study was to analyze the predictive capacity of caregivers' mental health, parental self-efficacy, and parenting practices on the psychological adjustment, prosocial behavior, and academic performance of adolescents. A total of 51 primary caregivers (35.3% residing in Spain and 64.7% in Colombia; 43.1% men, 56.9% women; age range 30-65 years, M = 47, SD = 6.46) participated, reporting on their own emotional symptomatology (DASS-21) and parental competence (PSOC-E), as well as their children's behavior (SDQ; aged 10-19). Through descriptive analyses, t-tests, ANOVA, correlational analyses, and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), the results revealed that the coexistence of parental emotional distress and parenting practices based on criticism and rejection constitutes a sufficient condition to explain the presence of behavioral problems and emotional symptoms in adolescents. In contrast, high family affection/communication and high parental self-efficacy acted as protective factors, being linked to greater prosociality and better overall adjustment. Regarding academic performance, adolescents with lower grades exhibited significantly higher levels of hyperactivity, whereas higher academic achievement was associated with greater parental affection, communication, and norms. Furthermore, the study highlights a higher prevalence of stress in the Spanish sample compared to the Colombian one, alongside greater emotional symptoms and hyperactivity in Spanish adolescents. The findings underscore the need to implement systemic and preventive interventions that promote parents' mental health and emotional self-regulation as a pathway to protect child and adolescent mental health.