Caregiver-Youth Shared Recreation and Adolescent Well-being: The Moderating Roles of Motivation, Mindset, and Parenting Style

Adolescence represents a critical developmental period for establishing well-being patterns that extend into adulthood. While recreational engagement supports youth development, how caregiver involvement influences these outcomes remains underexplored. This study examined whether personal and relational factors moderate the association between caregiver–youth recreational engagement and adolescent well-being. A cross-sectional survey of 398 adolescents (216 male, 182 female) aged 14–18 across five Western nations assessed psychological distress, attachment security, motivation, goal orientation, mindset, and perceived parenting style. Drawing on attachment theory, self-determination theory, and self-expansion theory, 56 moderation analyses were conducted across motivational, cognitive, and parenting-related moderators. To control for inflated Type I error due to multiple testing, a Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate correction was applied across all interaction terms. Following correction, four interaction effects remained statistically significant. External regulation consistently moderated associations between recreational engagement and psychological distress, such that greater caregiver involvement was linked to higher depression, anxiety, and stress among youth whose participation was externally pressured. In addition, authoritative parenting moderated the association between recreational engagement and attachment, with stronger attachment observed in autonomy-supportive parenting contexts. Other nominal interaction effects did not remain significant after correction and should be interpreted as exploratory. Overall, findings suggest that caregiver–youth recreation is a context-dependent process, with motivational and relational quality shaping modest links to adolescent well-being.