{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T09:25:18Z","timestamp":1787736318163,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787702400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behav. Sci.","Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Women of reproductive age diagnosed with thyroid cancer face a distinctive psychological burden arising from the concurrent demands of disease management and primary caregiving, yet the mechanisms linking parenting stress to diminished well-being in this group remain poorly characterized. The present study applied a stress-buffering framework to examine whether psychological distress (anxiety and depressive symptoms) statistically mediated the association between parenting stress and well-being, and whether social support attenuates these pathways. We recruited a convenience sample of 400 consecutive eligible mothers between July and December 2025 at a tertiary cancer center in China. All were of reproductive age (18\u201349 years), had cytologically confirmed papillary thyroid carcinoma and at least one child aged \u226412 years, and completed the survey during their initial hospitalization, before surgery. Validated instruments assessed parenting stress, anxiety and depression, social support, and well-being; analyses included bivariate correlations, mediation, and moderated mediation models. Well-being correlated inversely with parenting stress (r = \u22120.447, p &lt; 0.01) and anxiety and depression (r = \u22120.573, p &lt; 0.01), and positively with social support (r = 0.515, p &lt; 0.01). Psychological distress partially mediated the parenting stress\u2013well-being association, with the indirect effect constituting 44.32% of the total effect (\u22120.210, 95% CI: \u22120.321 to \u22120.125). Parenting stress was positively associated with HADS scores (\u03b2 = 0.322, p &lt; 0.001), though this association was weaker at higher levels of social support (interaction \u03b2 = \u22120.106, p = 0.006). Both parenting stress (\u03b2 = \u22120.148, p = 0.001) and HADS scores (\u03b2 = \u22120.367, p &lt; 0.001) were independently associated with lower well-being, while social support moderated the parenting stress\u2013well-being association (interaction \u03b2 = 0.098, p = 0.003). In conclusion, parenting stress and psychological distress were jointly associated with diminished well-being in this population, but social support emerged as a modifiable protective correlate. Psychosocial interventions targeting stress reduction, emotional regulation, and support mobilization may thus hold particular promise for improving outcomes among young women with thyroid cancer.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16091491","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T09:05:46Z","timestamp":1787735146000},"page":"1491","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Psychological Assessment of Parenting Stress and Emotional Support: A Moderated Mediation Model of Psychological Distress and Well-Being Among Childbearing-Age Women with Thyroid Cancer"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Yinfeng","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Nursing, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi\u2019an 710061, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-9402-0719","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Min","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Nursing, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi\u2019an 710061, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yin-Ping","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Nursing, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi\u2019an 710061, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"298","DOI":"10.1207\/s15374424jccp1904_1","article-title":"Introduction to the special issue: The stresses of parenting","volume":"19","author":"Abidin","year":"1990","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Child Psychology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-9010.90.1.94","article-title":"Effect size and power in assessing moderating effects of categorical variables using multiple regression: A 30-year review","volume":"90","author":"Aguinis","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Applied Psychology"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bagade, T., Mersha, A., and Majeed, T. 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