Parental Attachment Anxiety and Adolescents' Authentic Self-Disclosure to Generative AI: The Roles of Rumination, Depression, and Gender.

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly used by adolescents across various domains. While existing research has explored its impact on education and mental health, little attention has been given to adolescents' authentic self-disclosure to GenAI. Drawing on the cognitive appraisal theory of stress and the computers are social actors paradigm, this study examines how parent - adolescent attachment anxiety influences adolescents' authentic self-disclosure to GenAI, with rumination and depression as mediators and gender as a moderator. A total of 685 Chinese adolescents (324 girls, Mage = 13.17) participated in an offline survey. Results showed that attachment anxiety with both father and mother were positively associated with rumination, which, in turn, was positively linked to depression. Both rumination and depression were positively associated with authentic self-disclosure to GenAI. Rumination and depression sequentially mediated this relationship. A multi-group analysis revealed that the effect of rumination on depression was significantly greater among girls than among boys.