<p>While research has revealed the negative impact of parental psychological control on mental health, less is understood about how maternal psychological control relates to mental health of Chinese emerging adults. The present study therefore (1) examined the relation between maternal psychological control and emerging adults’ mental health, and (2) investigated whether such a relation was mediated by self-compassion components (self-kindness, mindfulness, and common humanity). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the survey data collected from 358 Chinese emerging adults (<i>M</i>_<i>age</i> = 21.35, <i>SD</i> = 2.01) via social networking apps. Results indicated that maternal psychological control was negatively associated with self-kindness, common humanity, and mental health. Self-kindness and common humanity were positively associated with mental health. The relation between maternal psychological control and mental health was partially mediated by self-kindness, but not common humanity or mindfulness. Self-kindness is a key component explaining why maternal psychological control is deleteriously associated with mental health. Cultivating self-kindness in interventions may be associated with better mental health for adult children whose mothers are psychologically controlling.</p>