<p>With the growing attention to the profound impact of family environments on children’s social adaptation, the influence of parents’ childhood invalidating family environments on their children’s development remains an underexplored area. Previous studies have rarely provided a systematic examination of how parental childhood invalidating families influence their children’s social adaptation through specific parenting behaviors. Moreover, there is a lack of in-depth analysis regarding the differential roles of mothers and fathers in this intergenerational process. This study aims to examine the impact of parent’s childhood invalidating family on their children’s social adaptation, with a particular focus on the mediating role of parental psychological control. Data were collected from 723 pairs of parents and their preschool-aged children through questionnaires. Using structural equation modeling, the study examined the relationships between parent’s childhood invalidating family, parental psychological control, and children’s social adaptation, including both prosocial and problem behaviors. The results demonstrate that parent’s childhood invalidating family significantly predicted higher levels of children’s problem behaviors but did not directly predict prosocial behaviors. Parental psychological control served as a mediator in this relationship: parents who experienced an invalidating family in childhood were more likely to exert psychological control, which in turn negatively affected their children’s prosocial behaviors and increased problem behaviors. These findings, grounded in the Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma Model and attachment theory, offer valuable theoretical and practical implications for parenting practices, early intervention strategies, and the promotion of children’s healthy social development.</p>