Objective To analyze the relationship between personality characteristics and parenting styles， self-defense styles in patients with depressive disorders. Methods A total of 60 patients with depressive disorders who were admitted to Dongfang People's Hospital of Xuzhou from August 2016 to July 2019 were selected as the research subjects， and 60 healthy volunteers were selected as controls. Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory （MMPI）， Egna minnen av bamdoms uoofostran （EMBU） and Defense Style Questionnaire （DSQ） were used to analyze the relationship between personality characteristics and parenting styles， self-defense styles of patients with depressive disorders. Results The hypochondriasis， depression， hysteria， psychopathy， paranoia and athopia scores of the observation group were higher than those of the control group in MMPI （t=12.949，15.893，20.349，7.188，6.863，5.391；P＜ 0.05）. In EMBU， the scores of parents' emotional warmth and understanding of the observation group were lower than those of the control group （t=3.126， 3.096，P ＜ 0.05）， while the scores of parental punishment andstrictness， rejection and denial， father's excessive protection， mother's excessive interference and protection were all higher than those of the control group （t=3.256，3.661，4.622，3.744，4.225，2.832；P ＜ 0.05）. In DSQ， the immature defense mechanism score of the observation group was higher than that of the control group （t=4.938， P＜ 0.05）， while the mature defense mechanism score was lower than that of the control group （t=3.423，P＜ 0.05）. Depression， psychopathy and athopia of patients with depressive disorders were positively correlated with scores of parental punishment and strictness， rejection and denial， father's excessive protection， and mother's excessive interference and protection （r=0.304-0.348，P＜ 0.05）. Hypochondriasis and depression were negatively correlated with scores of parental emotional warmth and understanding （r=-0.322- -0.344，P ＜ 0.05）. Depression， psychopathy， paranoiaand athopia were positively correlated with the immature defense mechanism score （r=0.303- 0.334，P ＜ 0.05）. Hypochondriasis， depression and hysteria were negatively correlated with themature defense mechanism score （r=-0.305- -0.309，P ＜ 0.05）. The scores of parental punishment and strictness， rejection and denial， father's excessive protection， and mother's excessive interference and protection were positively correlated with the immature defense mechanism （r=0.393-0.418，P ＜ 0.05）， and were negatively correlated with the mature defense mechanism （r=-0.385- -0.407，P ＜ 0.05）. Parental emotional warmth and understanding were negatively correlated with the immature defense mechanism （r=-0.404，-0.416，P＜ 0.05）， and were positively correlated with mature defense mechanism （r=0.412，0.422，P＜ 0.05）. Conclusions The personality characteristics of patients with depressive disorders are related to their parenting styles （parental emotional warmth and understanding， punishment and strictness， rejection and denial， father's excessive protection， and mother's excessive interference and protection） and self-defense styles （immature defense mechanism）.