(WITHDRAWN) Romantic Relationship and Mental Health of Young Adolescents in China

Background and Purpose:

Romantic involvement is an important milestone for adolescents, and the forming of romantic relationships is considered as an important milestone of developmental stage; however, due to the conservative cultural context, it is devalued by Chinese parents and teachers, and may bring stress to adolescents who have a romantic partner. connection with family and the outer world are important factors in informing romantic involvement and psychological wellbeing of adolescents. Adopting an ecological perspective, this study explores the relationships between family relationships, technology use, and romantic involvement, as well as these factors' influence on the mental health of adolescents, with attention paid on the potential gender differences. Based on the theoretic perspective, this study investigates parent-child relationship and technology use in affecting the romantic involvement of Chinese young adolescents, as well as mental health status.

Methods:

Data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) were applied, with a sample of 2,481 adolescents aged between 10 to 15 years old. A two-step structural equation modeling (SEM) was adopted, including confirmatory factor analysis to validate the measurement model, and path analysis to examine the multivariate relationships. Analysis in the full sample and multiple group by gender were performed. The participants' average age is 12.47 (SD=1.73). There is no significant difference in the average age between female and male participants. In terms of an early romantic relationship, the majority participants did not have a romantic experience (N=2144, 86.42%) and significantly more male participants have involved in a romantic relationship (N=195, 14.91%, χ² =4.138 p=0.042).

Results:

Results revealed that relationship with parents and technology use were significantly associated with romantic involvement and mental health of adolescents. However, the results from multiple group analysis of the mediation model suggest that gender did not influence the relationship between conflicts with parents and mental health through romantic involvement.For female adolescents, only their status of romantic relationship and conflicts with parents are significantly positively related to depression (β=0.199, p=0.000 and β=0.197, p=0.000, respectively). Moreover, for female adolescents, only phone use and conflicts with parents may associated with their forming of a romantic relationship (β=0.128, p<0.01 and β=0.200, p=0.000, respectively). For male adolescents, romantic relationship and conflicts with parents are positively significantly correlated with depression (β=0.253, p=0.000, and β=0.210, p=0.000, respectively). Boys’ live at home is negatively significantly correlated with depression (β=-0.087, p<0.01). Moreover, phone use and conflicts with parents were significantly positively associated with the romantic relationship (β=0.117, p<0.05, and β=0.116, p<0.01) among male students.

Conclusions and Implications:

The findings highlighted the importance of family relationship and technology use in influencing the romantic involvement and mental health of young adolescents. This study attempts to provide empirical evidence on early romantic involvement in China and calls for raising awareness of early romantic involvement and provide proper guidance to enhance the psychological wellbeing of adolescents. This study shed light on the health professionals’ clinical practice and indicates that therefore, facilitating adolescents with positive perception towards romantic relationship needs more attention, especially for those who already in worse mental health condition.