The Longitudinal Effects of School Climate and Parent-Child Relationships on Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral Adjustment Among Chinese Middle School Students: Delinquent Peer Affiliation As a Mediator and Gender As a Moderator

Background/Purpose: Adolescent emotional and behavioral adjustment affects their school achievement and long-term well-being, which highlights a critical need to determine the risk and protective factors. School climate and parent-child relationships are among the most frequently mentioned factors in adolescent emotional and behavioral adjustment antecedents. Although most studies have examined the direct pathways from school climate and parent-child relationships to adolescent adjustment, the effects of moderators and mediators underlying these associations remain largely unexplored, especially in China. In addition, most existing studies employed a cross-sectional design with small and convenient samples. To address the research gaps, the current study, according to the ecological system theory, examined the direct effects of school climate and parent-child relationships on emotional and behavioral adjustment (internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors) as well as indirect effects, with a focus on the mediating role of delinquent peer affiliation. In addition, it examined differences in the interrelationships across genders.

Method: Our data were from Wave 1 and Wave 2 of the China Education Panel Study (CEPS). It is a nationally representative longitudinal panel survey of Chinese middle school students. The sample consists of 28 county-level units, 112 schools, and 438 classes that were randomly selected for investigation. A total of 9449 students who participated in both Wave 1 and Wave 2 were included in this study.

Results: The results of structural equation modeling indicated that school climate and parent-child relationships in Wave 1 directly predicted internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors in Wave 2. They also had indirect effects on the three outcomes through delinquent peer affiliation. Taken together, school climate, parent-child relationship, and delinquent peer affiliation accounted for 8% of the explained variance in internalizing behaviors (R² = 0.08), 13% in externalizing behaviors (R² = 0.13), and 12% in prosocial behaviors (R² = 0.12). Gender differences emerged along several paths. The association between school climate and delinquent peer affiliation was stronger for males than for females, while parent-child relationships had greater impacts on delinquent peer affiliation among females than males. In addition, the relationships between delinquent peer affiliations and all the adjustment indicators, including internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors, were stronger for males than for females. The overall model explained adolescent adjustment better for males than for females.

Conclusions and Implications: The results of our study suggested that both school climate and parent-child relationships are important factors explaining delinquent peer affiliation, which in turn could affect adolescents’ later emotional and behavioral adjustment. Specifically, in terms of delinquent peer affiliation, females were more likely to be influenced by parent-child relationships, while males were more likely to be influenced by school climate. Males were more likely to have emotional and behavioral adjustment problems when they were surrounded by deviant peers. We recommended that family and school social workers and practitioners should consider enhancing parent-child relationships and creating a good school climate to protect students from affiliating with delinquent peer groups and developing emotional and behavioral adjustment problems. Gender difference should be noticed in further prevention and intervention.