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. 2024 Oct 9:15:1387698.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1387698. eCollection 2024.

Parental conflict and adolescents' socially adverse emotions: the mediating role of family functioning

Rong Kong  1   2   3 , Ruihua Chen  4 , Lingling Meng  5
Affiliations

Parental conflict and adolescents' socially adverse emotions: the mediating role of family functioning

Rong Kong et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Objective: To examine the process of how parental conflict and family functioning influence adolescents' socially adverse emotions (shyness and loneliness).

Methods: Stratified cluster sampling was used to conduct a questionnaire survey among 1,100 junior high school students from three junior high schools in Beijing, Chongqing, and Shijiazhuang, China.

Results: (1) The overall experience of adolescents' socially adverse emotions was at the moderate level; boys' experience of shyness and loneliness was significantly higher than that of girls; the experience of shyness and loneliness in the second grade was significantly higher than that in the first grade; (2) Parental conflict was significantly negatively correlated with family functioning and significantly positively correlated with adolescents' socially adverse emotions, while family functioning was significantly negatively correlated with adolescents' socially adverse emotions; (3) Family functioning partially mediates the relationship between parental conflict and adolescents' shyness and completely mediates the relationship between parental conflict and adolescents' loneliness.

Conclusion: Compared to adolescents' shyness, family functioning plays a more important mediating role in the relationship between parental conflict and adolescents' loneliness.

Keywords: adolescents; family functioning; loneliness; mediation; parental conflict; shyness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The hypothesized conceptual model.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Impact model of parental conflict on adolescents’ socially adverse emotions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Validation model of the mediation effect of family functioning.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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