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Profiles of interpersonal relationship qualities and trajectories of internalizing problems among Chinese adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2022

Jianjie Xu
Affiliation:
Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Ruixi Sun
Affiliation:
Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Jingyi Shen
Affiliation:
Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Yuchi Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Technology, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
Wei Tong
Affiliation:
College of Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
Xiaoyi Fang*
Affiliation:
Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
*
Corresponding author: Xiaoyi Fang, email: fangxy@bnu.edu.cn

Abstract

Adolescence is a significant period for the formation of relationship networks and the development of internalizing problems. With a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 3,834, 52.01% girls, Mage = 16.68 at Wave 1), the present study aimed to identify the configuration of adolescents’ relationship qualities from four important domains (i.e., relationship quality with mother, father, peers, and teachers) and how distinct profiles were associated with the development of internalizing problems (indicated by depressive and anxiety symptoms) across high school years. Latent profile analysis identified a five-profile configuration with four convergent profiles (i.e., relationship qualities with others were generally good or bad) and one “Father estrangement” profile (i.e., the relationship quality with others were relatively good but that with father was particularly poor). Further conditional latent growth curve analysis indicated the “Father estrangement” profile was especially vulnerable to an increase in the internalizing problems as compared with other relationship profiles. This study contributes to understanding the characteristics of interpersonal relationship qualities and their influences on adolescent internalizing problems in a non-Western context. Results were further discussed from a culturally specific perspective.

Information

Type
Regular Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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