Who plays a more crucial role in adolescent well‐being: Interactions with parents or peers? An investigation of adolescents aged 10 to 18 years

TL;DR

This study explores how interactions with parents and peers affect the mental well-being of Chinese adolescents aged 10 to 18.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel combination of RI-CLPM and LSEM to analyze both within-person and between-person effects in adolescent well-being.

Findings

Parent-adolescent communication significantly predicts mental well-being, but not the reverse.

Mental well-being influences peer interactions, but not vice versa.

Age moderates relationships, with U-shaped trends for peer interactions and linear trends for parent communication.

Abstract

Adolescence is a critical period during which interactions with parents and peers play key roles in shaping mental well‐being, yet there is ongoing debate regarding their relative importance. To address this gap, this research examines the relationships among communication with parents, social interactions with peers, and adolescents' mental well‐being using data from 33,824 Chinese adolescents (ages 10–18 years, M
age = 13.55, 47.43% female) across three data collection waves. A random intercepts cross‐lagged panel model (RI‐CLPM) was combined with local structural equation modeling (LSEM) to disentangle between‐person and within‐person effects and examine potential age‐related moderation. The results revealed significant correlations among the random intercepts of the three variables. The within‐person cross‐lagged effects of communication with parents on adolescents' mental well‐being were significant, but not vice versa. The within‐person cross‐lagged effects of mental well‐being on social interactions with friends were significant but not vice versa. Age moderated between‐person level association, with mental well‐being and peer interactions showing a U‐shaped trend and the association between mental well‐being and parent–adolescent communication increasing linearly across age. In conclusion, the findings suggest that parent–adolescent communication is important in predicting adolescents' mental well‐being and supporting positive peer interactions across adolescent development.

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