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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Developmental Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1478610
This article is part of the Research Topic The Intersection of Psychology, Healthy Behaviors, and its Outcomes View all 39 articles

The Impact of Maternal Emotional Warmth on Adolescents' Internalizing Problem Behaviors: The Roles of Meaning in Life and Friendship Conflict

Provisionally accepted
Ludan Zhang Ludan Zhang 1*Ruijie Wang Ruijie Wang 2Yaoyao Li Yaoyao Li 2Liang Chen Liang Chen 2
  • 1 Weifang University of Science and Technology, Weifang, China
  • 2 Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Numerous studies suggest that maternal emotional warmth is a critical protective factor against adolescents' internalizing problem behaviors. However, the underlying mechanisms linking these variables remain unclear. Grounded in ecological systems theory, this study explores the impact mechanisms of social support (maternal emotional warmth), individual resource (meaning in life), and environmental factor (friendship conflict) on adolescents' internalizing problem behaviors. A questionnaire survey of 472 adolescents in vocational school aged 15-24 assessed maternal emotional warmth, meaning in life, friendship conflict, and internalizing problem behaviors. The results indicate that the meaning in life partially mediates the relationship between maternal emotional warmth and adolescents' internalizing problem behaviors, with friendship conflict moderating the latter half of this mediation pathway. The findings suggest that adolescents, during their social adaptation process, activate different protective factors depending on the environmental relational context. Specifically, high friendship conflict limits the direct protective role of maternal emotional warmth, whereas a meaning in life becomes a significant protective factor, exerting its effect through mediation. Conversely, when friendship conflict is low, maternal emotional warmth directly serves as a protective factor.

    Keywords: maternal emotional warmth, Internalizing problem behaviors, meaning in life, friendship conflict, Adolescent

    Received: 10 Aug 2024; Accepted: 12 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Wang, Li and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ludan Zhang, Weifang University of Science and Technology, Weifang, China

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