Chinese Adolescents\u27 Relationships With Mothers, Fathers, and Siblings: Associations With Youth\u27s Internalising and Externalising Problems

The associations between Chinese adolescents\u27 family (maternal, paternal, and sibling) relationship qualities and their adjustment were examined among 540 Chinese families over a one-year period. Path analysis revealed that father-offspring positivity was associated with lower levels of internalising problems, whereas mother-offspring conflict predicted youths\u27 depressive symptoms and loneliness. Controlling for parent-offspring relationships, sibling intimacy inversely predicted youths\u27 internalising and externalising problems, whereas sibling conflict predicted youths\u27 loneliness. Multigroup comparisons revealed that youth gender moderated the associations between maternal conflict and youths\u27 depressive symptoms, as well as sibling intimacy and youths\u27 loneliness. Overall, results highlight the importance of family systems for Chinese youths\u27 mental health and the need to study sibling relationships in future studies of Chinese families