A Study On The Relationship Between Parental Marital Conflict,Peer Relationships And Internalizing And Externalizing Problems Of Adolescents And The Intervention Research

The issue of internalizing and externalizing behaviors among teenagers has always been an important topic in the field of adolescent mental health research.Studies related to adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors have largely focused on external environmental factors and internal individual factors.However,research that incorporates both parental marital conflict and peer relationships into the same framework to analyze their impact on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors in China is still relatively scarce.Therefore,this study aims to clarify the current status of parental marital conflict,peer relationships,and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors,and explore the relationships between them.Through peer relationship intervention research,effective measures to improve adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors can be proposed for targeted education and intervention.This study selected 36 classes from grades 7-12 in four secondary schools in Yunnan Province as research objects using cluster sampling.The Parental Marital Conflict Scale,Peer Relationship Scale,and Adolescent Self-Evaluation Scale were used as measurement tools to survey 1707 teenagers.In addition,60 secondary school students received intervention.Based on the analysis of the survey data,the research findings are as follows:The current research shows that:(1)regarding parental marital conflict,there are significant differences in adolescents’ perception of parental marital conflict,based on different characteristics such as grade level,only-child status,household registration,and parents’ cultural background.(2)Regarding peer relationships,significant differences in peer acceptance were observed among adolescents based on gender,grade level,mode of transportation to school,class leadership status,household registration,and parents’ cultural background.(3)Regarding adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems,there are significant differences in internalizing problems among adolescents with different characteristics such as gender,grade level,family structure,and parental education level.There are also significant differences were observed based on gender,grade level,family structure,and parents’ cultural background for internalizing problems,and based on grade level,mode of transportation to school,only-child status,and family structure for externalizing problems.Relationship research indicates that:(1)Correlation studies suggest that there are significant correlations between parents’ marital conflicts,peer acceptance,peer fear of inferiority,and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems.Specifically,marital conflicts are positively associated with peer relationships,negatively associated with peer acceptance,and positively associated with peer fear of inferiority.Marital conflicts are also positively associated with adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems.Peer relationships are significantly associated with adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems,with peer acceptance being negatively associated and peer fear of inferiority being positively associated.(2)Regression analysis further suggests that marital conflicts negatively predict peer acceptance and positively predict peer fear of inferiority,as well as positively predict adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems.Additionally,peer acceptance negatively predicts adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems,while peer fear of inferiority positively predicts these problems.(3)Mediating research suggests that peer acceptance and peer fear of inferiority partially mediate the relationship between parents’ marital conflicts and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems.Intervention studies have demonstrated that peer group counseling interventions can effectively improve the peer relationships of adolescents,thereby addressing their internalizing and externalizing problems.Finally,based on research on the current status of adolescent groups and the results obtained from peer relationship intervention studies,highly targeted and effective educational strategies and recommendations can be proposed.