Parental emotion socialization and adolescent emotional health: The moderating effect of classroom climate and gender

Identifying the risk and protective factors affecting adolescent emotional health within familial and school environments is key to guiding adolescent social development. Drawing on ecological systems theory, this study employed a multilevel analysis model to explore the impact of parental emotion socialization on adolescent emotional problems, as well as the moderating effects of developmentally diverse classroom environments and gender. The study sample comprised 1404 primary and secondary school students from 16 schools and 51 classes in China. Statistical results indicated that associations between parental supportive or unsupportive responses and adolescent emotional problems were moderated by developmentally diverse classroom environments and adolescent gender. Specifically, the positive correlation between parental unsupportive responses and emotional problems was stronger in classroom environments with more diverse student developmental goals. Furthermore, the negative correlation between parental supportive responses and emotional problems was only observed among females. These findings underscore the importance of fostering a positive family emotional context and classroom environments that foster adolescents' diverse development. They also suggest that practitioners should consider gender differences when addressing emotional problems in adolescence. Additionally, the results highlight the need to focus on adolescents experiencing higher levels of parental unsupportive emotional socialization practices compared to their peers, to mitigate unexpected adverse outcomes when advocating for developmentally diverse school environments.