Abstract
Adolescence is a critical period during which youth develop and shape their behaviors. Because differences between youths are strongly connected to environmental factors, we aimed to elucidate possible pathways from home-school regulation and atmosphere to youths’ prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Data were derived from the China Education Panel Survey. This study involved a total of 9291 students aged 14–15 years (4834 boys, 4457 girls). We used structural equation modeling (SEM) with LISREL 8.80 and Monte Carlo resampling with R to conduct the analysis strategy. In the home-school regulation, parental supervision on the one hand and teacher criticism on the other hand have direct positive and negative predictive effects on youths’ prosocial behaviors, respectively, while their direct effects on antisocial behavior are the opposite; teachers praise does not directly affect adolescents’ prosocial and antisocial behaviors. In the home-school atmosphere, family interaction and perceived good class climate directly positively affect youths’ prosocial behaviors, while the direct effects of both on antisocial behavior are not significant. The SEM results reveal that academic self-efficacy and depressive symptoms may be underlying mediating mechanisms through which home-school regulation and atmosphere during adolescence affect students’ prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Intervention programs targeting home-school supportive environments and prevention programs targeting positive emotion and self-awareness may yield benefits for proper social behavior in adolescents. For example, by enhancing the way and frequency of parent–child interaction, teachers and students jointly create a good class climate of care and friendship to strengthen a home-school supportive environment. Improve adolescents’ positive emotions such as contentment, optimism, and hope to reduce the possibility of depression.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We express our sincere appreciation to all research assistants and investigators for their dedicated assistance in the data collection of the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS). We would especially like to thank our participants in the study for their time and willingness to participate.
Funding
This paper was funded by the Scientific Research Grant of Fujian Province of China (No. Z0230104), **gZe Bio Cohort Study Center, School of Public Health, **amen University, and the Education Reform Foundation in **amen University of Technology (No. JG202232). The sponsors of the project had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, and in writing the manuscript.
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Li, X., Chen, SH., Lee, CY. et al. Mediating Effects of Academic Self-Efficacy and Depressive Symptoms on Prosocial/Antisocial Behavior Among Youths. Prev Sci (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-023-01611-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-023-01611-4