Relationships Between Positive Parenting and Middle School Students’ Cooperative Competence: Mediation Effects of Peer Relationships and Grit

Abstract

Objectives The present study identified the direct effect of positive parenting on middle school students’ cooperative competence and the mediating effects of peer relationships and grit on this process. This study also focused on the individual and sequential mediating processes of peer relationships and grit in the association between positive parenting and middle school students’ cooperative competence. Methods Data were collected from 2,551 middle school first graders (boys: 1,383, girls: 1,168) who participated in the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018. Preliminary analyses were performed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. Structural equation modeling analysis using phantom variables with AMOS 25.0 program was conducted to examine a multiple mediation model the current study suggested. Results First, the direct effect of positive parenting on middle school students’ cooperative competence was not significant. Second, positive parenting exerted an indirect effect on middle school students’ cooperative competence through peer relationships and grit. Specifically, peer relationships and grit individually mediated the association between positive parenting and cooperative competence in the middle school students. Furthermore, peer relationships and grit played a sequential mediating role in linking positive parenting with cooperative competence in the middle school students. In other words, as parents showed positive parenting behaviors, adolescents formed positive peer relationships, which sequentially leads to promoting the development of grit and cooperative competence. Conclusion This study highlights that parents have an influence on adolescents’ cooperative competence by facilitating high-quality peer relationships and grit development through the elements of positive parenting such as warmth, autonomy support, and structure. Keywords: positive parenting, peer relationships, grit, cooperative competence