Abstract
In this study, we examined subjective social status (SSS) and self-esteem as potential mediators between the association of psychological suzhi and problem behaviors in a sample of 1271 Chinese adolescents (44.5% male, grades 7–12). The results showed that SSS and self-esteem were fully mediating the relationship between psychological suzhi and problem behaviors. Moreover, the indirect effect was stronger via self-esteem than via SSS. These findings perhaps provide insight into the preliminary effect that SSS and self-esteem underlie psychological suzhi’s effect on adolescents’ problem behaviors, and also are important in helping school-teachers and administrators to develop a better understanding of problem behaviors in their schools as a pre-requisite to the development of more effective behaviors management practices from the perspective of psychological suzhi. Implications and limitations in the present study have also been discussed.
Highlights
Problem behaviors refer to the harmful behaviors to their life, physical, and mental health
Problem behaviors have a great impact on the physical and mental health of adolescents (Karaman, 2013), for example, the failure model theory suggested that the problem behaviors precede depression, which in turn lead to depression (Capaldi, 1992; Capaldi and Stoolmiller, 1999)
The model examined the associations between psychological suzhi, social status (SSS), self-esteem, and problem behaviors
Summary
Problem behaviors refer to the harmful behaviors to their life, physical, and mental health (e.g., fighting, smoking, and alcohol use; DiClemente et al, 1996; Zhu et al, 2016). Extensive research had examined problem behaviors, but no research had examined if psychological suzhi affects problem behaviors in adolescents during middle school stage, or aimed at identifying a mechanism underlying such an effect. Psychological suzhi is a native academic conception first proposed by Chinese scholars within the context of quality-oriented education (Zhang et al, 2000; Zhang, 2003, 2012). Psychological suzhi is a concept of Chinese positive psychology from a certain point of view, which has gained acceptance and recognition in Western academia and been collected in the Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools (2nd edition), an international authoritative reference book (Furlong et al, 2014)
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