Bidirectional Longitudinal Associations Between Parental Psychological Control and Peer Victimization among Chinese Adolescents: the Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction

Despite evidence indicating a connection between inappropriate parenting styles and peer victimization, the dynamic processes and mechanisms underlying this link and whether it is consistent across genders and different developmental stages have yet to be explored. To address these gaps, the current 2-year longitudinal study explored the potential bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and peer victimization, as well as the mediating role of adolescent basic psychological need satisfaction. A total of 4,990 adolescents (49.4% boys, M age T1 = 12.21 years, SD age T1 = 2.60) across different developmental stages (early adolescents, N = 1,819, 49.2% boys, M age T1 = 9.34 years, SD age T1 = 0.62; middle adolescents, N = 1,525, 50.75% boys, M age T1 = 12.47 years, SD age T1 = 0.69; late adolescents, N = 1,646, 46.5% boys, M age T1 = 15.26 years, SD age T1 = 0.50) participated in this three-wave longitudinal survey. The results revealed that parental psychological control was bidirectionally associated with peer victimization. Additionally, basic psychological need satisfaction played the meditating role in this vicious cycle. Further analysis demonstrated interesting developmental differences. Parental psychological control was directly associated with subsequent peer victimization at all three developmental stages, and peer victimization was only directly associated with subsequent parental psychological control in the next year among early adolescents and middle adolescents. The mutual mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction between parental psychological control and peer victimization was observed exclusively in early adolescents. Both male and female adolescents could be equally affected by these dynamics. This research underscores the reciprocal dynamics inherent in parent-child interactions, intervening in either of these processes (i.e., family, peers, and adolescent basic psychological need satisfaction) may break this destructive cycle.