Parental Warmth, COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress, and Emotional Problems Among Chinese Adolescents

A Cross-Lagged Panel Study

Xiao, Tong
Zhu, Xun
Zeng, Qing
Peng, Ying
Zhang, Minqiang

Department of Psychology, South China Normal University
Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University

Xiaoya Zhang served as action editor.

All authors contributed to the study in a meaningful way. The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee of the School of Psychology, South China Normal University (SCNU-PSY-2023-069). The data supporting the findings of this study are available from Tong Xiao upon reasonable request. There are no conflicts of interest to disclose. The study received no funding.

Tong Xiao played a lead role in conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, validation, visualization, writing–original draft, and writing–review and editing and an equal role in supervision. Xun Zhu played a supporting role in conceptualization and writing–original draft. Qing Zeng played a supporting role in writing–review and editing. Ying Peng played a supporting role in conceptualization. Minqiang Zhang played a lead role in supervision.

Minqiang Zhang, Department of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510631, China [email protected]

Received January 29, 2024

revised April 5, 2025

Accepted May 5, 2025

Journal of Family Psychology Publish Ahead of Print, June 2, 2025. | DOI: 10.1037/fam0001361

It is well-established that parenting plays a crucial role in shaping the mental health of adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal association between adolescents’ perceived parental warmth, COVID-19 peritraumatic distress, and emotional problems. Participants were recruited from schools in Zhuhai, Xinyang, and Ningxiang. A total of 579 adolescents (55.4% girls, M_age = 12.83; SD_age = 0.76) took part in this three-wave study conducted in January 2023 (Time 1), March 2023 (Time 2), and May 2023 (Time 3), with each wave being 2 months apart. The results from the cross-lagged panel model supported significant bidirectional relations between emotional problems and COVID-19 peritraumatic distress. In addition, the influence of maternal or paternal warmth on subsequent emotional problems was not statistically significant. The COVID-19 peritraumatic distress at Time 2 mediated the longitudinal effect of emotional problems at Time 1 on paternal warmth at Time 3. Nevertheless, COVID-19 peritraumatic distress did not significantly influence subsequent maternal warmth. These findings contribute to our understanding of the varying responses to adolescents’ stress across parental gender. Furthermore, they imply potential strategies to protect the healthy development of adolescents.