Friendship quality and positive emotional adjustment among boarding adolescents: roles of basic psychological needs satisfaction

Friendship has been increasingly acknowledged as a beneficial factor in adolescent psychological adjustment. However, there remains a lack of understanding of the circumstances in which peer influence occurs and how it manifests. To address this gap, this study drew on the developmental situation theory and self-determination theory to investigate the moderating and mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS) in the relationship between friendship quality (FQ) and positive emotional adjustment (PEA) among adolescents in boarding schools. A total of 1073 high school students (M-age = 16.23 +/- 1.31 years, 58.2% female) from Northwest China participated in the survey. Research hypotheses were tested using bootstrap analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results showed that FQ had a significant positive predictive effect on three variables of PEA (i.e., positive emotion, life satisfaction, and self-esteem) and this effect was robust in girls. The moderating effect indicated that BPNS fostered the positive associations between FQ and positive emotion. The mediating effect indicated that BPNS also played a mediating role between FQ and PEA variables. These findings shed light on the potential psychological benefits of high-quality friendship for adolescents and on the mechanism through which they occur.