Negative life events and adolescents’ externalizing problems: A moderated mediation model

The present study examined the mediating and moderating roles of self-control and peer relationships in the correlation between negative life events and adolescents’ externalizing problems. The adolescent self-rating life events checklist, self-control questionnaire, peer relationships questionnaire, and youth self-report were administered to 360 adolescents. It was found that externalizing problems were significantly associated with negative life events, self-control, and peer relationships. Negative life events had a significant direct effect on adolescents’ externalizing problems, and self-control had a significant mediating effect on the correlation between negative life events and adolescents’ externalizing problems. Moreover, peer relationships had a significant moderating effect on the direct effect of negative life events on externalizing problems, as well as a significant moderating effect on the path of negative life events to self-control and on the path of self-control to externalizing problems in the mediating model. Our findings suggest that negative life events not only affect adolescents’ externalizing problems directly, but also indirectly through self-control. Meanwhile, peer relationships could play a moderating role in the correlation between negative life events, self-control, and externalizing problems. This study thus supported a stress-vulnerability hypothesis and the reverse stress-buffering model, using peer relationships as a stress vulnerability factor.