Parent-adolescent relationship and friendship quality: Psychological capital as mediator and neighborhood safety and satisfaction as moderator

This study expanded current understanding of the previously demonstrated association between parent-adolescent relationships and friendship quality. A moderated mediation model was constructed to examine whether adolescent psychological capital (PsyCap) mediated this association and whether the result was further moderated by neighborhood safety and satisfaction. This was a cross-sectional study for which we recruited 733 adolescents (Mage =15.08 years, SD =1.96) in Macao, China. Participants completed questionnaires regarding their parent-adolescent relationships, PsyCap, neighborhood safety and satisfaction, and friendship quality. After controlling for gender and age, it was found that the positive association between parent-adolescent relationships and friendship quality was partially mediated by PsyCap. Moreover, neighborhood safety and satisfaction moderated the second stage of the indirect effect. Specifically, the positive effect of PsyCap on friendship quality was much stronger for adolescents reporting high as opposed to low level of neighborhood safety and satisfaction. The results underscore the importance of integrating the conservation of resources theory, ecological model, and the model of individual ↔ context relations, to understand how and when parent-adolescent relationships are associated with friendship quality. These findings also highlight the need to simultaneously consider family, neighborhood, and individual factors when developing effective interventions to improve adolescent friendship quality.