Parenting and Friendship Quality as Predictors of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Early Adolescence

Research indicates both parents and peers influence child and adolescent adjustment outcomes. Moreover, friendship quality has been found to buffer the influence of parenting on adolescent adjustment, particularly externalizing symptoms. Little to no research, however, has longitudinally examined whether friendship quality moderates the relation between parenting and adolescent internalizing symptoms. Accordingly, our study examines friendship quality as a moderator of the relation between parenting (positive parenting, poor parental monitoring, inconsistent discipline, parental involvement) and adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms over one year’s time. The sample included 65 early adolescents (67% male), ages 10–13 at initial assessment. Friendship quality buffered the effect of positive parenting on internalizing symptoms over time. However, no moderating effects for externalizing symptoms were found. Implications and further directions are discussed.