Previous research indicates that parental emotion socialization (ES) practices play important roles in adolescents’ social and emotional development. However, longitudinal studies testing bidirectional effects are relatively scarce. Additionally, most studies have focused on people from Western societies. In the current 3-year, multi-informant, longitudinal study of Chinese adolescents and their parents, we investigated prospective bidirectional effects between parental positive ES practices and adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment (i.e., self-esteem and depressive symptoms). Adolescents (N = 710 at T1, 50% boys, Mage = 12.41, SD = 0.59) reported on parental positive ES practices and their own depressive symptoms and self-esteem when they were in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. Mothers and fathers reported on their own use of positive ES practices at all three time points. We utilized a random intercept cross-lagged panel model to examine between- and within-family effects. Overall results showed robust effects of adolescent depressive symptoms on parental positive ES practices and bidirectional effects between parental ES and adolescent self-esteem. Effects differed by informants whether using adolescent-perceived data, or mother- or father-reported data. However, these child effects and bidirectional effects did not differ by adolescent sex. Our findings add to the understanding of parental ES and adolescent psychosocial adjustment.

Self-regulation is considered a major predictor of crime and deviant behavior. However, longitudinal research investigating these associations, frequently looked only at the effect of self-regulation on deviant behavior, but not the other way around. The current study argued that deviance may contribute to later problems in self-regulation, and examined bidirectional associations, comparing a unidirectional and bidirectional model of associations between these variables. A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model and eight data waves from 772 participants, aged 10–12 years to 30 years were used. Results showed that a bidirectional model fit the data better than a unidirectional model. The final model revealed an influence of deviance on self-regulation mainly in adolescence, whereas self-regulation influenced deviance only over two time points in adulthood. The results suggest that, in adolescence, problems in self-regulation may follow, rather than precede deviant behavior. Thus, decreasing deviant behavior or intervening in the aftermaths of deviant behavior in adolescence might have a positive effect on self-regulation in young adulthood, lowering the chance of adult deviant behavior. The current study shows that the long-presumed directionality of self-regulation to deviance can lead to bias, and more rigorous longitudinal research is needed in order to further inform theory and practice.