Objective This study is aimed at exploring the core symptoms of adolescents′ internalizing and externalizing problems and their network relationships with parental psychological control, basic psychological needs, and psychological resilience. Method A questionnaire survey was conducted among 738 middle school students to measure their parental psychological control, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Network analysis methods were employed to investigate the core symptoms of adolescents′ internalizing and externalizing problems and the relationships among the variables. Results (1) The core symptoms of adolescents′ internalizing and externalizing problems were “I feel like I am about to break down,” “I feel uneasy and worried,” “I find it hard to relax,” and “I feel melancholy and depressed.” (2) The central node of the network was autonomy need. (3) Family support, autonomy need, depression, and emotional control were bridging nodes connecting parental psychological control, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and adolescents′ internalizing and externalizing problems. This study reveals the close relationship between parental psychological control, basic psychological needs, psychological resilience, and adolescents′ internalizing and externalizing problems, which has implications for preventing internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents.
Yu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.