The reciprocal relationships between positive youth development and psychological distress in adolescents: the moderating role of gender and stress mindsets

Although previous studies have suggested a reciprocal relationship between Positive Youth Development (PYD) and adolescent psychological distress, the distinction between within‐person dynamics and between‐person differences remains unexamined. Given the gender differences in adolescents' PYD and psychological distress, we examined gender as a moderator to test for gender‐specific developmental dynamics. Additionally, early adolescence is filled with developmental challenges; therefore, we examined stress mindsets as moderators to clarify how cognitive appraisals of these challenges shape these reciprocal processes. Using three‐wave longitudinal data from 2331 Chinese adolescents ( M age = 13.92, SD = 0.65; 52.4% girls), we applied a random intercept cross‐lagged panel model (RI‐CLPM) combined with multigroup analysis and local structural equation modeling (LSEM). At the between‐person level, results demonstrated a strong negative correlation between PYD and distress. At the within‐person level, increases in psychological distress significantly predicted subsequent declines in PYD, whereas the reverse pathway was not significant. These relationships were consistent across genders. LSEM analyses revealed that a stress‐is‐debilitating mindset linearly moderated the autoregressive pathways of psychological distress. Conversely, a stress‐is‐enhancing mindset showed no significant within‐person moderating effect. These findings indicate that protecting adolescent development requires reducing psychological distress and addressing negative stress mindsets.