The current study investigated the relationship between gratitude, internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, along with the mediating roles of positive and negative coping styles therein. A sample of 589 Chinese adolescents completed the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6), the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), the Irritability, Depression, and Anxiety Scale (IDAS), and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ). Results of structural equation modeling showed that (1) the total effects of gratitude on both internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors were all significant and (2) both positive and negative coping styles mediated the links between gratitude and two types of problem behaviors. Thus, cultivating gratitude and developing adaptive coping style may help adolescents rectify problem behaviors.

Filial piety (FP) was formerly a Confucian concept that specifies how children should treat their elders. In recent years, some psychologists have postulated that there are considerable overlaps between Chinese FP and notions found in other cultures. They have redefined FP as a contextualized personality emphasizing the psychological schema of parent-child interaction so that it fits universal cultural contexts. Based on this theory construction, this study aimed to examine the effects of reciprocal FP and authoritarian FP on life satisfaction and the mediating roles of individuating autonomy and relating autonomy therein. To do so, we recruited and surveyed 360 high school students in China. Subsequently, a mediation model based on the Dual Filial Piety Model and previous studies was tested. Results demonstrate that reciprocal FP predicted life satisfaction positively and that both individuating autonomy and relating autonomy played significant mediating roles in the relationship between reciprocal FP and life satisfaction. Moreover, authoritarian FP had a negative indirect effect on satisfaction through the mediating role of individuating autonomy, while authoritarian FP had a positive indirect influence on satisfaction through the mediating role of relating autonomy. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Gratitude is a crucial element of mental health and wellbeing. But the underlying mechanism by which gratitude is negatively associated with anxiety and depression has been underinvestigated. The current study aimed to examine the associations among gratitude, anxiety, and depression in Chinese adolescents, with a focus on coping flexibility as an individual factor mediating their associations. To do this, 492 middleschool students in China were surveyed. Subsequently, a mediation model based on the broaden-and-build theory, transactional theory of coping, and previous studies was tested. Results demonstrated that the total effects of gratitude on both anxiety and depression were significant. Moreover, coping flexibility significantly mediated the influence of gratitude on both anxiety and depression. Therefore, improving gratitude and enhancing coping flexibility may protect Chinese adolescents from anxiety and depression.

Based on the Cumulative Risk Model, a single risk factor cannot play a decisive role, but the cumulative ecological risks may have complex superposition effects on adolescents' problem behaviors. However, although many studies have investigated the specific influences of single external risk factors on problem behaviors, the effect of cumulative ecological risk on problem behaviors and especially the underlying mechanisms therein have been under-investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effect of cumulative ecological risk on adolescents' problem behaviors, and the mediating effects of core self-evaluation and basic psychological needs satisfaction therein. To achieve this, 1,080 adolescents in secondary vocational schools were surveyed with the questionnaires of cumulative ecological risk, basic psychological need satisfaction, core self-evaluation, externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. Results showed that: (a) cumulative ecological risk was positively related with both internalizing problem behavior and externalizing problem behavior; (b) core self-evaluation and basic psychological need satisfaction not only respectively but also sequentially mediated the relationship between cumulative ecological risk and two sorts of problem behaviors. These results provide some pivotal implications for the precaution and intervention of the adolescent problem behaviors.

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