J Youth Adolesc. 2025 Jul 10. doi: 10.1007/s10964-025-02219-3. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Family climate and adolescents’ school adjustment are closely related. However, little is known about the developmental timing of “when” and “how” their associations change across grade levels. Using time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), this study aimed to examine the dynamic associations between family climate and school adjustment from early to middle adolescence. The sample consisted of 15,451 adolescents in 4th to 12th grades, aged 9 to 18 years (M = 13.33, SD = 2.24); 52.2% were boys and 47.8% were girls; 25.5% were only children, while 74.5% had at least one sibling; 93.9% were from married-parent families, and 6.1% were from families with other structures. Results revealed that family cohesion and conflict were significantly associated with school connectedness and academic achievement across 4th to 12th grades, with the associations being stronger in middle school grades. Family cohesion also significantly moderated how family conflict related to school adjustment, supporting the “mattering” hypothesis rather than the “buffering” hypothesis. Specifically, family conflict had stronger negative associations with school connectedness among adolescent from high-cohesion families than those from low-cohesion families, particularly during the transition grades from middle to high school (9th to 10th grades). Family conflict also had a significant negative association with academic achievement in 4th to 9th graders from high-cohesion families, but such association was not significant for adolescents in low-cohesion families. Findings demonstrated the time-varying association between family climate and school adjustment across adolescence, with middle school being a critical time window for family-school intervention. Moreover, fostering a cohesive family climate, especially during key school transitions, may be an effective way to support adolescents’ academic success and overall adjustment.
PMID:40637930 | DOI:10.1007/s10964-025-02219-3
