Emotional Security and Perceived Family Functioning in Relation to Adolescents’ Emotional and Behavioral Problems: The Mediating Role of Adolescents’ Cognitive Appraisals of Interparental Conflict

Giti  Nozari Kohne Shahri; Alireza  Kakavand; Somayeh  Keshavarz

Authors

Giti Nozari Kohne Shahri MA, Department of Psychology, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8745-7156
Alireza Kakavand Professor, Department of Psychology, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran Corresponding Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8795-4699
Somayeh Keshavarz Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5152-139X

Keywords:

Adolescents, Cognitive Appraisal, Emotional and Behavioral Problems, Emotional Security, Family Functioning, Interparental Conflict

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationships of emotional security and perceived family functioning with adolescents’ emotional and behavioral problems, with particular emphasis on the mediating role of adolescents’ cognitive appraisals of interparental conflict.

Methods and Materials: This descriptive-correlational study employed structural equation modeling. The statistical population comprised all adolescents enrolled in lower- and upper-secondary schools in District 5 of Tehran during the 2024–2025 academic year. A sample of 251 students was selected using multistage random sampling. Data were collected using the Security in the Interparental Subsystem Scale developed by Koss et al. (2007), the McMaster Family Assessment Device developed by Epstein et al. (1983), the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale developed by Grych and Fincham (1992), and the Symptom Checklist developed by Derogatis et al. (1973). The hypothesized structural model and the direct and indirect relationships among the study variables were examined using AMOS version 24.

Findings: Structural equation modeling indicated that the proposed model demonstrated an acceptable fit to the observed data. The model explained 32% of the variance in adolescents’ emotional and behavioral problems. Emotional security and perceived family functioning had significant direct effects on emotional and behavioral problems. Both variables also exerted significant indirect effects through adolescents’ cognitive appraisals of interparental conflict. Thus, adolescents’ interpretations and evaluations of conflict between their parents significantly mediated the associations between family-related factors and psychological difficulties.

Conclusion: The findings highlight cognitive appraisal as an important psychological mechanism through which emotional security and perceived family functioning influence adolescents’ emotional and behavioral adjustment. Preventive and therapeutic interventions may therefore be strengthened by simultaneously enhancing adolescents’ emotional security, improving family functioning and parent–adolescent relationships, reducing destructive interparental conflict, and modifying adolescents’ negative or threatening interpretations of such conflict.

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