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The association between parent-child communication and adolescents’ non-cognitive abilities: An examination of the chain mediating effect

Minghan Cai,Huijie Guo,Dailong Fang,Yao Zheng,Weifeng Guo,Zhengmei Lin,Zhiqiang (Eric) Zheng

Published 2026 in PLoS ONE

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore the interplay between parent-child communication, social support, physical exercise and non-cognitive abilities among adolescents. Using data from the China Education Panel Survey (2014–2015) with a nationally representative sample of 5,055 eighth-grade students. Analyses were conducted via Stata 17.0 and SPSS 26, employing chain mediation tests and bootstrap analysis. The results were as follows:1) parent-child communication directly contributes to the enhancement of adolescents’ non-cognitive abilities, facilitates their access to social support, and promotes their participation in physical exercise; 2) parent-child communication indirectly improves adolescents’ non-cognitive abilities through the chain mediating effect of social support and physical exercise; 3) the positive effect of parent-child communication on non-cognitive abilities is stronger among urban adolescents compared to rural adolescents, and more pronounced among only children than non-only children. In conclusion, parent-child communication not only directly and positively predicts adolescents’ non-cognitive abilities but also exerts indirect effects via two single mediators (social support and physical exercise) and a chain mediation mechanism combining both mediators.

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