Despite extensive research on parental psychological control, peer relationships, aggressive behavior, and negative emotions as isolated domains, no study to date has comprehensively integrated family, peer, and individual behavioral factors into a unified framework to elucidate their systemic pathways underlying negative emotions. Guided by the Cumulative Risk Model (Evans et al., 2013) framework, this study examines the concurrent associations between multiple risk factors and negative emotions by quantifying their relative contributions, and further investigates the moderating role of awe of life, which provides both theoretical foundations and empirical evidence for alleviating emotional distress in early adolescents.

Based on the preceding analyses, this study proposes the following research hypotheses and theoretical model (Figure 1):

Using convenience sampling, our study recruited fifth and sixth graders from four elementary schools as participants in Anhui Province, China. Following administrative approval, class-wide sampling was implemented during information technology classes through standardized distribution of questionnaire links, with participants completing the assessments via computer terminals. Prior to data collection, informed consent was obtained from all participants and their guardians. Questionnaires were collected anonymously, with all responses maintained under strict confidentiality protocols. Under standardized administration by trained instructors using uniform protocols, 1,218 questionnaires were collected. After excluding invalid cases due to either implausibly short response times or detectable response patterns, 1,163 valid responses were retained, yielding a validity rate of 95.48%. The final sample consisted of 640 males (55.03%) and 523 females (44.97%), including 459 fifth-grade students (39.47%) and 704 sixth-grade students (60.53%). Participants' average age was 11.28 ± 0.80 years (M ± SD).

Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0, including descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analyses. Conduct confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the scales using Amos 24.0. Based on correlational findings and theoretical hypotheses, linear regression modeling was employed to examine the relationship between parental psychological control and negative emotions. Data analyses were performed using Hayes' PROCESS macro (v4.1) in SPSS. Model 6 was employed to assess the serial mediating pathways linking parental psychological control to negative emotions through peer rejection and aggressive behavior, while Model 92 tested the moderating role of awe of life. Statistical significance was assessed via the bias-corrected percentile bootstrap approach with 95% confidence intervals (5,000 resamples), with associations deemed significant if the interval excluded zero.

Common method bias was assessed through Harman's single-factor test by conducting an unrotated exploratory factor analysis, which yielded 11 factors with eigenvalues > 1, where the first factor accounted for 32.33% of the variance, below the 40% threshold (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Thus, common method bias in this study falls within acceptable levels.

Pearson correlation analyses (Table 1) revealed significant positive associations among parental psychological control, peer rejection, aggressive behavior, and negative emotions (r = 0.489 ~ 0.738, all ps < 0.01). Awe of life showed significant negative correlations with parental psychological control, peer rejection, aggressive behavior, and negative emotions (r = −0.320 ~ −0.169, all ps < 0.01). These results provide preliminary support for testing mediation pathways. Additionally, given the significant positive associations between (a) gender and peer rejection, and (b) age and aggressive behavior, both variables were included as covariates in subsequent analyses.

Mediation analyses were performed using Model 6 of the PROCESS macro (v4.1) in SPSS to examine the intermediary mechanisms between parental psychological control and negative emotions (Table 2). Multiple regression analyses indicated a significant main association between parental psychological control and negative emotions (β = 0.567, p < 0.001). After incorporating the mediators (peer rejection and aggressive behavior), the direct association substantially weakened but remained significant (β = 0.179, p < 0.001).

Bias-corrected percentile bootstrap analyses revealed significant indirect associations for all pathways, with 95% confidence intervals excluding zero (Table 3). Peer rejection and aggressive behavior serve as serial mediators in the association between parental psychological control and negative emotions. Additional analyses confirmed the significance of Indirect Path 1 (parental psychological control → peer rejection → negative emotions: β = 0.144, 95% CI (0.108, 0.183), which supported H1 and explained 25.40% of the total association. Indirect Path 2 (parental psychological control → aggressive behavior → negative emotions: β = 0.124, 95% CI (0.092, 0.159) was significant, supporting H2 and explaining 21.87% of the total association. Indirect Path 3 (parental psychological control → peer rejection → aggressive behavior → negative emotions: β = 0.120, 95% CI (0.096, 0.146) demonstrated significant serial mediation, supporting H3 and explaining 21.16% of the total association.

The direct and indirect associations accounted for 31.57% and 68.43% of the total association, respectively, indicating that indirect pathways exerted over twice the magnitude of direct associations in the link between parental psychological control and negative emotions, and peer rejection showed a particularly strong association.

The direct association between parental psychological control and negative emotions was significant, supporting the establishment of a moderated serial mediation model (Igartua and Hayes, 2021). To examine the moderation of awe of life, we conducted analyses using Model 92 of the PROCESS macro (v4.1) in SPSS. The interaction term between parental psychological control and awe of life showed a significant association with negative emotions (β = −0.060, t = −2.988, p < 0.01). In contrast, no other interaction terms involving awe of life reached statistical significance (Table 4). These results demonstrate that awe of life significantly moderated the direct association between parental psychological control and negative emotions, whereas its moderating influences on all indirect pathways were nonsignificant (Figure 2), providing partial support for H4.

Further analysis shows that the association between parental psychological control and negative emotions was significantly moderated by awe of life across all three tested levels, with association strengths demonstrating a decreasing trend, indicating a buffering role of awe of life in this association. Simple slope analyses (Figure 3) revealed that stronger associations between parental psychological control and negative emotions under low awe of life (M-1SD), whereas high levels (M + 1SD) effectively buffered this adverse influence (Table 5).

The total association between parental psychological control and negative emotions is 0.567, with a mediating value of 0.388, accounting for 68.43% of the total association, demonstrating significant implications for the mental health in early adolescence. (Erikson 1968) theory of psychosocial development identifies adolescence as a critical period for ego identity formation. Parental psychological control, defined as an intrusive parenting behavior that compromises emotional autonomy (Steinberg et al., 1992), has been shown to significantly impair the development of psychological autonomy and identity consolidation (Barber and Harmon, 2002). This parenting approach diminishes children's perceived control and internal locus of control, undermines their emotional functioning (Wang et al., 2007), fosters helplessness development, and ultimately leads to internalizing problems. These associations collectively contribute to internalizing problems (Chyung et al., 2021; Garber and Flynn, 2001), including elevated negative emotions, which aligns with prior findings (Loparo et al., 2023; Lee et al., 2015).

Additionally, peer relationships play an extremely important role in early adolescence. According to Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1977), family and peers, as two crucial subsystems influencing adolescent development, do not evolve independently but are interrelated, whereby risk factors in one subsystem heighten vulnerability to risk factors in the other (Hong et al., 2022).

Children exposed to high levels of parental psychological control tend to develop maladaptive interpersonal strategies, leading to peer rejection (Hong et al., 2022), which in turn elevates the risk of anxiety and depression (Li and Jiang, 2018; Wang et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2018). Although some studies posit peer rejection as a consequence rather than a cause of internalizing symptoms (Vaillancourt et al., 2013), the current study supports the temporal precedence of peer rejection over the development of internalizing symptoms (Healy et al., 2024).

According to the Temporal Need-Threat Model (Williams, 2009), thwarted needs drive individuals to enact specific behaviors directed toward need satisfaction or compensation, with aggressive behavior constituting a prevalent response pattern. Excluded individuals resort to aggression to regain relational control or dominance, thereby compensating for impaired fundamental needs (Reiter-Scheidl et al., 2018). This finding substantiates and reinforces previous research demonstrating that peer-rejected children may develop heightened hostile intent, consequently eliciting aggressive behaviors (Dodge et al., 2003; Reijntjes et al., 2011).

Our study reveals a serial mediation pathway wherein parental psychological control influences aggressive behavior through peer rejection, confirming the “risk cascade” hypothesis of Cumulative Risk Models. Specifically, parental psychological control not only directly erodes adolescent autonomy (Self-Determination Theory; Deci and Ryan, 2000), but also through social learning mechanisms (Bandura, 1977), facilitates the acquisition of coercive interpersonal strategies (e.g., emotional manipulation), leading to peer rejection. Such rejection then jeopardizes fundamental belongingness needs (Need-Threat Model; Williams, 2009), which predisposes individuals to aggressive behaviors as compensatory mechanisms (e.g., reestablishing perceived control via aggression), thereby establishing a cumulative risk sequence of “control → rejection → aggression → emotional dysregulation”. These findings corroborate (Evans et al. 2013) proposition of “Nonlinear Additive Effects of Multiple Risk Factors”, illustrating how familial, peer, and behavioral risk factors exacerbate mental health problems via progressive cascades. Among the three indirect pathways, peer rejection showed the strongest mediating role. This pattern aligns with developmental research indicating heightened sensitivity to peer relationships during early adolescence, when needs for group belongingness and friendship become particularly pronounced (Beeson et al., 2020).

Partially supporting H4, awe of life significantly moderated the direct path from parental psychological control to negative emotions, but not the indirect paths.

The moderating role indicates that awe of life buffers the direct association between parental psychological control and negative emotions. Individuals with high levels of awe of life exhibit significantly lower negative emotions when exposed to psychological control, whereas those with low awe of life demonstrate heightened vulnerability to its adverse associations.

Emotion Regulation Theory posits that emotions result from the operations of valuation systems (Gross, 2015). In the direct path, awe of life functions as a “second-level” valuation system, assessing and modulating the “first-level” valuation system that generates negative emotions. Since awe of life prompts individuals to reexamine the events causing negative emotions from a broader, more macroscopic perspective of life (Monroy and Keltner, 2023), it facilitates adjustment of the cognition and evaluation of these events. On the one hand, when encountering negative emotion-eliciting situations, awe of life directs attention to life's profound value and beauty, enabling individuals to extract positive significance from adversity (Liao et al., 2024). The process of meaning-making promotes cognitive reappraisal, effectively downregulating negative emotions. On the other hand, awe motivates the adoption of proactive emotional goals, predisposing individuals to prioritize positive emotional experiences. Through this dual pathway, awe weakens the association with negative emotions while concurrently enhancing subjective wellbeing and life satisfaction (Jin, 2021).

The indirect pathway, encompassing peer and individual behavioral factors, involves complex emotion-related processes wherein the moderating role of awe of life may be obscured or attenuated by other mediating variables, thereby resulting in non-significant moderation.

The findings provide valuable insights for contemporary family education and school education practices in China.

Despite China's implementation of the three-child policy, the declining birth rate remains an indisputable fact. Smaller family size elevates parental expectations for children (Milovanska-Farrington, 2022), heightening parental anxiety. This heightened anxiety may trigger unconscious exertion of psychological control when children exhibit behavioral deviations. Furthermore, traditional Chinese Confucian culture emphasizes parental authority and filial piety, where strong control is often interpreted as an expression of parental love (Li et al., 2025). In collectivist cultural contexts, parents perceive their children as extensions of their own self-worth. To enhance parental status and image, they may therefore unconsciously intensify control over their children, with the aim of motivating children toward higher achievements. However, intensive psychological control may trigger cumulative negative emotions and heighten vulnerability to suicidal ideation and behaviors (Breslin et al., 2020), ultimately undermining healthy child development (Ma and Zhang, 2022).

As (Grolnick 2003) noted, “Well-meaning parenting backfires”. Parents should provide greater support for children's autonomy and initiative (Lee et al., 2015), maintain openness to unpredictability (Wolbert et al., 2018), and ensure students feel genuinely respected, an approach that fosters holistic psychological and physical development.

Schools should acknowledge the significant relevance of peer rejection and aggressive behaviors to adolescent mental health while leveraging their unique resource advantages to foster psychological wellbeing (Yu et al., 2022). Specifically, in the context of the “Double Reduction” policy, educational institutions should design innovative curricula targeting social-emotional competencies and stress management techniques, systematically integrating social skills training into core education to better mitigate peer rejection. Concurrently, teachers should monitor students' emotional and behavioral patterns, developing specialized competence in early identification of mental health risks (O'Farrell et al., 2022). Furthermore, implementing physical activities and group experiential programs while strengthening life education enhances students' awe of life, effectively mitigating emotional problems and improving psychological wellbeing (Tu, 2020; Moeijes et al., 2018).

This study has several limitations. First, although gender and age were controlled for in the current study, potential confounding factors such as household income and parental education level were not included, which may compromise the ecological validity of the findings. Future research should incorporate multilevel data to verify the model's generalizability. Second, this study employed self-report questionnaires, with data collected solely from students' subjective reports. This approach may introduce issues such as common method bias and social desirability bias. Future research should integrate behavioral observations, physiological indicators (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance response), and multi-informant reports (e.g., from teachers, peers, parents) to further elucidate the mechanisms underlying adolescents' negative emotions. Third, the cross-sectional design with samples drawn exclusively from four elementary schools in Anhui Province precludes causal inferences. Future investigations should employ longitudinal or experimental designs to conduct cross-regional and cross-cultural studies, thereby enhancing the generalizability of findings.