Effect of Social Exclusion on Social Maladjustment Among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model of Group Identification and Parent–Child Cohesion

Social exclusion is a covert and widespread social behavior. Different from previous studies on the role of internal and social functions in the relationship between social exclusion and maladjustment, the study aims to explore the influence of individual interaction on the individual-group relationship as well as the impact of relationship changes on adolescent social maladjustment. Based on an integration of social information processing theory and social identification theory, we analyzed the association between social exclusion and adolescents' social maladjustment, especially the mediating role of group identification and the moderating role of parent-child cohesion. Participants were 1,506 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 16.18 years, SD = 0.81). The results demonstrated that the association between social exclusion and adolescent social maladjustment was partly mediated by group identification. Parent-child cohesion was found to moderate the direct effect and first half of mediating path after splitting gender variable. Our findings expand the extant insights on how social exclusion could contribute to adolescent social maladjustment and highlight the important role of father in later adolescence development.