Associations between peer stress and internalizing problems across educational stages: the role of family psychological and economic resources

Background Previous research has consistently linked peer stress to adolescents’ internalizing problems, yet less is known about how distinct family-related resources may differentially condition this association across educational stages. Clarifying whether stress–resource processes are stage-differentiated rather than uniform across adolescence is important for refining stress-buffering accounts within developmental contexts. Peer stress has been consistently linked to adolescents’ internalizing problems. However, less is known about how different family-related domains may condition this association across educational stages. Examining whether psychological and material family resources operate differently across stages may help refine stress-buffering perspectives in adolescence. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 8,572 junior high school, senior high school, and university students in central China. Structural equation modeling and multi-group analyses were used to examine the associations among peer stress, parental autonomy support, perceived family financial difficulty, and internalizing problems, as well as differences across educational stages. Results Peer stress was positively associated with internalizing problems across all groups. Parental autonomy support and perceived family financial difficulty showed stage-differentiated direct associations with internalizing symptoms: the protective association of autonomy support was stronger among junior high school students, whereas financial difficulty was more strongly associated with internalizing problems among university students. Parental autonomy support did not show a robust buffering effect. In contrast, perceived family financial difficulty strengthened the association between peer stress and internalizing problems among university students. Conclusion These findings highlight the central role of peer stress in adolescents’ internalizing problems and underscore the importance of distinguishing psychological and material family-related domains within stress-buffering frameworks. Differences across educational contexts suggest that the relevance of these family resources may vary across stages.