Family Communication Quality and Adolescent Psychological Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Emotional Security

Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental period in which family relationships may be associated with psychological well-being. This cross-sectional study examined whether Emotional Security (ES) statistically mediates the association between Family Communication Quality (FCQ) and Adolescent Psychological Well-Being (PWB). Participants were 250 adolescents aged 15–19 years recruited through purposive sampling from public senior high schools (SMA Negeri) in Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia, in April 2026. The instrument comprised 21 self-report items, with seven items representing each construct. Validator feedback was used to refine the instrument, and the final 21-item version was declared valid and ready for field administration. Data were analyzed using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4. FCQ was positively associated with ES (β = .481, t = 9.928, p < .001) and PWB (β = .249, t = 3.952, p < .001), while ES was positively associated with PWB (β = .293, t = 4.831, p < .001). The specific indirect association through ES was also statistically supported (β = .141, t = 4.093, p < .001), while the direct association remained significant, indicating complementary mediation. ES accounted for approximately 36.2% of the total FCQ–PWB association. Positive blindfolding Q² values for ES (.146) and PWB (.138) indicated in-sample predictive relevance and were not interpreted as out-of-sample performance. SRMR = .045 and NFI = .929 were treated as supplementary fit indices. The findings indicate that higher-quality family communication is associated with adolescent psychological well-being both directly and through emotional security. Given the cross-sectional, purposive, same-source self-report design, the results do not establish causality and should be generalized cautiously.