Latent profiles of adolescents’ relationships with parents and siblings: Associations with emotional and behavioral responses during the COVID-19 pandemic

The purpose of this study is to identify the latent profiles of Chinese adolescents’ family (parent–adolescent and sibling) relationships prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as associations between those profiles and adolescents’ emotional and behavioral responses. A total of 2,305 adolescents from China aged between 10 and 18 years completed measures of parent–adolescent relationships, sibling relationships, and emotional and behavioral responses during the pandemic. Four profiles of family relationships were identified via latent profile analysis and categorized as Cohesive-Decline, Mild-Decline, Conflictual-Stable, and Indifferent-Stable. Adolescents with a Conflictual-Stable profile reported more emotional and behavioral responses compared to the other profiles. In contrast, adolescents with a Cohesive-Decline profile exhibited fewer emotional responses compared to the other profiles. Adolescents with a Mild-Decline profile had fewer emotional responses than those with an Indifferent-Stable profile. These results shed light on the patterns and consequences of family relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic and have substantial implications for interventions involving family relationships in the context of regular epidemic prevention and control.