Using Q Methodology to Explore the Behaviors of Close Relationships
That Trigger Negative Emotions in Teenagers
Kun Liang
1, 2
, Liang Hou
1
and Zheng Huang
1,2
1
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
2
Department of Psychology in University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Keywords: Negative Emotions, Teenagers, Close Relationship, Behaviors, Q Methodology.
Abstract: The present study explores causal factors behind negative emotions in teenagers, and the relationship between
teenagers’ negative emotions and the behaviors of their close relationships, including parents, teachers, and
peers. Q methodology was chosen for this research. 48 teenagers were recruited to do a Q sort experiment
containing 48 statements. Software KADE V1.2.1 was adopted, and PCA and maximum variance rotation
was applied in the data analysis. Four significant and dominant viewpoints of triggering teenagers’ negative
emotions were found in this study: a. parents’ inappropriate behaviors have the strongest negative impact on
teenagers’ emotions; b. teenagers’ lack of respect from close relationships; c. the discordance between close
relationship behavior and teenagers’ strong sense of self-esteem cause much negative emotion in teenagers;
d. teenagers’ general aversion to disciplinary and punitive measures enforced by their parents and teachers to
regulate teenagers’ behavior, which in turn heightened the frequency of teenagers’ experiencing negative
emotions. Another major observation was that different close relationships have different impacts on
teenagers’ negative emotions, and the behaviors that trigger negative emotions in teenagers distinguishing
with different characteristic among the three close relationships.
1 INTRODUCTION
Negative emotions result from individuals’ subjective
perception of unpleasant emotional experience, and
such emotions often include anger, disgust, fear,
nervousness, anxiety, depression, and so on (Watson,
1998). According to China National Mental Health
Development Report (2019-2020), in 2020, 24.6% of
the adolescent population suffered from depression—
17.2% with mild depression and 7.4% with severe
depression; out of this population, about 10% in
primary school, 30% in junior high school, and nearly
40% in senior high school suffered from depression.
The report revealed that rate of depression has been
significantly higher in children from elementary to
middle schools. Junior high school is a period when
children transition childhood to teenage. This period
of transition brings about marked changes in
teenagers, both physiological and psychological
changes, and they face new, more challenging
changes and requirements to be met with in the
*
Contact
learning environment and need to develop new
emotional skills to achieve autonomy (Dominique,
2014; Liu, 2019). Without doubt, these changes exert
a certain degree of pressure to teenagers, and cause
emotional distress and induce various mental health
issues, such as anxiety, depression and low self-
esteem (Dominique, 2014). Therefore, the present
study focuses on negative emotions in teenagers and
presents its findings on what are some of the
predisposing factors of that trigger negative emotions
in teenagers.
Researchers have been paying increasing
attention to negative emotions in teenagers. Past
studies have shown that negative emotions cause
various adverse effects on the developmental
trajectory of teenagers, including negatively affecting
their physical and mental health and well-being and
academic and social skills. In terms of cognitive
activities, negative emotions interfere with normal
cognitive activities (Guo, 2005), impede cognitive
processing (Lin, 2016), hinder the implementation of
individual response inhibition (Ding, 2019), and
604
Liang, K., Hou, L. and Huang, Z.
Using Q Methodology to Explore the Behaviors of Close Relationships That Trigger Negative Emotions in Teenagers.
DOI: 10.5220/0012040500003620
In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Economic Management and Model Engineering (ICEMME 2022), pages 604-616
ISBN: 978-989-758-636-1
Copyright
c
 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

reduce the engagement of activities (He, 2021). In
terms of behavior, negative emotions have a negative
impact on mental health and impedes the
development of a healthy personality in teenagers
(Dominique, 2014); as for explicit behaviors,
negative emotions push teens towards negative
coping and drive them to pick up unhealthy habits,
such as smoking, dropping out of school, aggression,
and even self-injury and suicide (He, 2021; Chen,
2011). Negative emotions have an enormous impact
on the physical and mental health and well-being and
development of teenager; given that all these negative
traits may lead to severe complications and impede
the process of teens developing a healthy personality,
we believe negative emotions in teenagers is a
significant concern for the society at large and worthy
of in-depth exploration and analysis in order to find
ways and means to curtail and eradicate mental health
issues at an early stage.
Both interpersonal relationship and social
interaction have a major influence on an individual’s
emotions. Junior high school students experience
emotional turmoil (Zeng, 2013), and their ability to
cope with their emotions is much weaker compared
to adults, making them more vulnerable to negative
stimuli in their familial and social environment.
Furthermore, the quality of interpersonal relationship
is a significant factor affecting negative emotions in
teenagers (Dang, 2016). The interpersonal network of
teenagers is relatively simple, as their daily
interpersonal activities revolve around home and
school. According to Ecological System Theory,
family and school microsystems have prominent
effects on teenagers’ physical and mental
development (Xu, 2017). Parents, teachers, and peers
are a part of the said two microsystems and how they
behave or deal with teenagers have a major influence
on the development of teenagers. Previous studies
have found that the quality of parent–child
relationship can effectively predict negative emotions
such as depression and anxiety in teenagers in their
family environment (Tian, 2014). In addition,
parenting style (e.g., showing warmth and
understanding; using punitive measures to discipline
children, and being excessively protective) is
significantly associated with teenagers’ negative
emotions (Yang, 2010). In the school environment,
teenagers’ relationship with teachers and peers are
important factors causing negative emotions in
teenagers (Liu, 20200. During adolescence, a strong,
healthy teacher–student relationship and peer
relationship can help teenagers to gain recognition
and acceptance among peers, reduce confusion and
anxiety, improve self-efficacy and learning
motivation, and boost mental health. In the absence
of such healthy relationships in the school
environment, children frequently experience negative
emotions such as a sense of inferiority, loneliness,
anxiety, and depression (Lian, 2016; Wang, 2018).
In addition to interpersonal relationship, the
personal factors of teenagers also have a significant
amount of influence on their emotions. Studies have
shown that lack of self-esteem is a key cause behind
children experiencing negative emotions and that it
impedes children from developing a healthy
personality and social skills (Lian, 2016; Orth, 2016).
Teenagers develop their perceptions with age, and
they gradually begin to emphasize their self-esteem.
Therefore, social support from parents, teachers, and
peers, such as respect, recognition, and trust, become
even more important to teenagers (Dang, 2016).
Therefore, when the need of self-esteem is not
satisfied, it leads to teenagers experiencing negative
emotions (He, 2021).
Although various causal factors behind teenagers'
negative emotions have been studied in the past, they
have not been further classified and specified to help
study in depth the causes for negative emotions in
teenagers in various settings; for example, what type
of interpersonal relationship plays the most important
role in inducing negative emotions in teenagers,
which type of behavior is more likely to induce
negative emotions in teenagers, and whether there is
a relationship between the creation of negative
emotions and behavior of close relationship in
teenagers’ lives. Second, in terms of interpersonal
relationships, previous studies have mostly focused
on the impact of one or two close relationships on
teenagers' negative emotions; only a few research
endeavors have conducted multidimensional studies
focusing on different interpersonal relationships.
Third, negative emotions are an individual's
subjective experience. Stephenson believes that
individual’s subjective feelings, opinions, ideas,
attitudes, and so on can be systematically and
scientifically studied (Zhou, 2006). However, since
previous studies were basically conducted through
questionnaires, scales, and so on, some valuable
subjective opinions and specific individual factors
were either not identified or were not given
significant attention even if they were identified.
Therefore, we considered using new methods and
perspectives to explore negative emotions in
teenagers. We chose the Q methodology to conduct a
multidimensional study on the behaviors of close
relationship that trigger negative emotion in
teenagers.
Using Q Methodology to Explore the Behaviors of Close Relationships That Trigger Negative Emotions in Teenagers
605

2 METHOD
2.1 Q Methodology
Q methodology was developed in 1935 by William
Stephenson, a British scholar of physics and
psychology, in order to systematically address the
elusive subjectivity (Watts, 2012). The Q
methodology is named so because it is a research
method involving the Queue (Zhou, 2006). It uses
both qualitative and quantitative methods to
systematically and stably depicting the subjectivity to
arrive at an accurate understanding of the real
perspectives of participants, thus reducing potential
researcher bias using a person-centered approach
(Zhou, 2006). It is highly effective for identifying and
analyzing people's subjective views and attitudes
towards a certain research topic (Joy, 2011). It
analyzes participants’ perspectives by asking them to
rank-order a set of subjective statements on specific
topics and identified patterns in the participants’
responses (Jiang, 2013). Q methodology has been
gradually developed, and it has now gained wide
recognition and acceptance among researchers in
many fields such as psychology, education, nursing,
marketing, and public policy.
2.2 Concourse and Q Set
Concourse is a collection of various subjective
descriptions or statements held by people on a certain
topic, such as opinions, attitudes, values, opinions
and beliefs. It can also be nonverbal expressions, such
as pictures, music, smells, and objects (Watts, 2012).
Q Set, is a group of representative subjective
statements selected from the collection (Zhao, 2003).
Based on the integration of multiple relationships, we
did concourse through questionnaire, interview, and
literature review, to collect views and opinions from
three groups—students, teachers, and parents.
Finally, 48 representative statements (see Appendix)
were taken up as Q Set for further analysis. A
previous study has confirmed that Q Set constructed
from the same collection did not have an impact on
the results of a research using Q methodology
(Thomas, 1992), so we were convinced that the Q Set
of this study was reliable. The statements were
numbered and made into cards, then divided into
seven types of behavioral characteristics: i.
recognition and acceptance; ii. respect and self-
esteem; iii. warmth and understanding; iv. excessive
involvement and protection; v. others’ habits and
characters; vi. severe discipline and punishment; and
vii. equality and fairness.
2.3 Participant/P Set
In general, Q methodology is useful for studies using
a small sample, the appropriate size of participant
population for this method to be effective should be
in the range of 40 to 60 participants (Watts, 2012). In
this study, 50 junior high school students aged 12-15
years were recruited from Shenzhen–Shantou Special
Cooperation Zone of Guangdong Province. A total of
48 students were finally included in the study after
excluding invalid data; their average age was 14.27
years; gender-wise, the sample included 27 boys and
21 girls. The study was approved by the Ethics
Committee of the Institute of Psychology, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, and informed consent was
obtained from all participants and their guardians.
2.4 Procedure
Participants were asked to sort the 48 statements onto
the Q grid (see figure 1) base on the degree of
triggering teenagers’ negative emotions according to
their understanding and thoughts. Participants
checked the sort and write down the card number on
a paper with Q grid form when they finish sorting.
The researchers checked the numbers and conducted
a short interview with participants, especially to
understand their interpretations of the statements
sorted on both ends.
Figure 1: Q gird.
← Most Disagree
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1+2+3+4+5
(2) (2)
(3) (3)
(4) (4)
(5) (5)
(6) (6)
(8)
Neutral Most Agree →
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2.5 Analysis
The classified Q-Sort data were analyzed using
KADE V1.2.1 software. By-person factor analysis
was used to calculate the similarity between Q-Sorts
of participants. Principal component analysis and
maximum variance rotation were applied,
eigenvalues greater than 1.00 were taken into
account, and a scree plot was used to determine the
number of factors extracted and retained. The
software figured out the weight and Z scores of each
statement in every Q-Sort. Z scores for each
individual Q statement were converted into a single-
factor array, which is a single Q-Sort configured to
represent the viewpoint of a particular factor. The
factor array decided the average ranking of each
statement in the Q-Sort that is significantly related to
a particular factor, in order to arrive at the composite
Q-Sort results.
3 RESULTS
Four factors were extracted: factor 1 (F1), factor 2
(F2), factor 3 (F3), and factor 4 (F4). These factors
respectively explained 12%, 8%, 10%, and 11% of
the total variation, and the cumulative percentage,
41%, explained the variance (see Table 1). In the Q
methodology, factors’ cumulative variation was in
the range of 35%-40%; thus, above variations can be
considered acceptable in the context of the present
study (Watts, 2012). On the basis of these
observations, we conclude that the present study’s
results are considerably significant. In addition, the
correlation of factors is between 0.22 and 0.35 (see
Table 1), indicating that the factors are relatively
independent. Table 2 presents the Z scores and factor
ranks (Q-Sort value) for each statement. The
composite Q-Sort of each factor (see Figures2, 3, 4,5)
represent the patterns of participants which were
significantly associated with a specific factor.
Table 1: Eigenvalues and Correlation between Factors.
Factors F 1 F 2 F 3 F 4
Eigenvalues 9.14 3.92 3.31 2.98
Explained variance (%) 12 8 10 11
Cumulative (%) 12 20 30 41
Participants comprised (%) 23 8 17 10
F 1 1.00 0.27 0.26 0.22
F 2 0.27 1.00 0.32 0.27
F 3 0.26 0.32 1.00 0.35
F 4 0.22 0.27 0.35 1.00
Table 2: Z Scores and Q-Sort Value (Factor Ranks) of Statements in Factors.
Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4
Statements
No.
Z Score
Q-sort
Value
Z Score
Q-sort
Value
Z Score
Q-sort
Value
Z Score
Q-sort
Value
1 1.80 4 0.46 1 -0.80 -2 -0.55 -1
2 1.15 3 -0.91 -3 -1.38 -4 -0.53 -1
3 -0.12 0 -0.26 0 0.68 2 -0.09 0
4 0.06 0 -0.87 -3 -1.03 -3 0.42 0
5 0.78 2 -0.27 -1 -1.09 -3 -0.42 -1
6 1.86 5 0.29 1 1.61 4 1.35 4
7 1.06 3 1.50 3 0.03 0 -1.08 -3
8 1.16 3 0.49 2 -0.23 0 0.15 0
9 0.49 2 1.31 3 -1.72 -5 -0.83 -2
10 1.59 4 -1.28 -4 0.28 1 -0.35 -1
Using Q Methodology to Explore the Behaviors of Close Relationships That Trigger Negative Emotions in Teenagers
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11 0.18 1 0.48 2 -0.67 -2 -1.03 -3
12 0.77 2 2.66 5 1.37 3 1.67 5
13 0.29 1 0.44 1 -0.83 -2 -0.68 -2
14 1.00 2 1.88 5 2.20 5 1.96 5
15 1.64 4 1.53 4 1.16 3 1.02 3
16 0.12 0 -0.09 0 -1.34 -4 -0.57 -1
17 1.02 3 -0.19 0 -0.62 -2 -0.83 -2
18 -0.57 -2 -1.14 -4 -1.42 -4 -2.64 -5
19 0.14 0 -1.01 -3 -0.09 0 -0.67 -1
20 0.07 0 0.00 0 -1.31 -3 0.50 1
21 -0.35 -1 -0.87 -2 -0.24 0 0.64 1
22 -0.83 -2 -0.41 -1 -0.96 -3 0.63 1
23 -1.34 -4 0.07 1 -0.46 -1 0.44 1
24 0.23 1 -1.34 -4 -0.89 -2 0.53 1
25 -1.86 -4 -0.13 0 -1.83 -5 1.39 4
26 -0.20 -1 -0.04 0 -0.37 -1 0.87 2
27 -0.79 -2 -0.28 -1 0.36 1 1.44 4
28 -0.45 -1 0.00 0 0.38 1 0.94 3
29 -0.31 -1 -1.91 -5 -0.28 0 0.49 1
30 -0.90 -3 0.86 3 -0.56 -1 0.90 3
31 -0.14 0 -1.05 -3 1.57 4 0.73 2
32 -1.96 -5 -0.82 -2 0.25 1 -0.77 -2
33 -0.91 -3 0.58 2 -0.54 -1 0.01 0
34 0.25 1 -0.74 -2 -0.16 0 0.64 2
35 1.83 5 0.26 1 1.74 5 1.33 3
36 -1.53 -4 -2.20 -5 -0.29 -1 -1.71 -4
37 0.23 1 -0.36 -1 1.55 4 -1.09 -4
38 -0.42 -1 1.01 3 0.69 2 -0.08 0
39 -0.14 0 -0.50 -2 0.83 2 -1.03 -3
40 -0.01 0 1.59 4 1.25 3 0.81 2
41 -0.72 -2 -0.41 -1 -0.03 0 -0.78 -2
42 -1.23 -3 0.03 1 0.10 1 -1.00 -3
43 -0.71 -2 0.60 2 0.83 2 0.17 0
44 0.16 1 0.72 2 1.20 3 0.11 0
45 -0.38 -1 1.69 4 0.59 1 -1.35 -4
46 0.99 2 -0.75 -2 1.06 2 0.73 2
47 -2.04 -5 -0.48 -1 -0.20 0 -1.80 -5
48 -0.96 -3 -0.15 0 -0.36 -1 0.00 0
3.1 Factor 1
The eigenvalue of F1 is 9.14, explained variance is
12%, and 23% of the 48 participants is comprised. F1
shows an obvious effect of centralizing trend.
Statements in the positive score column are mostly
related to parents, whereas the statements in the
negative score column are basically related to
teachers and peers, indicating that the participants
care more about the parent–child relationship and
believe that it is the most important type of
relationship among close relationships. The ranking
also shows participants indicated the most agree
response for S6(+5) (S for Statement) and S35(+5)
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statements; statements in -4 column are S1, S15, and
S10. Participants indicated the most disagree
response for S32(-5) and S47(-5) statements, a trend
which was also observed in regards to statements
S23(-4), S36(-4), and S25(-4). The ranking also
shows that in terms of abusive behavior, parental
abuse (S1: +5) is more likely to cause negative
emotions than abuse by peers (S37: +1). In terms of
punishment behavior, parents' punishment (S14: +2)
is more likely to stimulate negative emotions than
teachers' punishment (S23: -4). In terms of
acceptance, parents comparing their children to
others (S1: +4) is more likely to trigger negative
emotions than teachers do (S22: -2). In terms of
warmth and understanding, parents' comments about
unsatisfactory grades (S2: +3) is more likely to cause
negative emotions than teachers’ comments (S21: -2)
and peers' showing off their good scores to provoke
one another (S42: -3). To sum up, the patterns related
to F1 show that participants are most concerned about
their parents' comments and behavior towards them
and strongly agree that their parents’ behavior and
attitude have the greatest power and influence to
trigger negative emotions in them and in a variety of
ways.
* Distinguishing statement at P<0.05; ** Distinguishing statement at P<0.01.
Figure 2. Composite Q Sort of Factor 1.
3.2 Factor 2
The eigenvalue of F2 is 3.92, explained variance is
8%, and 8% of the 48 participants is comprised.
Columns +5 and +4 of F2 show participants highly
agree with statements about respect: S12 (+5) and
S40 (+4), and distinguishing statements (P<0.01) S12
(+5), S45 (+4), S9 (+3), S1 (+1), S6 (+1), and S35
(+1), all show that teenagers desire respect from
others. Participants showed they completely
disagreed with statements in regards to recognition—
S29(-5), S36(-5), S18(-4), S10(-4), and S24（-4).
Although the centralizing effect of F2 is not obvious,
statements of +5 and +4 columns reflect parent–child
relationship and peer relationship, and as a whole,
positive columns mostly reflect parents and peers. F2
indicates that parent–child relationship and peer
relationship are more prominent in this pattern.
* Distinguishing statement at P<0.05; ** Distinguishing statement at P<0.0l.
Figure 3: Composite Q Sort of Factor 2.
Neutral
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5
32** 23** 30 18* 26 19 13 14** 8** 1* 6
47 36 33 43** 29 16 34 46 2 15 35
(2) 25 48** 41 21 20 24 5** 7 10** (2)
(3) 42 27* 45** 4 37* 12** 17** (3)
(4) 22 38 40** 11 9** (4)
(5) 28 3 44 (5)
(6) 31** (6)
39
(8)
Parent
Teachers
Peers
←
Most Disagree Most Agree
→
Neutral
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5
29** 18 4 39 5 20 1** 44 7 45** 12**
36 10** 2** 34* 27* 28 13 43 9** 40 14
(2) 24 19 46** 37* 26 6** 33* 38 15 (2)
(3) 31** 32 22 16 35** 8 30 (3)
(4) 21* 41 25** 23 11 (4)
(5) 47 48 42 (5)
(6) 17 (6)
3
(8)
←
Most Disagree Most Agree
→
Parent
Teachers
Peers
Using Q Methodology to Explore the Behaviors of Close Relationships That Trigger Negative Emotions in Teenagers
609

3.3 Factor 3
The eigenvalue of F3 is 3.31, explained variance is
10%, 17% of the 48 participants is comprised.
Participants indicated the most agree response for
statements S14 (+5) and S35 (+5), followed by S6
(+4), S37(+4), and S31 (+4) as well. These five
statements concerning parents, teachers, and peers
indicate the importance of the three relationships in
this pattern of perceptions. Participants responded
with most disagree for statements S9(-5) and S25(-5),
followed by S16 (-4), S2 (-4), and S18 (-4). In
addition, although the statements indicated in the
high-score column are related to parents and teachers,
and statements about peers are concentrated on the
positive column. F3 indicates that the three close
relationships are important in this pattern of
participants’ perceptions.
* Distinguishing statement at P<0.05; ** Distinguishing statement at P<0.01.
Figure 4: Composite Q Sort of Factor 3.
3.4 Factor 4
The eigenvalue of F4 is 2.98, explained variance is
11%, and 10% of the 48 participants is comprised.
There are more statements about severe discipline
and punishment which are ranked in positive
columns, such as S14 (+5), S27 (+4), S35 (+3), S35
(+2), S30 (+1), and S23 (+1). Statements of negative
columns are likely related to respect and self-esteem,
others’ habits and characters, and so on, such as S47
(-5), S18(-5), S37(-4), and S45(-4). In addition, the
distinguishing statements S27 and S25 at 0.01 level
of significance are obviously related to teacher's strict
discipline; this trend was also observed with
statements S26 (+2), S31 (+2), S21 (+1), S22 (+1),
and S29 (+1). Taken together, the viewpoint patterns
of F4 reveal that criticism and punishment play a
major role in causing negative emotions in teenagers.
In addition, statements in the positive column are
mainly related to parents and teachers, indicating that
both parent–child and teacher–student relationships
are more important in this pattern of viewpoints.
* Distinguishing statement at P<0.05; ** Distinguishing statement at P<0.0l.
Figure 5: Composite Q Sort of Factor 4.
Neutral
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5
9** 16** 22 17 36** 7** 45** 46 12 6 14
25 2 4 11 48 41 28 39** 40 31** 35
(2) 18 5** 1 26 19 27* 43 44 37** (2)
(3) 20** 13 23* 34* 10** 38 15 (3)
(4) 24 33 47 32** 3** (4)
(5) 30 8 42 (5)
(6) 21 (6)
29
(8)
←
Most Disagree Most Agree
→
Parent
Teachers
Peers
Neutral
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5
47 37** 42 13 10** 4 21** 26** 35 27** 14
18** 45** 11 32 5 43 22** 40 15 25** 12
(2) 36 39* 41 2 8 24 31** 28* 6 (2)
(3) 7** 9** 1 44 20* 46 30 (3)
(4)171633*29**34 (4)
(5) 19 48 23 (5)
(6) 38 (6)
3
(8)
Parent
Teachers
Peers
←
Most Disagree Most Agree
→
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4 INTERPRETATION
The viewpoint patterns observed for each factor are
interpreted as follows, combining the composite Q-
Sort results and interview information.
4.1 Pattern 1: The Way My Parents
Treat Me Greatly Affects My
Emotions
F1 shows that parent–child relationship exerts the
greatest influence and acts as the strongest trigger and
causal factor behind teenagers’ developing negative
emotions; the main reason for this trend is that
teenagers care the most and are most sensitive about
parent’s behavior towards them, especially in relation
to the following traits: i. respect and self-esteem; ii.
recognition and acceptance; and iii. warmth and
understanding. Parental abuse occurs in many forms;
for example, parents abuse them or scold them for
mistakes and failures (+5); deny them incentives
meant for encouraging them to do well in studies or
in any other area (+4 and +3); talk about their
shortcomings or making embarrassing remarks about
them in front of others (+3); do things for children
that the children often dislike, in the name of being
good to them (+3); infringe on children’s privacy
(+2); and so on. All of these traits easily cause
negative emotions, such as feeling inferior and low in
self-esteem, anger, sadness, and depression. Some
participants mentioned in the interview: “Our parent
is supposed to be the most trustworthy for us. If even
our parent treats us like that, what does it mean?” and
“We have very strong suppressed emotions in our
heart, and we need to vent them out.” Based on the
composite Q-Sort results and interviews, we found
that when parents do not meet the expectations of
their teenage children, conflicts often occur between
them and the children, and any inappropriate way that
the parent uses in order to deal with such conflicts is
a major cause for teenagers developing negative
emotions.
4.2 Pattern 2: Expecting Others’
Respect
Participants in this pattern show that parents do not
respect their privacy (+5) and talk about their
shortcomings and embarrassing them in front of
others (+4) are the most likely to trigger negative
emotions, followed by peers infringing on their
privacy; saying something bad about them (+4);
calling them out with a nickname to heckle them,
ridiculing them in various ways, and so on (+3).
However, teachers disrespecting them is generally
ranked near the neutral column. Some of the
participants explained in the interview: “Parents are
the most important to teenagers, the closest people
hurt the most”; “Peers know about their peers better,
so we expect our peers to respect each other”; “We
should respect teachers first, and teachers have
prestige”. Thus, since children view their teachers as
having the highest authority in the school setting
because they teach them and correct their
wrongdoings, the teenagers expect less respect from
teachers than they would from their parents and peers.
However, it is worth mentioning that when teachers
do not respect their family, it causes great negative
emotions. Participants can somehow accept teachers
disrespecting them but cannot accept teachers
disrespecting their families. It also proves F1—that
parents hold the highest place in teenagers’ hearts;
thus, both parents’ behavior and attitude and respect
from parents are very important to the teenagers.
4.3 Pattern 3: Have Strong
Self-Esteem, Reject Violence
According to pattern 3, parents' acts of punishment,
such as hitting and kicking (+5), and teachers'
comments about family members when criticizing
students (+5) are the strongest triggers for negative
emotions, followed by parental abuse (+4), peer
abuse (+4), and teachers disrespecting students' self-
esteem (+4). We found from the participants’ views
shared during the interviews that, in general, parent’s
resorting to punishment, abuse, temper tantrums;
refusing to fulfil or meet with their need; and any
form of verbal and nonverbal violence can seriously
hurt teenagers’ self-esteem. Teachers often rebuke
and ridicule teenagers in the name of correcting them,
ignoring the feelings of teenagers. Such ridicule and
humiliation severely erode the teenagers’ self-esteem
and sense of self-worth. In addition, peers are the
people with whom teenagers interact for a long time
and on a daily basis. It is important that they
understand one another and respect each other’s
privacy and be sensitive and careful about what they
say about one another’s school performance, family
background, and so on; however, some teenagers
lacking in emotional maturity either intentionally or
unintentionally end up talking about sensitive topics
and making insensitive remarks that cause negative
emotions in the teenager who has to bear such
remarks, and the bad blood created by such remarks
often have a lasting negative and eroding impact on
the harmony and goodwill between peers.
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Participants also indicated that children do not have
strong self-esteem, but teenagers, being at the cusp of
adulthood, do; they have significantly increased
demand for self-esteem; hence, even minor verbal
abuse and physical aggression of any kind would
easily trigger negative emotions and will have a long-
term negative impact on the development of
teenagers.
4.4 Pattern 4: Being Averse to Severe
Discipline and Punishment
This pattern reveals that severe criticism and
punishment from parent and teachers can be strong
triggers for teenagers’ experiencing negative
emotions. Participants indicated during the interview
that they are going through the “rebellious stage” and
are particularly averse to parental punishment,
especially physical acts of punishment, such as
hitting, pinching, and kicking (+5). Although parent's
scolding (+4) and tantrums (+3) also cause negative
emotions, physical punishment has a much more
intense negative effect and is more likely to trigger
negative emotions in teenagers. In addition, teachers'
academic expectations for students—statements S25
(+4) and S26 (+2), and behavioral expectations—
statements S27 (+4), S30 (+3), S31 (+2)—are often
promoted through criticism, comparison,
punishment, and reporting to parents. Although the
original intention of the teachers is to educate
students, it brings great pressure on students to
perform better in future and they are often reminded
of their failures, which is one of the strongest triggers
for negative emotions. This way students become
increasingly more averse to any kind of disciplinary
measure and develop psychological resistance.
Participants emphasized that they are in a confused
frame of mind and critically need positive discipline
and guidance.
5 DISCUSSION
5.1 Behavioral characteristics of close
relationships that induce negative
emotions in teenagers
Our findings showed that different types of behaviors
from close relationships have different impact to
induce negative emotions in teenagers (see Figure 6).
Parental behaviors mainly match four types of traits:
i. respect and self-esteem; ii. recognition and
acceptance; iii. warmth and understanding; and iv.
severe discipline and punishment. Teachers’
behaviors mainly match two types of traits: i. respect
and self-esteem and iii. severe discipline and
punishment. Peer behavior matches only one type of
trait: respect and self-esteem.
Figure 6: Relationship Between Behavior and Close Relationship on Inducing Teenagers' Negative Emotion.
5.1.1 Characteristics of Parental Behavior
That Induce Negative Emotions in
Teenagers
Parent–child interaction in daily life plays the most
direct and prominent role in inducing negative
emotions in teenagers and is mainly related to these
four traits: i. respect and self-esteem; ii. recognition
and acceptance; iii. warmth and understanding, and
iv. severe discipline and punishment. These traits
occur possibly because of the influence of the
traditional concepts of Chinese education.
Traditionally, Chinese parents are not very
demonstrative in communicating their emotions to
children; they are often reserved and aloof and tend
to avoid showing love and affirmation but are more
prone to demonstrate refusal, denial, and restriction
in their interaction with their children (Luo, 2013).
Such problems do not last longer because teenagers
gradually but firmly develop their sense of
independence, becoming bolder and assertive over
time in forming their own values and worldviews.
Parent Respect and Self-esteem
Recognition and acceptance
Teachers
Warmth and understanding
Peers Severe discipline and punishment
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Psychologically, they want to be independent—eager
to be treated as adults by their parents and unwilling
to be disciplined by their parents (Tian,2014 ; Zhang,
2009). Therefore, excessive or indiscriminate refusal
and denial by parents may reduce teenagers' sense of
worth and self-efficacy, making teenagers unable to
do better or improve themselves and get their parents'
appreciation and encouragement; this reduces
parents’ warmth and understanding, intensifies
parent–child conflicts, and leads to a variety of
negative emotions in teenagers. Long-term and
routinely occurring nonphysical conflicts at some
point may escalate into physical conflicts, such as
hitting, kicking, and so on. This is the most intense
form of discipline, which not only directly intensifies
negative emotions but also leads to behavioral
problems. During the interview, participants
conveyed that they hoped their parents would reduce
negative criticism and punishment, support them with
positive encouragement, and provide an independent,
respectful, and warm family environment. Thus, any
efforts from the parents to improve their
communication and using positive encouragement
with children will substantially reduce the frequency
of negative emotions experienced by adolescents.
5.1.2 Characteristics of Teacher Behavior
that Induce Negative Emotions in
Teenagers
Respect and self-esteem and severe discipline and
punishment in teacher–student relationship plays the
most important role in inducing negative emotions in
teenagers or vice versa. There may be two main
reasons: a. Teachers generally have a serious attitude
towards work, so they are required to continuously
evaluate students’ performance against
predetermined standards and academic goals.
However, some teachers ignore engaging in
emotional communication with their students, which
leads to negative emotions in students, such as feeling
shame, sense of inferiority, anxiety, and resentment
towards studies. Second, teenagers’ mental
development reflects their mindset to being close that
of an adult but not indeed that of an adult; it is in the
middle stage between developing maturity and being
fully matured; there is thus often confusion in
teenagers about how to think, act, and express their
emotions in school in an acceptable way. Given this
predicament, it is important that they receive
encouragement and support from teachers to develop
their ability to communicate as a person with full
autonomy and gain respect and recognition towards
their positive behavior and personality (Zhang,
2009). However, teachers’ often slip into
demonstrating insensitive and rough attitude and
behavior that stimulate psychological inversion
leading to a variety of negative emotions in teenagers.
5.1.3 Characteristics of Peer Behavior That
Induce Negative Emotions in
Teenagers
In peer relationships, respect and self-esteem play a
major role in inducing negative emotions in
teenagers. Peers are an important source of social
needs and social support and play an important
protective factor in the process of teenager’s
psychosocial adaptation (Lian, 2016). During teenage
especially, closeness with peers is at its highest
(Tian,2014), which means peers know more about
each other's situation than their parents do. However,
teenagers being in a state of maturity that is still
developing and their personality still evolving, they
often either intentionally or unintentionally end up
getting involved in discussions on matters of personal
privacy, lifestyle habits, academic performance, and
image characteristics, in their interaction with peers;
such interactions lead to peers insulting or putting
down one another and acrimony and bitterness
between peers that cause negative emotions.
5.2 The Influence of the Need for
Respect and Self-Esteem on
Teenagers’ Developing Negative
Emotions
First of all, teenagers believe that their unfulfilled,
and often ridiculed and ignored, need for respect and
self-esteem is a major cause for experiencing
negative emotions. This is because self-esteem is a
core component of the self—the personhood—and
one of the basic human needs. Everyone expects to be
respected by others and seeks to gain and enhance
self-esteem through various activities and
interpersonal communication. However, in contrast
to the Western cultural norms and characteristics that
consider individual-centric and fully autonomous
way of functioning as important at the time of
adolescence, and especially in junior high school,
Chinese cultural pays less attention to self-esteem
(Yang, 2013), which means less respect for teenagers.
This was also reported by some of the participants
during the interview—they are not given the respect
that is normally afforded to adults. Teenagers are in
the key period of individual development; therefore,
any disrespectful or less respectful behaviors of close
relationships can easily induce negative emotions,
Using Q Methodology to Explore the Behaviors of Close Relationships That Trigger Negative Emotions in Teenagers
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such as feeling inferior, whose adverse influences
would last longtime. Second, some previous studies
reported that respect is often regarded as a kind of
social support (such as recognition, trust, respect, and
help) which has been proven to have some influence
on teenagers, but studies have not paid sufficient
attention to this need for respect. This study finds that
respect is a significant aspect in social support and the
extent they receive respect determines the extent
teenagers' experience negative emotions. Huo and
Binning also have shown that respect/being respected
plays a momentous role in regulating the intra-group
relationship and can affect individuals' emotions
(Huo, 2010). In addition, although both respect and
self-esteem have a bearing on teenagers' developing
negative emotions, teenagers’ attitudes and needs for
both are vary. Studies have shown that self-esteem
refers to the internal respect of individuals—that is, a
person’s desire to be strong, competent, confident,
and independent in different situations. Respect refers
to an individual's external respect; that is, a person
wants to have social status, prestige, and positive
evaluation from others (Huang, 2010). Pattern 2 and
Pattern 3 seem to overlap in some content but are
sufficiently distinct from another. Thus, to some
extent, teenagers have different levels of needs and
different attitudes towards respect and self-esteem.
6 CONCLUSION
By Q methodology, this study explored four view
patterns of triggering negative emotions in teenagers.
Our findings showed that parental behavior greatly
affected the emotions of teenagers; they have a strong
expectation and desire for respect from others; they
have strong sense of self-esteem and are averse to
verbal and nonverbal or physical violence; and they
are averse to severe discipline and punishment.
Besides, different types of interpersonal behaviors
have different relations in inducing teenagers’
negative emotions. Parents’ behaviors are mainly
related to respect and self-esteem; recognition and
acceptance; warmth and understanding; and severe
discipline and punishment. Teachers’ behaviors are
mainly related to respect and self-esteem and severe
discipline and punishment. Peer behaviors are mainly
related to respect and self-esteem.
There are some limitations to the findings of this
study. First, the concourse is not wide enough, so the
perspectives reflected are limited. Another limitation
is the age range of participants enrolled in our
study—participants were junior high school students
(aged 12–15 years), which restricts the extent of
generalizability of our findings, because participants
from different age groups may have diverse views on
this topic. In the context of the present study and our
findings, we believe it will be useful for researchers
to study in future individuals belonging to other age
groups and demographic profiles in order to arrive at
more robust findings to help further research.
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APPENDIX
Statement Type
1 Parent often compare me with others. A
2 Parent put a lot of pressure on me if I get unsatisfied school performance. A
3 Parent refuse me with harsh words when I ask them for money. B
4 Parent often quarrel in front of me. C
5 Parent oppose and even show contempt on my interests. A
6 Parent scolded me with harsh word, such as "Stupid pig", "Fool", "What a shame". B
7 Parent often talk my shortcomings and embarrassing things in front of others. B
8 Parent do things I dislike in the name of being good to me. B
9 Parent don't keep their word. B
10 Parent never admire and encourage me, but ridicule me a lot. A
11 My parents excessively interfered with my freedom of social activities. D
12 My parents infringe my privacy. B
13 Parent have bad hobbies, such as smoking, alcohol abuse and gambling. E
14 Parent punish me with pinching/ hitting/ kicking. F
15 My parents often lose his temper when he is unhappy. E
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16 Parent don't listen when I talk to them. B
17 When I am bullied, my parent asks me to tolerate it, even blame me making trouble. C
18 Parent are excessively protective and intruding upon my lives. D
19 Parent directly cut off the Internet, or confiscate my phone to stop me playing game. F
20 Parent spend all day playing phone, but never allow me to, they scold me if I do so. G
21 Teachers reproach us if we don't do good in the exam. A
22 Teachers compare me with others. A
23 Teachers directly criticize by name in the class and corporal punish students. F
24 Teachers don't show recognition or trust on me. A
25 Teachers assign too much homework, and will assign more if we don't finish them on time. F
26 Teachers treat elite students much better than average students. G
27 Teachers often report to or call students' parents to school when the students don't do good. F
28 Teachers don't respect students in many ways. B
29 My teacher calls me stupid if I don't understand what he teaches. A
30 Teachers suppress students, using their prestige or the authority of school leaders. F
31 Teachers regardless of students' self-esteem, ridicule students. B
32 Teachers criticize students to parental WeChat group. F
33 Teachers don't care for students ' confusion or plight, but wrongly blame students. C
34 Teachers scold their students when they don't listen. F
35 Teachers make bad comments on students' family when they criticize their students. B
36 Unable to answer the question, my teacher impatiently and coldly says “Sit down”. C
37 Classmates scold me, "You are a pig", "Garbage", "Stupid", and so on. B
38 Classmates give me nicknames or make fun of my image with unfriendly words. B
39 Classmates ridicule my school performance. C
40 Classmate infringe on my privacy, say something bad about me, and so on. B
41 Good friends ignored me completely when they have fun with others. C
42 Classmates show off their good exam score to provoke me. C
43 Classmates are uncivilized, throwing things casually, taking my things without asking me. E
44 Classmate tells others my secret. B
45 Classmate is selfish, without thinking of others. G
46 Classmates talk about my family members and family background in front of others. B
47 Classmates show off their superiority to others. E
48 Classmates hit others. E
Types of behavioral characteristics: A--recognition and acceptance; B--respect and self-esteem; C--warmth and
understanding; D--excessive involvement and protection; E--others' habits and characters; F--severe discipline and
punishment; G--equality and fairness.
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