The Relation Between Academic Achievements, Peer Acceptance, and Self-Esteem Among Chinese Adolescents: A Dyadic Analysis of Best Friendships

Friendship becomes increasingly crucial during adolescence. Prior studies examining the relations between adolescents’ academic achievements and self-esteem have typically treated adolescents as isolated units. The current study considered adolescents’ embeddedness within crucial friendships, investigated the relation between best friends’ academic achievements and adolescents’ self-esteem within dyadic friendship frameworks, and examined the mediating role of peer acceptance. Participants were 157 same-gender best friend dyads (59.87% girls; M_age = 11.83 years) in Shanghai, China. Assessments of academic achievements, peer acceptance, and self-esteem were obtained from multiple sources, including teacher ratings, peer nominations, and self-reports, respectively. Results from the Actor-Partner Interdependence Analysis revealed that the academic achievements of both adolescents and their best friends positively predicted adolescents’ self-esteem. For adolescents’ own academic achievements, the positive association with their self-esteem was predominantly direct, when compared to the smaller indirect effect via peer acceptance. Whereas for best friends’ academic achievements, their positive association with adolescents’ self-esteem was predominantly indirect, mediated by best friends’ higher peer acceptance. The current study revealed a positive spillover effect of best friends’ academic achievements on adolescents’ self-esteem, an effect that was specifically associated with best friends’ peer acceptance rather than adolescents’ own peer acceptance. These findings highlight the importance of best friends in promoting Chinese adolescents’ psychological adjustment.