The association between parent-child communication and adolescents’ non-cognitive abilities: An examination of the chain mediating effect

Minghan Cai; Huijie Guo; Dailong Fang; Yao Zheng; Weifeng Guo; Zhengmei Lin; Zhiqiang Zheng

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0338946

Peer Review History

Original SubmissionJuly 31, 2025
11 Sep 2025 Decision Letter - Henri Tilga, Editor Dear Dr. Guo, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Please submit your revised manuscript by Oct 26 2025 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'. 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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript. Kind regards, Henri Tilga, PhD Academic Editor PLOS ONE Journal Requirements: 1. When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements.-->--> -->-->Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at -->-->https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and -->-->https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf-->--> -->-->2. 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If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] Reviewers' comments: Comments to the Author 1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? Reviewer #1: Yes ******** 2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?> Reviewer #1: No ****** 3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??> The PLOS Data policy Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??> Reviewer #1: No ****** Reviewer #1: This manuscript explores the relationship between parent-child communication and adolescents’ non-cognitive abilities, with a focus on the mediating roles of social support and physical exercise. 1.The rationale for the chain mediation hypothesis (social support → physical exercise → non-cognitive abilities) is underdeveloped. While prior studies are cited, the theoretical mechanism is not sufficiently clear. Please expand the theoretical discussion, perhaps drawing on Self-Determination Theory or Ecological Systems Theory, to clarify why social support should lead to more physical exercise, which in turn enhances non-cognitive abilities. 2.The results show that the chain mediating effect of physical exercise is relatively small. This is an important finding, but it is currently under-explained. It is suggested to conduct an in-depth analysis of the reasons, such as the high academic pressure on students under the Chinese education system, the limitation of exercise time, or the priority given to academic investment by families, and further propose educational and policy implications." 3.The abstract is overly detailed, reporting multiple coefficients and percentages. Consider simplifying by emphasizing the main results and contributions, while moving detailed statistics into the Results section. 4.The review of social support and physical exercise includes overlapping points and lengthy descriptions. Streamlining these sections would improve readability and sharpen the theoretical contribution. Some references are incomplete or inconsistently formatted. Please carefully check against journal guidelines. ****** what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files. If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public. Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy Reviewer #1: No ******** [NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.] While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. 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Revision 1
28 Oct 2025 Author Response Reviewer#1 Comment 1: The rationale for the chain mediation hypothesis (social support → physical exercise → non-cognitive abilities) is underdeveloped. While prior studies are cited, the theoretical mechanism is not sufficiently clear. Please expand the theoretical discussion, perhaps drawing on Self-Determination Theory or Ecological Systems Theory, to clarify why social support should lead to more physical exercise, which in turn enhances non-cognitive abilities. Response 1: Line 127-134,page 6 We sincerely thank the reviewer for this valuable comment. In the revised manuscript, we have expanded the theoretical discussion of the chain mediation hypothesis by incorporating Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to clarify the underlying mechanism linking social support, physical exercise, and non-cognitive abilities. Specifically, we now argue that social support satisfies adolescents’ basic psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy, which fosters the internalization of positive attitudes toward physical activity and strengthens intrinsic motivation for participation. In turn, sustained engagement in physical exercise provides opportunities for the development of perseverance, emotional regulation, teamwork, and self-control, key dimensions of non-cognitive abilities. These theoretical additions help clarify why social support promotes physical exercise and how this process ultimately contributes to adolescents’ non-cognitive development, thus addressing the reviewer’s concern regarding the theoretical foundation of the mediation pathway. Comment 2: The results show that the chain mediating effect of physical exercise is relatively small. This is an important finding, but it is currently under-explained. It is suggested to conduct an in-depth analysis of the reasons, such as the high academic pressure on students under the Chinese education system, the limitation of exercise time, or the priority given to academic investment by families, and further propose educational and policy implications. Response 2: Line 376-396, page 20 We sincerely appreciate the reviewer’s insightful comment. In the revised manuscript, we have substantially expanded the discussion to provide a more in-depth interpretation of why the chain mediating effect of physical exercise appears relatively small. Specifically, we have added an analysis of several contextual factors in China’s educational and family systems that may weaken the linkage between social support and physical exercise. These include the high academic pressure under a competitive education system, the limited discretionary time for physical activity, and families’ prioritization of academic investment as a primary means of upward mobility. We have also discussed the limited availability of structured extracurricular sports programs and the potential temporal lag in parental influence on adolescents’ exercise participation. Furthermore, we have incorporated corresponding educational and policy implications, emphasizing the need to balance academic and physical development through school-level curriculum reforms and family- and community-based initiatives. These revisions collectively provide a more comprehensive and theoretically grounded explanation for the small chain mediation effect and enhance the practical relevance of our findings. Comment 3: The abstract is overly detailed, reporting multiple coefficients and percentages. Consider simplifying by emphasizing the main results and contributions, while moving detailed statistics into the Results section. Response 3: Line 23-30 page 1 Thank you for your valuable suggestion. Following your advice, we have revised the abstract by removing excessive statistical details such as coefficients and effect sizes, which are now presented in the Results section. The abstract has been streamlined to emphasize the main findings and overall contributions of the study, making it more concise and reader-friendly. Comment 4: The review of social support and physical exercise includes overlapping points and lengthy descriptions. Streamlining these sections would improve readability and sharpen the theoretical contribution. Some references are incomplete or inconsistently formatted. Please carefully check against journal guidelines. Response 4: Line 84-92+102-116, page 4-5 We sincerely thank the reviewer for this valuable suggestion. In the revised manuscript, we have streamlined and restructured the sections on social support and physical exercise to enhance coherence and readability. Specifically, we removed overlapping content, reduced redundant descriptions, and reorganized the theoretical logic to better align with the hypothesized mediation model. The discussion of social support now focuses on its conceptual definition, sources (family, teachers, peers), and psychological mechanisms through which it influences adolescents’ non-cognitive abilities, with a concise link to parent-child communication. The section on physical exercise has been refined to highlight two primary transmission channels—cognitive transmission and behavioral synchronization—through which parent-child communication affects adolescents’ exercise participation, followed by a clearer articulation of how exercise contributes to non-cognitive development from a bio-psycho-social and ecological systems perspective. Additionally, all references have been carefully reviewed and reformatted in strict accordance with the journal’s citation style to ensure consistency and completeness. These revisions significantly improve the manuscript’s theoretical clarity, logical flow, and overall readability. Attachments Attachment Submitted filename: Rebuttal Letter.docx https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338946.r002
30 Nov 2025 Decision Letter - Henri Tilga, Editor The association between parent-child communication and adolescents’ non-cognitive abilities: an examination of the chain mediating effect PONE-D-25-40105R1 Dear Dr. Zheng, We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements. Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication. An invoice will be generated when your article is formally accepted. Please note, if your institution has a publishing partnership with PLOS and your article meets the relevant criteria, all or part of your publication costs will be covered. Please make sure your user information is up-to-date by logging into Editorial Manager at Editorial Manager® and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. For questions related to billing, please contact billing support . If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. Kind regards, Henri Tilga, PhD Academic Editor PLOS ONE Additional Editor Comments (optional): Reviewers' comments: Reviewer's Responses to Questions Comments to the Author Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed ******** 2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions??> Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?> Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??> The PLOS Data policy Reviewer #1: Yes ****** 5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??> Reviewer #1: Yes ****** Reviewer #1: Although I still have doubts about the sampling in this study, it does not affect my decision. I recommend accepting this paper. ****** what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files. If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public. Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy Reviewer #1: No ******** https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338946.r003
Formally Accepted
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