To explore the relationship between the parent-child relationship perceived by parents and students of junior high school and students' internalization problems, so as to provide a pathway for the prevention and control of students' internalization problems.

In June 2023, a convenience cluster sampling method and a matching method between students and their fathers/mothers were used to select 965 pairs of students and their fathers (or mothers) from three junior high schools in Guizhou Province, and the Middle School Student's Parent-Child Relationship Questionnaire (parent and student edition) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (student edition) were used to measure the perception of parent-child relationship by parents and students and the internalization problems of students. The response surface analysis method was used to analyze the relationships between parents' and students' perceptions of parent-child relationship and students' internalization problems.

The comparison of standardized scores revealed that 58.44% of parents and junior high school students had different perceptions of parent-child relationship. After controlling for students' gender, students' grade, and parents' education level, the results showed that when the parent-child relationship perceived by parents and students was congruent, the students' internalization problems increased with the decrease of parent-child relationship level (a₁=-0.43, 95%CI=-0.62 to -0.25, P < 0.05). When the parent-child relationship perceived by parents and students was incongruent, and the parent-child relationship perceived by parents was higher than that of students, students' internalization problems were more (a₃=-0.36, 95%CI=-0.51 to -0.19, P < 0.05).

Students' internalization problems are closely related to perceptions of parent-child relationship. Improving the quality of the parent-child relationship and paying attention to the differences in perception of the parent-child relationship are helpful for evaluating and intervening in the internalization problems of junior high school students.