Harsh parenting incorporates both emotional and physical maltreatment of children. Research evidence has linked harsh parenting to the development of adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Less is known about harsh parenting's influence on positive outcomes such as prosocial behavior. One way harsh parenting might incur the development of negative psychological outcomes and deter positive behaviors is by damaging adolescents' belief that they matter to their parents. This study proposes that mattering to both mothers and fathers mediates the relationship between harsh parenting and adolescent outcomes. It was hypothesized that both mothers' and fathers' harsh parenting would show a negative relation to mattering, which in turn would be negatively related to internalizing and externalizing problems and positively related to positive behaviors. The generalizability of this model was tested across ethnic groups, child gender and family types (step or intact), with no expected difference between groups. This study used a multi-site community sample with 392 adolescents from 11-14 years old. The sample had almost equal groups of genders, Euro-Americans and Mexican-Americans, and intact (biological fathers) and stepfamilies (stepfathers). Adolescents were assessed in three waves over 4 years. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and estimate a model in which mattering to parents mediated the relation of harsh parenting to adolescent outcomes. The chi-square test and three additional fit indices revealed that the overall model fit the data marginally well. Surprisingly, neither mother's nor father's harsh parenting was related to mattering to either parent. As predicted, mattering to father, was significantly related in the anticipated manner to all outcomes variables. However, there was no relationship between mattering to mother and any outcome variable. The only tests of mediation that showed significance were father's mattering at wave 1, father's mattering at wave 2, and adolescent outcomes. Model invariance across ethnicity, gender and family type were tested. Group differences were only found across ethnicity. Probing suggested that the relations between mattering and outcomes were stronger for Euro-Americans than for Mexican-Americans. The lack of mediation between harsh discipline, mattering, and outcomes are further explored in the discussion section.