Poster #47 - Mood Differences Following Dyadic Friend Conversation in Male and Female Adolescents

• In Event: Poster Session 16

Abstract

“Overcontrolled” people exhibit excessive inhibitory control and have an increased likelihood of experiencing high threat sensitivity, inhibited emotional expression, and involvement in aloof or distant relationships (Lynch, 2018a). An effective clinical approach to enhance feelings of social connectedness, especially for overcontrolled persons, is Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO DBT). One of the predominant skills of RO DBT is Match +1, which involves a scaffolding system for facilitating gradual disclosure of personal information (Lynch, 2018b). The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the Match +1 skill may be effective in improving feelings of social connectedness and mood in a normative sample of adolescents during a brief intervention. We hypothesized that the intervention would enhance feelings of social connectedness and mood, especially for those who are overcontrolled. We also predicted that these connectedness and mood benefits would be greater for females, given that, compared to males, they tend to place greater value on intimate relationships. The sample included 106 college students (56 female, 50 male, Mage = 19.54 years, SDage = 2.74, White = 87.7%, Two or More Races = 5.6%, Black = 2.8%, Asian = 2.8%, American Indian/Native American = 0.9%). Same-gender dyad members who knew one another participated virtually on Zoom in a conversational task with the option to use conversation prompts. Dyads were assigned to either the Match +1 condition, which involved prompts derived from the skill, or the control condition, which involved neutral prompts. Before conversing, participants rated their degree of overcontrol (AAQ-II; Bond et al., 2011), relationship quality (NRI-BSV; Furman & Buhrmester, 2009), and feelings of positive and negative mood (Hutcherson et al. 2008). Following the conversation, they again evaluated feelings of social connectedness and positive and negative mood. A mixed effects regression model was used to control for dependency, and participants' scores on questionnaires before the conversation were used as controls during analyses of social connectedness, positive mood, and negative mood after the intervention. Contrary to predictions, there was no significant Condition X Overcontrol interaction on social connectedness or mood. However, for both females and males, quality of relationship support significantly and positively predicted social connectedness following the conversation F(1, 84.536 = 27.195, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.43, 0.96]). This suggests that those with higher quality relationships are especially likely to benefit when using strategies to further enhance their relationship. For females only, those with higher relationship support scores reported more positive mood (p < .002) and less negative mood (p < .010) after the conversation. These findings indicate that while both male and female adolescents with high levels of support in their dyadic relationships experience enhanced social connectedness after conversation, female adolescents additionally experience increased positive mood and decreased negative mood. Perhaps females experience mood-related benefits following dyadic conversation because females expect more intimacy in their relationships, and when feeling greater social connectedness, this enhances mood. Males may not value social connection to the same degree, so even when enhanced, this may not have equivalent impact on their emotional experience.

Authors

• Jennifer E Hugg

• Daniella J Gelman, University of Maine - Orono

• Cynthia A Erdley, University of Maine - Orono
  Presenting Author