1-094 - Peer and Friend Socialization of Emotion in Adolescence

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Emotion socialization is a dynamic process through which youth learn culturally acceptable forms of emotional expression and the appropriate social context for these expressions. The norms for emotional expression and regulation are learned through various processes such as receiving positive and negative feedback to emotional expressivity from parents and peers. Although parents are considered the primary emotion socialization agents in childhood, peers begin to exert important socialization influences during adolescence. Friendships provide a context in which youth can practice and refine their emotion regulation skills within egalitarian, affectively intense interactions. The goal of this symposium is to present four papers that examine peer emotion socialization processes in adolescence. The first presentation examines the positive and negative effects of friendships and social support with links to psychological functioning among German adolescents at 3 time points (beginning and end of grade 7, and grade 9). The second study examines the mediating role of emotion regulation in the relation between five types of best friend emotion socialization strategies and symptoms of anxiety in adolescents over a 2-year period in the transition to high school. The third paper compares parent and peer coaching of adolescents’ sadness and anger to youths’ emotion regulation skills as moderated by levels of parental involvement. The fourth paper examines how adolescent emotional lability affects parent and peer socialization responses in 8th and 10th grades. These papers provide important insights into the importance of considering peer socialization of emotion and its links to subsequent socio-emotional and psychological functioning.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chair

• Janice Zeman, College of William & Mary

Individual Presentations

• Friendships Involvement and Social-Emotional Skills: Spiral Effects in Adolescence - Presenting Author: Maria von Salisch, Leuphana University Lueneburg

• Longitudinal Links Among Adolescent Friend Emotion Socialization, Emotion Regulation, and Anxiety Symptoms: The Role of Gender - Presenting Author: Kara Braunstein, University of Georgia; Janice Zeman, College of William & Mary; Alexandra Nordt, College of WIlliam & Mary; Natalee Price, College of WIlliam & Mary

• Associations between Peer and Parent Emotion Socialization and Emotion Regulation among Adolescent Girls from Low-Income Families - Presenting Author: Michael M. Criss, Oklahoma State University; Amanda Sheffield Morris, Oklahoma State University; Lixian Cui, Shanghai New York University

• Adolescent Emotional Lability Predicts Change in Parent and Friend Emotion Socialization From Early to Middle Adolescence - Presenting Author: Rachel Miller-Slough, Virginia Tech; Julie C. Dunsmore, Virginia Tech