Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies Predict Friendship Quality in Young Adolescents

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Cognitive emotion regulation (ER), or the cognitive process of managing the intake of emotional stimuli, is a predictor of anxiety and depression, as well as social functioning in early adolescents (e.g., Garfenski & Kraaij, 2006; Mihalca & Tarnavska, 2013). Research illustrates that friends can influence each other’s use of specific cognitive ER strategies (Reindl et al., 2016). However, we do not yet know whether certain cognitive ER responses may relate to the quality of the friendship. Early adolescence is a key time to examine these relations given the importance of friendships during this stage and their increasingly complex nature that requires more sophisticated ER skills. The present study tested whether gender moderated the relation between specific positive or negative ER strategies and their relation to friendship quality.
Participants were 209 middle-school-age adolescents (108 girls; Mage = 12.68 years, SD =1.01; 75% White, middle-class). Youth completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Garnefski et al., 2009) that evaluates negative cognitive ER strategies (rumination, catastrophizing, self-blame, other blame), and positive cognitive ER strategies (positive reappraisal, refocus on planning, perspective taking, acceptance). They also answered the short version of the Friendship Quality Questionnaire (Parker & Asher, 1993) that is comprised of six scales and is answered in reference to their best friend.
Three regression models were calculated; one for negative and one for positive cognitive ER strategies, and a third for global negative and positive cognitive ER strategies. Gender was a moderator. Age was analyzed as a covariate, but did not yield any significant effects on friendship quality. For negative ER strategies, the overall model was significant, F(9, 200) = 6.70, p = .001. There was a significant interaction of rumination with gender, b = .062, t(200) = 2.12, p = .04, such that rumination was significant for boys only, b = .078, t(204) = 3.39, p = .001. For positive cognitive ER strategies, the overall model was significant, F(9, 200) = 6.70, p = .001. No moderation effects emerged. A significant effect was found for positive reappraisal, b = .042, t(203) = 2.69, p = .01. When examining the contributions of global positive and negative cognitive ER strategies in the same model, the model was significant, F(5, 204) = 10.45, p = .001. Positive cognitive ER strategies significantly predicted friendship quality, b = .017, t(208) = 3.53, p = .001. There were no significant negative ER strategies nor any gender moderation effects.
These results provide evidence that specific types of cognitive ER strategies are associated with friendship quality in adolescents. Interestingly, rumination was associated with higher friendship quality for boys which dovetails other research which finds that higher co-rumination in boys is associated with higher emotional competency (Borowski & Zeman, in press). This suggests that while rumination is often associated with negative outcomes such as higher depression rates, these social-emotional processes might be less maladaptive for males, and may promote higher friendship quality. Thus, it is important to consider gender differences when determining how cognitive ER responses shape friendships during early adolescence.

Authors

• Jenna Barbara Marzougui, The College of William and Mary
  Presenting Author

• Janice L Zeman, William and Mary
  Non-Presenting Author