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Objective: To develop a theoretically grounded measure of self-perceived ability to cope with stress in a flexible (i.e. non-rigid) manner and test associations with well-being. Method: Participants in Study 1 (N = 395, 17-56 years) completed surveys to report flexible coping with stress and well-being. In Studies 2 (N = 645, 17-27 years) and 3 (N = 558, 12-19 years), youth completed surveys with the 18-item Self-Perception of Flexible Coping with Stress (SFCS), and coping and well-being measures. Results: Three SFCS factors were supported, which aligned to the conceptualization including multiple coping strategy use (multiple CSU), coping rigidity, and situational coping. The SFCS subscales had good reliability and were modestly correlated with each other. Also, multiple CSU and situational coping were linked to better mental health, emotion regulation, greater use of adaptive coping strategies, and better self-worth. Coping rigidity was linked with more symptoms of anxiety and depression, more emotion dysregulation, greater use of problem-coping behaviors, and lower self-worth. Older participants reported they were higher in flexible coping and sex differences in multiple CSU and situational coping were found. Conclusions. The SFCS, a measure of the deployment of a coping "toolbox" that could allow individuals to respond adroitly to stressors, is reliable, valid, and associated with well-being.

Emotion and the modulation of emotion are inherently human processes with which all readers of this entry will have intimate experience. Yet, defining and measuring emotion regulation, particularly in children, is a vastly more complicated task than it may at first seem. This entry introduces some of the key theoretical perspectives that underpin the understanding of emotion regulation, and presents important conceptual and developmental considerations that, together, result in a great diversity of ways in which emotion regulation is defined, conceptualized, and measured. It provides a summary of the four methods of assessing emotion regulation in children, including a discussion of the strengths and limitations of each, and a review of some of the more widely used measures.

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Social media use links with 2 major concerns of adolescents, namely, appearance and comparing favorably with others. Founded on theory, our purpose was to develop a reliable and valid measure of appearance preoccupation online, the Social Media Appearance Preoccupation Scale (SMAPS). In Study 1 (N ϭ 283 Grade 9 -12 students), Australian adolescents completed surveys containing 21 SMAPS items. After psychometric analyses, 18 retained items loaded highly on factors tapping (a) online self-presentation, (b) appearance-related activity online, or (c) appearance comparison. The items loading on each factor had high interitem correlations, and girls had higher SMAPS scores than boys. In Study 2 (N ϭ 327 Australian university students Ͻ26 years), the SMAPS was confirmed and validated with a range of measures of social media use, emotional adjustment, appearance concerns, and social behaviors. Factor loadings were invariant by gender, SMAPS subscale scores had very small correlations with age, and incremental validity was tested and supported. Additionally, SMAPS subscale scores interacted with general social media use, adding to the explanation of appearance anxiety. The SMAPS will be a useful resource for the study of appearance-related social media use and interactions with friends and others online.

Most adolescents and young adults navigate seamlessly between offline and online social environments, and interactions in each environment brings with it opportunities for appearance concerns and preoccupation, as well as victimization and teasing about appearance. Yet, research

Rejection sensitivity is a bias toward expecting rejection that can result from negative social experiences and degrade emotional adjustment. In this study, rejection sensitivity was expected to predict patterns of adolescent social anxiety over 5 years when considered alongside other known or expected risk and protective factors: peer rejection (peer-reported), emotion dysregulation, self-worth, temperament (parent-reported), female gender, and grade. Participants were 377 Australian students (45% boys; 79% White, 15% Asian) aged 10 to 13 years ( M = 12.0, SD = .90) and their parents (84%) who completed seven repeated surveys across 5 years. In an unconditional latent growth model, social anxiety symptoms had a significant quadratic pattern of growth, with symptoms increasing about midway into the study when adolescents were age 14, on average. In a model with all predictors, rejection sensitivity was uniquely associated with a higher intercept and a more pronounced quadratic growth pattern of social anxiety symptoms. Other predictors of growth in symptoms were the temperamental trait of negativity affectivity and emotion dysregulation; negative affectivity was associated with a higher intercept and a more pronounced quadratic pattern, and emotion dysregulation was associated with a higher intercept and a less pronounced quadratic pattern. Gender was associated with the intercept, with girls higher in symptoms than boys.

Introduction: Adolescents and young adults who overemphasize the social values placed on an attractive appearance may develop body dysmorphic symptoms (BDS), deined as overpreoccupation with perceived appearance laws and repetitive behaviors to conceal the laws. Further, research has found that a heightened expectation of judgement and rejection by others because of appearance (i.e., appearance-based rejection sensitivity [appearance-RS]) is both a maintaining and an aggravating factor in BDS. This study focused on emotion regulation (ER), appearance-related support from others and self-acceptance, expecting they would buffer the negative impact of appearance-RS on BDS. Methods: Participants included 782 Australian high school and young university students, aged 14-28 years (M = 17.94 years, 40% male) who completed a survey to report their BDS, appearance-RS, ER, appearance-related support from others and self-acceptance. Results: Multiple regression analyses revealed that youth reported more BDS when they were higher in appearance-RS but reported less self-acceptance, ER, and support from others. Further, the association between appearance-RS and BDS was weaker when young people reported higher (relative to lower) ER and support from others. However, when three-way interactions with gender were tested, these buffering effects were only signiicant for young men. Conclusion: Findings suggest that ER and appearance-related support from important others are promising targets for intervention, given they could mitigate the risk of appearance-RS in young men. However, further research is needed to consider additional factors that buffer against the negative effects of appearance-RS on BDS for young women.Given societal messages about the value of an attractive physical appearance, many adolescents experience symptoms of body dysmorphia, deined as excessive preoccupation with perceived appearance defects accompanied by repetitive and even compulsive behaviors as attempts to avoid experiencing the distress associated with facing this perceived defect (e.g.