Prospective Relations Between Adolescents' Social‐emotional Competencies and Their Friendships

Abstract

Little is known about what factors predict the formation of reciprocal same‐sex friendships during early adolescence. To examine whether social‐emotional competencies aid in establishing and maintaining these friendships at the beginning and end of seventh grade, 380 German youth (mean age = 12.6 years; 49 percent boys; 100 percent White) reported on their peer support networks and on three broad categories of social‐emotional competencies (i.e., non‐constructive anger regulation, constructive anger regulation, emotional awareness, and expression disclosure). Regression analyses indicated the number of reciprocal friendships at Time 2 (T2) was predicted by adolescents' constructive anger regulation through redirection of attention, and social support when angry at the friend, even after controlling for Time 1 number of friends and peer acceptance. Among girls, willingness to self‐disclose marginally predicted their number of reciprocal friends at T2. Results are discussed in terms of the specific social‐emotional competencies that facilitate involvement in reciprocal friendships.

The Interplay Between Adolescents' Friendships and the Exchange of Help: A Longitudinal Multiplex Social Network Study

“…Second, previous researchers have pointed out that help is more salient in girls' versus boys' friendships (Berndt, ; Bukowski et al., ; Hall, ). Self‐disclosure more often results in friendships among girls than among boys (Von Salisch, Zeman, Luepschen, & Kanevsi, ), and befriended girls help each other more often than befriended boys (Rose & Rudolph, ). Not surprisingly, girls also report higher levels of support in their friendships than boys (Bukowski et al., ; Colarossi, ).…”

Anger Regulation and Social Acceptance in Early Adolescence

“…Adolescence is a particularly important and interesting period of development to investigate ER because of the increasing importance of various social relationships, such as those within the peer group and within close friendships (e.g., Brechwald & Prinstein, 2011). Anger is a frequently experienced emotion, yet little is known about how adolescents manage its expression to meet social goals within the peer group and friendship contexts (von Salisch & Vogelgesang, 2005;von Salisch, Zeman, Luepschen, & Kanevski, 2014).…”

Using behavioral observation for the longitudinal study of anger regulation in middle childhood

“…Another study found cross-sectional and longitudinal relations between anger dysregulation (venting) and externalizing behavior (Morris et al, 2010). Regarding the peer context, anger regulation was identified as an important predictor of having reciprocal friendships (von Salisch et al, 2014).…”

“…That is, they have to learn the adaptive regulation of the emotional state of anger. There is a broad range of problems associated with maladaptive anger regulation, including aggressive behavior (e.g., Helmsen & Petermann, 2010), peer problems (e.g., von Salisch, Zeman, Luepschen, & Kanevski, 2014), and conduct problems (e.g., Morris, Silk, Steinberg, Terranova, & Kithakye, 2010).…”