Associations between Emotion Regulation and Adolescent Adjustment Difficulties: Moderating Effects of Parents and Peers

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the association between emotion regulation and adolescent adjustment and whether parent and peer factors moderated this link. The sample consisted of 206 families with 10–18-year-old adolescents from predominantly ethnic minority and low-income families. We assessed emotion regulation and antisocial behavior (via parent and adolescent reports); depressive symptoms were based on youth reports. In addition, we examined the following moderators: observed parent-adolescent relationship quality and youth reports of parental emotion coaching, peer prosocial behavior, and peer-youth openness. Findings indicated that emotion regulation was negatively and significantly related to adolescent antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms. Evidence for moderating effects was found for antisocial behavior but not depressive symptoms. Specifically, the link between youth emotion regulation and antisocial behavior was attenuated under high levels of parent-child relationship quality and peer prosocial behavior. Implications for emotion socialization among adolescents from low-income families are discussed. Highlights Investigated whether the link between adolescent emotion regulation and adjustment was moderated by parent and peer factors. Evidence for moderation was found in the prediction of adolescent antisocial behavior but not depressive symptoms. The link between emotion regulation and antisocial behavior was attenuated under high levels of parent–youth relationship quality. The association between emotion regulation and antisocial behavior was attenuated under high levels of peer prosocial behavior.