Introduction: Coping Alone, Coping Together: The Socialization of Emotion Regulation and Coping Within Adolescent Friendships

ABSTRACT

The following research quartet uncovers friendship features associated with adolescents' regulation of, and responses to, emotion and ways of coping with stress. The studies are founded in developmental frameworks of the development of coping, and in functionalist and developmental conceptualizations of emotionality, emotion regulation and ways of coping. Moreover, to better isolate and draw conclusions about the role of friendship, all studies concentrated on additional factors that could account for variation in friendship interactions or modify the role of friends in emotion regulation and ways of coping with stress. Study 1 (Rudolph et al.) examined whether co‐regulation processes within adolescent friendships, including co‐rumination and co‐reappraisal, explain friendship quality and internalizing symptoms, also examining the role of gender. Study 2 (Zare et al.) observed adolescent friends talking about a problem and identified how pre‐existing ways of coping might shape the interactions and perceptions following problem talk. Study 3 (Hale et al.) investigated whether adolescents’ expectations of how their friends would respond to emotion depended on emotion type, gender, and age. Finally, Study 4 (Klimes‐Dougan et al.) investigated longitudinal associations of girls' friendship support and loneliness with emotion dysregulation, considering whether pre‐existing distress (non‐suicidal self‐injury) would moderate these associations. Overall, the studies reveal central ways that adolescents are involved in their friends' stressors and emotions. Given the important roles of emotion regulation and coping in well‐being and social development across the lifespan, the potential powerful influence of peer relationships deserves more research attention.