Positive and Negative Emotion Regulation: The Role of Peer Affiliation

Adolescents who possess effective emotion regulation skills are more likely to feel better and show positive development. While the social context plays an important role in emotional experiences and emotion regulation, research is lacking on the influence of social context on emotion regulation effectiveness. By capturing dynamic within-person patterns of emotion regulation strategy (ERS) use and emotions in adolescents’ social contexts, this study investigated associations between positive and negative ERS use in the past hour and changes in both positive and negative emotions in the current moment. Additionally, we examined whether these relationships were moderated by peer affiliation, as measured by peer closeness and peer status. This study employed Experience Sampling Methods during 14 consecutive days in 291 Dutch adolescents, collected in Spring 2023 and 2024 (N observations = 6,685, 36.3% boys, 92.6% Dutch, mean age = 15.76, SDage = 0.70, age range = 14-19, compliance = 54.70%). Findings indicated that rumination, expression, and sharing of negative emotions were related to increases in negative emotions, whereas rumination, expression, and sharing of positive emotions related to increases in positive emotions. Although ERS use of negative emotions was not associated with positive emotions, rumination over positive emotions was associated with increases in negative emotions and expression of positive emotions with decreases in negative emotions. No moderation effects of peer closeness and peer status were identified. Results highlight that ERS use has distinct effects on positive and negative emotions, emphasizing the potential importance of encouraging the use of certain positive ERS to support adolescents' mental well-being.