Premium
Prospective Relations Between Adolescents' Social‐emotional Competencies and Their Friendships
Author(s) -
Salisch Maria,
Zeman Janice,
Luepschen Nadine,
Kanevski Rimma
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
social development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.078
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1467-9507
pISSN - 0961-205X
DOI - 10.1111/sode.12064
Subject(s) - psychology , anger , reciprocal , constructive , developmental psychology , friendship , peer relations , social psychology , emotional regulation , emotional expression , peer group , process (computing) , linguistics , philosophy , computer science , operating system
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 G erman youth (mean age = 12.6 years; 49 percent boys; 100 percent W hite) 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 T ime 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 T ime 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.