About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 22. Social Relationships

Abstract

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During adolescence, peers become a pivotal source of support and self-worth (Chua et al., 2017; Wentzel et al., 2016). When youth experience healthy, supportive friendships, they can build mutual trust, experience acceptance, and receive emotional help (Bauminger et al., 2008; Hartup, 1992). These supportive friendship contexts ultimately reduce youths’ risk for depression (van Harmelen et al., 2016). Because friendships serve a pivotal role in healthy emotional development and overall well-being, friendship quality may contribute to the extent to which adolescents believe in their ability to manage their own emotions (emotion regulation self-efficacy; ERSE). Specifically, higher levels of friendship support may lead adolescents to be exposed to more effective emotion regulation tendencies and experience more emotional acceptance from friends, leading to higher ERSE (Hypothesis 1). In turn, higher levels of ERSE may protect adolescents from depressive symptoms (Hypothesis 2). Furthermore, explicitly instructing youth about the malleability of emotions may enhance their ability to capitalize on the benefits of their friends’ emotional support and recommended coping strategies, leading to greater ERSE (Hypothesis 3). We explored whether participating in a growth emotion mindset (GEM) intervention moderated the proposed pathway from friendship support to depressive symptoms via ERSE. Given that adolescent girls tend to endorse more connection-oriented goals and receive more affection and validation from friends than do boys (Claes, 1992; Rose & Rudolph, 2006), this study aimed to examine these novel hypotheses in a sample of adolescent girls using a longitudinal three-wave design.

Participants were 163 adolescent girls (Mage = 15.68 years, SD = 1.08; 66.3% White; 10.4% Black; 10.4% multi-racial/other, 8.5% Asian, 4.3% Latinx/e) recruited from schools in the Midwest region of the United States. At baseline and two- and four-month follow ups, adolescents reported on friendship quality, ERSE, and recent depressive symptoms. Half of the girls participated in a GEM intervention designed to teach adolescents about the malleability of emotions (mindset lesson); the other half received a control brain education lesson.

Path analyses were conducted to examine the indirect effects of friendship quality on depressive symptoms via ERSE (Figure 1). Multigroup path analyses and chi-square difference tests were used to assess for lesson differences (mindset vs. control). The model significantly differed across lesson, Δχ2(8) = 17.65 p = 0.024; thus, all paths were unconstrained across the two groups. Findings for the mindset group were consistent with hypotheses: Friendship support predicted higher levels of ERSE, and higher levels of ERSE protected against depressive symptoms (Figure 1). Moreover, there was a significant indirect effect of friendship support on depressive symptoms via ERSE, B = -0.11 (.05), 95% CI: [-.21, -.04]. In contrast, there were no significant effects for the control group. These results suggest that supportive friendships may promote teenage girls’ beliefs in their ability to regulate their emotions, thereby decreasing their risk of depressive symptoms. Interestingly, this study also shows that girls who underwent a GEM intervention benefit more from friendship support, suggesting that mindset interventions may be effective in enhancing adolescents’ confidence in their emotion regulation abilities.

Author information

Author	Role
Rebekah B. Clapham, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Presenting author
Erin E. Wood, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Non-presenting author
Wendy Troop-Gordon, Auburn University	Non-presenting author
Wendy Heller, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Non-presenting author
Karen D. Rudolph, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Non-presenting author

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