The development of emotion regulation in adolescence: What do we know and where to go next?

Abstract

Emotion regulation is critical for adolescent functioning. Theories on the subject have evolved rapidly in recent years and have led to a more contextualized and dynamic conceptualization of emotion regulation processes. In this paper, based on the distinction between emotion regulation strategies and abilities, we propose future directions for research on emotion regulation development in adolescence. We first present evidence that emotional, cognitive, and social changes that occur in adolescence are central in emotion regulation development. We then review empirical findings on emotion regulation development by tying them to their conceptual foundations. We discuss their limitations and argue that building better conceptual clarity is essential to study emotion regulation. Because current knowledge on recent concepts that emerged in adult‐based models remains limited and contested in adolescence, we end this article by discussing new research perspectives to provide a better understanding of the topic. We stress the need for researchers in the field to adopt a more contextualized and person‐oriented approach, to combine different time scales and methods, and examine the predictors of emotion regulation as well as its outcomes.

Relationships between emotion regulation strategies and executive functions in adolescence: Exploring the effects of discrete emotions and age

“…Although their use is considered stable across emotional situations, most studies on ER in adolescence have examined only a few strategies. It is therefore essential to conduct studies that examine the role of discrete emotions in adolescents' ER (De France & Hollenstein, 2022; Fombouchet, Pineau, et al, 2023).…”

Becoming Connected - Adolescent Social-Cognitive Development in the Peer Context

“…Furthermore, not only characteristics of the individual adolescent, but the social context in which adolescents' need to regulate themselves strongly influences the extent to which adolescents are able to use their regulatory abilities (Fombouchet et al, 2023). Previous research for example suggests that selfregulation and social relationships are bidirectionally associated.…”

“…That is, lower self-regulatory abilities can negatively affect social relationships and these negative relationships may further deplete self-regulatory abilities (Farley & Kim-Spoon, 2014). Therefore, it has been proposed that the development of the ability to regulate one's emotion needs to be investigated in parallel to the propensity to employ different emotion regulation strategies in various contexts (Fombouchet et al, 2023).…”