How Social Bonds Shape Girls’ Emotional Regulation

Do, Q. B., McKone, K. M. P., Hamilton, J. L., Stone, L. B., Ladouceur, C. D., & Silk, J. S. (2025). The link between adolescent girls’ interpersonal emotion regulation with parents and peers and depressive symptoms: A real-time investigation. Development and Psychopathology, 37(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423001359

Introduction

Early adolescence is a period when social worlds expand and emotional experiences intensify. Guided by social baseline theory which proposes the idea that humans regulate emotions more efficiently when socially connected. Do and colleagues (2025) examined whether feeling socially connected helps early adolescent girls recover from negative interpersonal experiences in daily life. Using real-time data, the authors explored how social context, comparing family versus peers, and co-regulatory support such as others helping regulate emotions can help shape this process.

Methods

The study analyzed 114 girls, average age of about 12 years old, participating in a 16-day ecological momentary assessment protocol. Girls reported three to four times daily on recent negative interpersonal interactions, their peak negative emotion during the event, , who was present, and their momentary sense of social connectedness. They also reported whether they received co-regulatory support like comforting or problem-solving. Social connectedness and context variables were person centered to examine both within-person fluctuations and between-person differences.

Results

Girls showed greater reductions in negative emotions when they felt more socially connected in the moment, indicating stronger emotional regulation. This regulatory benefit was stronger when peers were present and weaker when family members were present. Surprisingly, receiving co-regulatory support reduced the benefit of social connectedness; follow-up analyses revealed this weakening was driven primarily by instances of co-rumination, which prolonged distress.

Discussion

Findings reveal that social connectedness reliably supports emotion regulation, but its effectiveness depends on who is present and how support unfolds. Peers appear uniquely beneficial for recovery from negative interactions, however co-rumination may undermine regulation despite increasing perceived closeness.

Implications for Mentoring Programs

Mentoring programs can apply these findings by fostering stronger peer connectedness through structured group activities, training mentors to encourage adaptive co-regulation while reducing co-rumination, and providing youth with opportunities to practice emotion-regulation skills within supportive peer relationships.

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