The Benefits of Regulating Emotions: Predictions from Adolescent Emotional Repair to Multiple Domains of Young Adult Adjustment. Elenda T. Hessel, Megan M. Schad, Emily Loeb, & Joseph P. Allen University of Virginia. We would like to thank the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development for funding awarded to Joseph P. Allen, Principal Investigator, (9 R01 HD A11) for funding to conduct this study as well as for the write-up of this study. Introduction Premises: The transition from adolescence to adulthood represents a crucial shift, as individuals begin to be seen as autonomous, responsible, and independent. However, the role of many childhood and adolescent factors in predicting how individuals will weather this transition remain unknown. Emotion regulation, and specifically the ability to repair ones mood when it is low, may be a crucial factor in predicting how adolescents navigate this sometimes trying transition. Adolescents who are able to repair negative emotions may be less negatively impacted by bumps on the road to adulthood, and thus may be better able to adapt to the shift in demands resultant in entering this new stage. Why Emotion Regulation? It is widely accepted that emotion regulation plays an integral role in many dimensions of functioning in both childhood and adulthood, including social, emotional, and academic functioning. Moreover, emotion regulation has been found to predict changes over time in aspects of adolescents lives, including their mental health and interpersonal relationships. However, very little is known what about how emotion regulation abilities during childhood or adolescence may relate to longer-term functioning, such as during the transition to adulthood. Hypotheses. Emotional Repair at 15 will predict adolescents happiness at age 21. Emotional Repair at age 15 will predict aspects of adolescents academic and vocational functioning at age 21. Emotional Repair at age 15 will predict adolescents interpersonal functioning at age 21. Method Conclusions Results Participants Multi-method longitudinal data were obtained from 148 teenagers along with their mothers. 58% Caucasian, 29% African American, and 13% Mixed or Other ethnicity. Median household income was within the $40,000 to $59,000 range.. Target teen mean age was years at Time 1, and at Time 2. Procedures. Time 1 - At age 15, adolescent filled out questionnaires about their emotion regulation tendencies. Time 2 – When the adolescents were 21, their mothers filled out questionnaires about their child’s adjustment across a variety of domains as young adults. Measures. Emotional Repair Adolescents completed a self-report measure of emotional repair using the “Repair” subscale of the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (Salovey, et al, 1995). This subscale has six items, such as “I try to think good thoughts no matter how badly I feel” and “When I become upset I remind myself of all the pleasures in life”. The responses were given on a 5-point likert scale, with possible responses ranging from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly disagree”. Positively valenced items were reverse coded. The repair subscale has been well validated in other research (see Fernandez-Berrocal, et al., 2006), and it showed good internal consistency in this sample (Cronbach’s α =.82). Emotional, Academic, Professional, and Interpersonal Adjustment Mother rated adjustment at age 21 was assessed on multiple dimensions using the Young Adult Adjustment Scale, (Capaldi, King, & Wilson, 1992). This 52- item measure asked mothers to rate how true a statement was about their child on a 5-point likert scale, ranging from “Almost Always True” to “Almost Never True”. The items were broken down into subscales, and for this study, scales indexing positive peer relationships, positive academic/professional ambition, happiness, antisocial behavior, and positive work performance, were used. Cronbach’s α for these subscales range from.70 to.84. Adolescents’ emotional repair may predict their functioning across various domains up to seven years later, as they transition into adulthood. It may be that adolescents capable of regulating their emotions have more resources left to direct toward areas such as success at work and in interpersonal relationships. Future Directions Does this advantage persist and lead to better adjustment in later adulthood? Do emotion regulation abilities earlier in childhood also predict success or lack thereof during the transition to adulthood? Results revealed that adolescents’ emotional repair abilities at 15 predicted their mothers’ reports of their functioning across a variety of domains seven years later. Overall, adolescents’ emotion regulation predicted greater happiness (β=.27, p<.01, Table 1), more positive work performance (β=.25, p<.01, Table 2), greater academic and professional ambition (β=.16, p≤.05, Table 3), more positive peer relationships (β=.19, p<.05, Table 4), and less antisocial behavior (β=-.19, p<.05, Table 5), as reported by mothers. Each of these predictions was obtained after accounting for adolescents’ gender and their family-of-origin’s income.