The Link Between Emotion Regulation, Empathy and Conflict Frequency in the Social Relationships of Middle Adolescence

Recent literature suggests that high conflict frequency can be linked with emotion regulation difficulties. Therefore we examined the link between emotion regulation and conflict frequency in social relationships of middle adolescents (N = 105, siblings N = 100; Mage= 14.2; SDage = .71) and whether this link was mediated by empathy. We measured emotion regulation with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; John & Gross, 2003). Empathy was measured by three dimensions of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980, 1983), namely perspective taking, empathic concern and personal distress. We measured conflict frequency with mothers, siblings and peers with the Interpersonal Conflict Questionnaire (ICQ; Laursen, 1993). We used regression analyses in order to investigate the mediation model. There was a positive link between emotion regulation and perspective taking, and a negative link between emotion regulation and personal distress. Younger adolescents experienced a higher frequency of conflicts with peers. These results supported existing research on empathy and emotion regulation. It may also have created a new opening for research concerning empathy and emotion regulation