Who Plays a Bigger Part in Teenage Females’ Psychopathology? The Role of Parents and Peers’ Emotion Socialization

Abstract

<strong>Background:</strong> Along the cognitive and behavioral changes during adolescence, some changes emerge in the quality and quantity of teenage females' interactions. They spend increasing amount of time with their peers and begin to place more importance on their views and advice. Therefore, parents are not the exclusive source of emotional experiences in this period. On the other hand, emotion socialization is 1 of the factors that affect behavioral problems in this period. Despite the growing body of research which shows the effect of parents and peers' emotion socialization on children's psychopathology, there is no study in Iran to compare the role of parents and peers' emotion socialization in predicting teenage females' psychopathology. An understanding of the parental and peer influences on teenage females' behavioral problems might suggest directions for the focus of interventional programs and family training. <strong>Methods:</strong> For this purpose, 202 teenage females selected by the convenient sampling method from Shiraz high schools, Iran, completed the measure of emotion socialization (the emotions as a child; EAC2) scale, peer emotion socialization (you and your friends; YYF) scale, and adolescents' problem status (the youth self-report; YSR) questionnaire. <strong>Results:</strong> Results showed that reward was the most popular strategy that parents and peers used. Also, results showed that parents' magnification and negligence can significantly and positively predict teenage females' psychopathology (P value < 0.001). Parental emotional practices are also shown to have a more important role in prediction of teenage females' psychopathology. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Families should be viewed as central to the well-being of adolescents, and informed about their effect on their teenage females' behavioral problems. They should also be trained how to respond to their children emotions.