Longitudinal Associations between Unpredictability in Adolescence and Social Connectedness in Young Adulthood: The Roles of Emotion Regulation and Executive Functioning

If you would like to use the data, please contact us.The study examined whether cognitive reappraisal and executive functioning may mediate the links between unpredictability experienced in adolescence and social connectedness in young adulthood, evaluating distinct effects on functional and structural measures of social connectedness. The sample included 167 adolescents (47% girls) who were assessed at six time points (mean ages were 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, and 22 during each time point), beginning in early adolescence (Mage = 14 years) and ending in young adulthood (Mage = 22 years). Adolescents and their respective caregivers each reported on their perceived household chaos at Time 1 (ages 14-15), where data from the first two time points were averaged together. Adolescents reported on emotion regulation strategy (i.e., cognitive reappraisal) and completed behavioral tasks assessing executive functioning (i.e., working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility) at Time 2 (ages 16-17), and reported on social connectedness at Time 3 (ages 21-22). The results of testing the hypothesized mediation model using structural equation modeling indicated that household chaos was predictive of lower cognitive reappraisal use and lower executive functioning. In turn, lower cognitive reappraisal was statistically predictive of lower social connectedness in young adulthood. Significant indirect effects were found from household chaos to lower social connectedness through less frequent cognitive reappraisal. The findings highlight the importance of adolescent cognitive reappraisal in the maintenance of young adult social connectedness.