Young adolescents’ emotional and regulatory responses to positive life events: Investigating temperament, attachment, and event characteristics

Abstract

Very little is known about what factors predict variations in responses to positive events among youth. Consequently, we examined young adolescents’ positive emotional reactions and their savoring and dampening responses to their most intense positive event across a four-day period. The investigated predictors were parent-reported adolescent temperament, adolescent-reported attachment security with mothers and fathers, and researcher-coded event characteristics. The sample was 56 youth (31 boys, 10–14 years of age). More support was found for temperament than attachment. Specifically, effortful control predicted more savoring and sustained positive affect (PA) about the events, whereas negative emotionality predicted more dampening. Adolescents’ reports of more secure attachment to fathers were marginally linked to more savoring of their positive event. Girls reported higher levels of initial PA yet endorsed more dampening responses than boys. Event type (interpersonal vs. not) was unrelated to responses to the events. Overall, this study offers new information on the development of PA regulation and responses to positive events in youth.

Keywords:

• positive events
• positive emotions
• attachment
• temperament
• gender
• children
• adolescents
• savor
• maximize
• minimize
• dampen
• capitalize
• coping

Acknowledgment

Authors would like to thank the participating families who generously donated their time to help with our research.

Notes

1. The model predicting savoring without controlling for initial PA indicated a significant effect for attachment security with fathers, B = 0.63, SE = 0.30, t(49) = 2.07, and p = 0.044.