Who Gets by with Help from Friends? Multilevel Associations Between Loneliness, Friend Support, and Emotion Regulation in Adolescents with and Without Self-Injury

23/10/2026

AI Summary

Loneliness strongly correlates with greater emotion dysregulation both between individuals and when adolescents feel lonelier than their own average.
Within-person increases in friend support link to reduced emotion dysregulation, showing momentary protective effects.
Between individuals, higher average friend support associated with less dysregulation only for adolescents without NSSI, signalling need for targeted clinical attention.

TL;DR (AI Generated)

Results from multilevel regression models indicated that loneliness and emotion dysregulation were positively associated, both on average across timepoints (between-person) and in terms of deviations from adolescents' average levels of loneliness at each timepoint (within-person).

At the between-person level, higher average levels of friend support were only associated with less emotion dysregulation in adolescents with no history of NSSI.

The lack of negative association between emotion dysregulation and support from friends in adolescents with NSSI underscores the need for additional clinical attention for this group of youth to better understand interpersonal risk and protective processes.

Basic summary

Soc Dev. 2026 Aug;35(3):e70079. doi: 10.1111/sode.70079. Epub 2026 Jul 7.

ABSTRACT

Adolescence is a life period marked by increased emotionality, and, for some, volatile friendships and emotion dysregulation. Yet little research has examined peer processes in relation to adolescent emotion dysregulation from a dynamic perspective. This 3-wave longitudinal study examined two peer-related processes – loneliness and friend support – in association with emotion dysregulation with data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, we examined if these associations differed in those who had histories of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), a behavior known to be associated with emotion dysregulation. The sample included U.S. adolescents assigned female at birth (N=91; M _age= 15.92) who were oversampled for a history of NSSI (62%). Results from multilevel regression models indicated that loneliness and emotion dysregulation were positively associated, both on average across timepoints (between-person) and in terms of deviations from adolescents’ average levels of loneliness at each timepoint (within-person). At the within-person level, friend support and emotion dysregulation were negatively associated. At the between-person level, higher average levels of friend support were only associated with less emotion dysregulation in adolescents with no history of NSSI. When both processes were included in the model, loneliness remained significantly associated with emotion dysregulation. Results indicate that feeling lonely is strongly related to emotion dysregulation in adolescent females. The lack of negative association between emotion dysregulation and support from friends in adolescents with NSSI underscores the need for additional clinical attention for this group of youth to better understand interpersonal risk and protective processes.

PMID:42903625 | PMC:PMC13681337 | DOI:10.1111/sode.70079

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