Peer emotion socialization and somatic complaints in adolescents

Somatic symptoms tend to increase during early adolescence and although youth's social environments and emotional functioning play a role in somatic symptoms, few studies have examined mechanisms through which social interaction could influence youth's somatic wellbeing. Participants were 132 youth (61.6% girls, Mage = 12.61 years, 84.7% Caucasian) and their mothers. Reciprocated best-friend dyads participated in a video-taped problem discussion task to assess peer emotion socialization responses. Two supportive friend responses (i.e., emotion-focused, problem-focused) and two unsupportive responses (i.e., punitive, neglect) were examined. Mothers reported on their child's somatic complaints. Friends who provided emotion-focused, problem-focused, punitive, and neglect responses to their close friend's emotional disclosures had significantly fewer somatic symptoms. However, youth who received punitive responses to their emotional disclosures from their close friends had more somatic complaints. These findings provide initial evidence of a link between emotion socialization responses within close friendships and somatic complaints in early adolescence.