Investigator: Catherine E. Cook, Rhode Island College

Collaborative Mentor: Laura Stroud, Miriam Hospital

Scientific Theme: Neuroscience

Abstract: During adolescence, we see age related increases in exposure to stress and changes in how neurobiological systems handle that stress. Individual differences in adolescents’ regulation of stress (e.g., dysregulation in cortisol, heart rate) are predictive of physical ailments and mental and behavioral health problems. Thus, it is critical to identify influences on adolescents’ regulation of stress. Relationships are key contexts in which individuals emotionally react to and learn how to regulate stress. Peer relationships, specifically freindships are perhaps the most salient context in which emotional and physiological responses to stress are regulated and shaped. Thus, friendships may serve as a context where responses to stress are further developed and refined. The reciprocal process by which stress responses may be shared and shaped within relationships has been referred to as co-regulation and can be measured by examining the matching of arousal level within a friendship. Matching of arousal levels may be problematic for youth who already evidence neurobiological dysregulation (e.g., heightened physiological reactivity to a stressor and problems downregulating physiological response) and may result in increased dysregulation over-time. This co- regulation of a dysregulated stress response may be particularly strong for girls given the salience of friendships for girls during adolescence. Despite the developmental relevance of friendships and evidence suggesting that friends influence one another’s behaviors, researchers have not examined co-regulation of emotional responses to stress in adolescents’ friendships and if gender differences exist in this co-regulation. Examination of this topic could shed light on the concordance of emotions at a neurobiological level and if shared emotions serve as a reinforcing dynamic that maintains or amplifies how individuals’ regulate emotions. Thus, the proposed study will examine if adolescents’ friendships provide a context in which emotional responses to stress are shaped in a sample of 60 friendship dyads. Specifically, the aims are (1)To examine co-regulation in adolescents’ stress response within close friendships as measured by observed and neurobiological indicators and (2) To investigate gender differences in co-regulation.

Human Health Relevance: Collecting data to understand influences on the regulation of stress during adolescence and gender differences in regulation is imperative to reduce the incidence of mental and behavioral health problems that are observed during adolescence. Furthermore, the findings may suggest points of intervention within close friendships that will help decrease the onset of psychological disorders.