How one behaves in ones world and the social relationships one experiences in ones life are always associated with ones emotions. A key part of healthy development is to learn how to adaptively regulate or govern the links among behavior, experience, and emotions. The child must attain the skills to adjust, or regulate, his or her emotions to enable responses that promote adaptive social experiences/social relationships. Emotion regulation (ER) is, then, a key facet of healthy and positive development and may be particularly important during adolescence, given that the young person is undergoing major, interacted, changes in his or her physical, psychological, and social functioning. Drawing on evidence from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development and from other research, we discuss both important facets of ER during adolescence and the bases of ER during this period of life. We suggest some implications for applications to policy and practice based on this evidence. We suggest that parents, practitioners, and policy makers should take a more targeted focus (e.g., specific ER skills, particular time periods), use a process-oriented perspective (e.g., consider the interaction among thoughts, behaviors, and emotions), and capitalize on social supports from different contexts (e.g., family, school, and community) in order to promote ER and positive youth development.
