In plain language
Some people find it hard to put their feelings into words — a difficulty researchers call alexithymia, or low emotion identification skill (EIS). In adults, low EIS is linked to poor emotion regulation, more anxiety and depression, and even physical illness. But almost no research had tested whether low EIS in teenagers actually comes before social and emotional problems, or is merely a side effect of them.
This study followed 667 Australian high school students from Grade 8 to Grade 9, measuring their ability to identify emotions, their social support, and their positive and negative feelings at both time points. Overall, negative feelings increased and positive feelings decreased across this year of early adolescence. Crucially, structural equation modelling showed that students with low emotion identification skill in Grade 8 went on to experience increases in fear, decreases in positive emotion, and declines in both the quality and quantity of their social support by Grade 9. Among boys, low EIS additionally predicted increases in sadness.
Because low EIS preceded these worsening outcomes, the findings suggest emotion identification is a genuine precursor rather than a mere correlate. Schools could screen for and teach emotion identification skills early — before problems take hold — making this a promising target for universal prevention programmes.
Key findings
- Low emotion identification skill (EIS) in Grade 8 predicted increases in fear and decreases in positive affect by Grade 9.
- Low EIS also predicted decreases in both the quality and the quantity of adolescents' social support over the year.
- Among boys, low EIS additionally predicted increases in sadness.
- Across the whole sample, negative affect increased and positive affect decreased from Grade 8 to Grade 9, consistent with early adolescence being an emotionally challenging period.
- The longitudinal design (667 high school students assessed in two consecutive years) supports EIS as a precursor of socio-emotional functioning rather than a mere concomitant.
- The authors argue for early prevention programmes that teach emotion identification skills to all students.
How to cite
APA
Ciarrochi, J., Heaven, P. C. L., & Supavadeeprasit, S. (2008). The link between emotion identification skills and socio-emotional functioning in early adolescence: A 1-year longitudinal study. Journal of Adolescence, 31, 565–582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.10.004
BibTeX
@article{ciarrochi2008the,
title = {The link between emotion identification skills and socio-emotional functioning in early adolescence: A 1-year longitudinal study},
author = {Ciarrochi, Joseph and Heaven, Patrick C. L. and Supavadeeprasit, Sunila},
journal = {Journal of Adolescence},
volume = {31},
pages = {565--582},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.10.004}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.