Maladaptive Social Consequences of Emotional Clarity Deficits in Early Adolescence

This study examined whether compromised emotional clarity prospectively contributes to maladaptive social behavior (aggression, anxious solitude) and adverse social experiences (low social status, victimization) in early adolescence; gender differences in these effects also were explored. Youth (N = 636, (X) over bar age = 10.94, SD = 0.37) completed a self-report measure of emotional clarity in fifth grade, and their teachers completed measures of youth aggression, anxious solitude, social status, and victimization in fifth and sixth grades. Prospective path analyses revealed that emotional clarity deficits predicted anxious solitude and low social status in both girls and boys, and predicted aggression and victimization in girls but not boys. These findings provide support for theoretical models of emotional and affective social competence, and indicate some gender differences in the social consequences of emotional clarity deficits. More broadly, this research implicates emotional clarity as a target for socioemotional learning programs in early adolescence.