Abstract / Summary
Abstract Adolescence is a developmental period in which emotion regulation and executive function continue to mature while social experiences increasingly shape psychological adjustment. Adverse peer experiences may be associated with difficulties in emotion regulation, yet the cognitive processes underlying this association remain poorly understood, particularly among adolescents with depressive symptoms. This study examined executive function as a potential pathway linking adverse peer experiences to emotion regulation difficulties, while first establishing the psychometric adequacy of the Indonesian Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale–16 (DERS-16). A sequential explanatory multimethod design comprising two studies was employed. Study 1 involved 134 Indonesian adolescents and evaluated the DERS-16 through content validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, internal consistency, convergent validity, and gender measurement invariance. Study 2 included 212 adolescents with depressive symptoms and examined the indirect association between adverse peer experiences and emotion regulation difficulties through executive function using structural equation modeling. The Indonesian DERS-16 demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties and full measurement invariance across gender. In Study 2, adverse peer experiences were not directly associated with emotion regulation difficulties but showed a significant indirect association through executive function difficulties. Executive function difficulties were strongly associated with greater emotion regulation difficulties. These findings suggest that executive function difficulties may represent a potential developmental cognitive pathway linking adverse peer experiences and emotion regulation difficulties among adolescents with depressive symptoms. By integrating psychometric validation with developmental pathway analysis, this study contributes to understanding emotion regulation in a psychologically vulnerable adolescent population.