Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka sambandet mellan trygga anknytningsrelationer och emotionsreglering under adolescensen. Totalt deltog 82 ungdomar i studien, 47 kvinnor och 35 män mellan 17 och 20 år, genom att fylla i självskattningsformulären Viktiga personer i mitt liv (VIPIL) och Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Resultaten visar att det finns olika starka samband mellan anknytningsrelationerna och emotionsregleringsstrategierna kognitiv omvärdering och undantryckande. Anknytningsrelationerna är en svag prediktor för användandet av kognitiv omvärdering och förklarar cirka 5 procent av variansen, medan de predicerar cirka 41 procent av användandet av undantryckande. En jämförelse mellan könen visar att unga män använder kognitiv omvärdering oftare än unga kvinnor. Vänskapsrelationerna framstår som särskilt betydelsefulla för emotionsreglering under adolescensen, vilket kan bero på att ungdomar söker sig till vänner i större utsträckning när de frigör sig från föräldrarna och blir mer självständiga. Därför är det viktigt att vidare undersöka hur avsaknad av trygga vänskapsrelationer påverkar ungdomar i stort inklusive deras emotionsreglering. / The aim of this study was to examine the links between secure attachment relationships and emotion regulation during adolescence. In total 82 adolescents, 47 women and 35 men, between the ages of 17 and 20 years participated in the study by completing Swedish versions of the self-assessment forms Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). The results show that the relationships between attachment and the emotion regulation strategies cognitive reappraisal and suppression, differ in strength. The attachment relationships are a weak predictor of cognitive reappraisal and explains approximately 5 percent of the variance, while they predict approximately 41 percent of the variance of suppression. A comparison between women and men showed that young men use cognitive reappraisal more frequently than young women. The relationships with friends appears to be particularly significant to emotion regulation during adolescence, which may be due to that adolescents rely on their friends to greater extent when they separate themselves from their parents and become more independent. Therefore, it is important to further examine how the absence of secure friendships affect young people in general including their emotion regulation.

This thesis compromise four studies, three regarding psychometrics and norms of parent rating scales, and one study regarding effectiveness of two different interventions. A normative sample consisting of 1443 parents with children aged 10 to 13 years old, was used in the Study I, II and III. In Study IV, 231 self-referred parents with children aged 10-13 years old with externalizing behavior problem (EBP) were randomized to either Family Check-Up (FCU) or iComet. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) used in Study I proved to be a reliable and valid instrument with high internal consistency, clear factor structure and high correlation with other similar instruments. In addition, the results support the online use of SDQ as well as using norms obtained through traditional administration even when the SDQ has been administrated online. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) investigated in Study II was shown to have adequate reliability and construct validity. The specific use of expressive suppression or cognitive reappraisal as a parental emotion regulation strategy was correlated as expected to the couple’s satisfaction, family warmth, and the employment of adequate discipline strategies. Swedish norms for self-rated ERQs are also presented. Study III investigated the Parental Knowledge and Monitoring Scale (PKMS), which was shown to be a useful instrument for assessing parental knowledge and its sources. Family climate appears to moderate important relationships between parental knowledge and conduct problems with implications for such things as family interventions. Finally, a person-oriented analysis was used in Study IV to subtype the children according to combinations of prosocial behavior and EBP, such as different levels of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and/or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) behaviors. Despite being a heterogeneous group of children with EBP, they were meaningfully grouped into significantly different profiles. Both FCU and iComet resulted in post-treatment measurement within non-clinical range for three of the five profiles. The two profiles that included high levels of ADHD behaviors at baseline assessment continued to have residual symptoms post intervention.