Profiles of context-based negative interpretive bias and the association with depressive symptoms in adolescence: Exploring the role of interpersonal emotion regulation.

During adolescence, there is a notable surge in depressive symptoms, with negative interpretive bias (NIB) playing a crucial role, while interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) acts as a protective factor. However, adolescents exhibit significant variability in interpreting ambiguous information across social contexts. This study aimed to identify profiles of context-based NIB among adolescents across three contexts (parents-, teacher-, and peer-context) and explore their links with depressive symptoms and the role of IER. The key variables were assessed through experimental and questionnaire methods, utilizing data from a sample of 1832 adolescents (M = 14.54; SD = 1.93). The statistical analyses included latent profile analysis, Welch's ANOVA, Chi-square (χ2) tests, and moderation modelling. Four distinct profiles were identified, namely "all contexts unbiased", "parent-context biased", "teacher- and peer-contexts biased", and "all contexts biased". Membership in these profiles was significantly associated with depressive symptoms, with IER showing effectiveness in mitigating depressive symptoms among adolescents with NIB in specific contexts but not pervasive NIB. The findings highlight the importance of identifying context-based NIB in future prevention and early intervention strategies, while emphasizing the need to promote healthy social interactions among adolescents. • Four profiles of adolescents' context-based negative interpretive bias identified. • Patterns of context-based negative bias are linked to depressive symptoms. • Interpersonal emotion regulation helps reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents. • Social regulation reduces depressive symptoms in specific-context biased groups. • Social regulation is less effective for the group having pervasive negative biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]