Abstract

Puberty is a crucial stage of adolescence. Some empirical studies have reported a decline in cognitive performance at the onset of puberty. The current study aims to investigate the effect of pubertal status on the employment of adaptive and/or maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (e.g., positive reappraisal and self-blame). A sample of 55 male and 41 female adolescents aged between 10 and 16 were recruited and categorised into three pubertal groups: pre-pubertal, pubertal and post-pubertal using the Pubertal Development Scale. The pattern of their use of cognitive coping strategies was measured using the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. The results revealed no evidence of the effect of pubertal status on employing the adaptive and maladaptive cognitive coping strategies. However, in each of the pubertal groups, adaptive strategies were reported more than maladaptive strategies. No gender differences were found in the employment of cognitive emotion regulation strategies. It was found that a higher use of maladaptive strategies was associated with a higher level of emotion dysregulation, while no association was found between adaptive strategies and emotion dysregulation. These findings should be of interest to those designing intervention programs for adolescents with emotional issues.