Attachment relationships with parents, as well as emotional competencies, are protective factors against stress and other physical, mental, and relational health symptoms in adolescence. In this paper, we will examine the mediating role of emotional competencies in the relationship between attachment to parents and the well-being of adolescents, taking into account the influence of gender. There were 1276 Spanish adolescents between 12 and 15 years old (M = 13.48; SD = 1.09). We measured mother and father attachment relationships (trust, communication and alienation), emotional competencies (perceive and understand emotions, label and express emotions, manage and regulate emotions), and adolescent well-being using the indicators: somatic complaints, stress, satisfaction with life and affectivity. Descriptive analyses, Pearson correlations, and a multi-group path analysis were performed. The results indicated that emotional competencies partially mediate the relationship between attachment to parents and well-being variables. Attachment to one’s mother and father, along with emotional competencies, are relevant variables in adolescent well-being. This highlights the importance of understanding the protective factors of well-being in adolescence, a time when levels of well-being are reduced compared to childhood.

Objective: This study examined the protective role of self-esteem and perceived emotional intelligence on mental health problems in Spanish adolescents during COVID-19 pandemic.

Antecedents. Interpersonal emotional regulation (IER) is the deliberate attempt to influence others’ emotions. There is not enough research on IER in the context of romantic couples. Aim. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate an instrument to assess couples’ IER and understanding its functioning at both an individual and dyadic level. Method. Participants were 764 adults and 91 dyads. Three studies were carried out: first, to study the psychometric properties of the scale and its validity; second, to understand the functioning of the scale at a dyadic level; third, to analyse the predictive capacity of the instrument. Results. Our 11-item scale has four factors: observe, ask, validate, and soothe feelings. These factors are doubly evaluated: as an agent (SIERC-A) and as a target (SIERC-B). The scale showed good psychometric properties and adequate internal consistency. It presents convergent validity with emotional competences, and divergent validity with emotional dysregulation and insecure attachment. At a dyadic level, there is an actor-partner effect of IER on couple adjustment. Finally, IER seems to predict relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Discussion. This new instrument can be a useful tool for assessment and intervention in couple therapy and research.

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is an empirically supported humanistic treatment that considers clients’ emotional processes as the path to therapeutic change. The present aim was to develop a bibliometric study of EFT articles published in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection. Books and chapters were not included in this research. The bibliometric analysis was performed using Hiscite and VosViewer. Results showed 273 publications on EFT in WoS, the first being in 1994. The most relevant areas were depression and anxiety. The most productive author is Greenberg (n = 56; GCS = 2050). The 51.28% of publications corresponds to the last five years (2016–2020), observing a substantial increase in publications comparing with previous years. It is concluded that EFT is a psychotherapeutic orientation in recent scientific growth, with potential interest for further development in next years. The absence of results in WoS prior to 1994 is a limitation, given the origins of EFT in the 1970s. Extension of this study is recommended, including: publications about emotionally focused therapy, publications from other databases different from WoS, together with books and chapters. The importance of these results is discussed to allow other researchers and professionals to know deeply about the scientific production in EFT and its impact.