From individual to relational: a scientometric mapping of emotion regulation in adolescence

Introduction The study of emotion regulation in adolescence has undergone significant expansion, generating a complex and only partially integrated body of knowledge.Methods This study offers a comprehensive scientometric mapping of the literature, drawing on 10,865 documents indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (1988-2026) and combining performance indicators with science-mapping techniques via the bibliometrix R package. Beyond describing the field's structure, this study examines its evolution through a relational lens, considering how interpersonal processes such as family context, attachment, and peer dynamics are positioned within the intellectual and conceptual organization of the field.Results Performance analysis indicates a field approaching maturity, having reached roughly 75% of its estimated saturation, with annual production estimated to peak around 2023. The findings suggest that, alongside the growing prominence of clinical and transdiagnostic perspectives, developmental and relational foundations have remained structurally visible throughout the evolution of the domain. Intellectually, the findings delineate a progressively reorganized knowledge base, moving from early developmental, coping-, and attachment-based frameworks toward process-oriented and transdiagnostic perspectives. Conceptually, the contemporary structure is strongly organized around the intersection between emotion regulation, depression, and anxiety, while developmental, neurodevelopmental, relational, and psychosocial themes remain represented in more specialized areas of the field. Socially, the results reveal a collaborative structure organized around several cohesive author and institutional communities, connected through broader inter-institutional and international links.Discussion Collectively, these patterns suggest that adolescent emotion regulation research has moved toward greater theoretical and structural integration while retaining differentiated research traditions and emerging areas of development.