“When you’re helping a person with a problem and they’re having the problem, you kind of feel the same way”: Internal State Language in Adolescents’ Disclosures to Siblings and Friends

Self-disclosure, sharing personal and often affective information with others, is foundational for relationship development and well-being. Internal state language (ISL), or references to thoughts, emotions and desires, is one mechanism that may support these processes by helping adolescents communicate their experiences and signal their understanding of others. We examined ISL references during a hypothetical picture task in which early adolescents ( N = 79) described how they would respond to social situations involving siblings and friends, specifically whether narrative characters would disclose personal information to one another or not. ISL use was comparable across disclosed and nondisclosed narratives, valence, and relationship contexts. However, for adolescents who seldom included disclosure to best friends in their narratives, frequent references to cognitions were linked with fewer descriptions of emotional support. These findings suggest that, beyond disclosure, ISL may reflect adolescents’ emerging socioemotional understanding and contribute to the development of social competence in close relationships.