The social regulation of affect and self‐esteem among opiate‐dependent adults

This study extends basic theory and research on the social regulation of affect and thought to opiate‐dependent adults. Inner‐city, opiate‐dependent adults rated the supportiveness of, and conflict with, each of four support providers, and rated affect and self‐esteem experienced with each. This permitted the isolation of trait‐like aspects of these constructs (i.e., stable across providers) from their socially influenced aspects (i.e., varied across providers). Affect and self‐esteem were strongly socially influenced and such influences were as strong as trait‐like individual differences. Providers who elicited unpleasant affect and low self‐esteem in recipients were viewed as unsupportive and as eliciting conflict. Findings were virtually identical to research on students, suggesting broadly generalizable social processes in the regulation of affect and thought.