Factors Affecting Social Exclusion, Friendship Quality, Social Competence and Emotion Management Skills and the Effect of Problem Behaviors on Related Characteristics in Adolescents

This study was conducted to determine the predictive effect of the features (scale scores) related to the factors that affect social exclusion, friendship quality, social competence and emotional management skills in adolescents on adolescent problem behaviors such as smoking, alcohol use, unhappiness, hopelessness and self-harm behaviors. This research was carried out on 422 students studying at 9th, 10th and 11th grades in 11 high schools randomly selected among the state Anatolian high schools of Kadıköy with the permission of Istanbul Governorship MNE No: 59090411-20-E.4519169 dated 21.04.2016. Data were collected through Social Exclusion, Friendship Quality, Social Competence and Emotional Management Scales and personal information form prepared by the researcher. The data were analyzed with SPSS 23 statistical software, two-way ANOVA (univariate) and logistic regression techniques. The findings showed that on the features related to social exclusion, social competence, friendship quality and emotional management skills, the following were effective: having smoker friends, having friends with negative behaviors towards others, dissatisfaction with physical appearance, perception of self-efficacy, getting along with friends, being sensitive towards daily events, having smoker family members and alcohol use the family, experiencing less economic problems in the family and participating in activities such as cinema with the family. The quality of friendship intimacy had an increasing effect on smoking and alcohol use, while the security dimension had a reducing effect on alcohol use, feeling unhappy, feeling hopeless and self-harm (bodily damage). The social exclusion, emotional management and coping with the problem dimensions had a diminishing effect on alcohol use, while negative emotions and the ability to control negative bodily reactions had a diminishing effect on self-harm behaviors. The findings suggest that, especially emotional management skills, friendship quality and social exclusion are dynamics that can determine the psycho-social risk susceptibility of adolescents. The results of the research reveal the importance of getting adolescents to gain the skills to manage friendship selection and friendship relations through studies aimed at supporting the emotional development of adolescents.


Introduction
A human being is a social entity that defines and maintains his/her existence through others. The journey of life that begins in the mother's womb can be sustained by the presence of others whose roles and duties change during different periods of this journey. The differentiating needs in each period of development require a change of positions, roles and duties of others, who are parents in the first years of life, teachers in childhood, peers in adolescence (Brown, 2004) and emotional partners (spouse) and colleagues in young adulthood. Thus, each period of development allows the human to realize himself/herself through others and to continue to exist as an "individual" among others (Zimmer-Gembeck, Collins, 2006).
In the process from infancy to old age, adolescence serves as a bridge that enables the transition from dependence to independence. Before puberty, many vital actions, from what their needs should be to how they should be met, take place through the choices of the parents. Adolescence is the preparation stage for the period where decisions and outcomes depend on the individual, from the period of young adulthood until the end of life. One of the characteristic features of adolescence is the change in the positions of social environmental agents at the center of life. With adolescence, the role definitions of the family and the peers are differentiated, and peers are placed at the center of (Jessor, 1984). According to the theory, problem behaviors can be viewed as self-directed or outward-directed, or both can be observed as nested together. The self-directed problem behaviors of adolescents may manifest themselves as such moods as depression, desperation or unhappiness, whereas the outward-directed behaviors can be observed at various dimensions ranging from smoking, alcohol use or drugs to theft and violence that can be considered within the scope of youth delinquency in legal terms (Jessor, 1987;Wilson, Jonah, 1988, Jessor, 2001. The problem behavior theory emphasizes that the problematic behaviors of adolescents emerge by the interaction of three systems related to them, their environment and their behaviors (Siyez, Aysan, 2007). According to the theory, adolescents' tendency towards health-threatening behaviors to cope with developmental adaptation problems is shown by their psycho-social risk-taking tendencies, while this tendency is determined by the balance between protective and triggering factors (Jessor, 2014). While the sufficiency of the social environment to support healthy development stands out as a protective factor (Siyez, 2008), its development-inhibiting or process-violating impact, when it takes on a triggering function, increases the tendency towards problematic behaviors (Duncan, Duncan, Strycker, 2000;Shope, Waller, Raghunathan, Patil, 2001).
In conclusion, it is seen that adolescent behaviors can affect their own characteristics, family and peer groups (Brody,1998), their problems and their coping skills as their social environment and function of their behaviors. Given the effect of the sudden emotion changes and the peer groups on the behavioral preferences of adolescents, psycho-social risk-taking tendency emerges depending on whether these two factors have protective or triggering functions (Guerra, & Bradshaw, 2008;Wilkinson, Marmot, 2003). In the light of the related literature, this study was conducted to examine adolescents' emotion management skills (Yeager, 2017), social competency perceptions and social isolation (Lodder, Scholte, Goossens, Verhagen, 2017) and peer quality characteristics (Mason, Zaharakis, Rusby, Westling, Light, Mennis, Flay, 2017), which identify their problems with their social environments, in terms of problematic behaviors to contribute to the studies aimed at improving the quality of life of future adults by ensuring the healthy development of adolescents. In this study, taking into consideration that the two dynamics of adolescent behaviors and the environment can both be the cause and effect of each other, the factors affecting the respective characteristics and the impact of the respective characteristics on problem behaviors were explored. In this context, the main purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting social isolation, peer quality, need for belonging, social competency and emotion management skills of adolescents and the predictive impacts of these characteristics on smoking, alcohol use, self-harming (bodily damage), unhappiness and depression, which are among problem behaviors.

Purpose of the Study
The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that affect social exclusion, friendship quality, social competence and emotion management skills in adolescents and the effect of the related characteristics (scale scores) on adolescents' problem behaviors. Accordingly, the research sought answers to the following questions:

Study Group
This research was carried out in 11 high schools randomly selected among the public Anatolian and vocational high schools of Kadıköy with the permission of Istanbul Governorship MNE No: 59090411-20-E.4519169 dated 21.04.2016. To conduct the research in a healthy way, appointments were made with the administrations of the relevant schools before the research, and the 12 th grades of the high schools were excluded as they were preparing for the entrance exam to higher education. Of the 467 students randomly selected from among the 9 th , 10 th and 11 th grades of the high schools, the data of a total of 422 students who participated in the research (196 males and 226 females) were analyzed. The research was conducted under the supervision of the researcher and 4 university senior students, and the participating students were informed regarding the aim of the research to ensure their voluntary participation. Data on the demographic characteristics of the students are presented in Table 1.

Data Collection Tools
Data were obtained by using the "Emotion Management Skills Scale", "Perceived Social Competence Scale", "Friendship Quality Scale", "Social Exclusion Scale", "Belonging Scale" and "Personal Information Form".

Emotion Management Skills Scale
The scale developed by Rezzan Çeç en is a 5-point Likert-type self-assessment scale consisting of a total of 28 items. The scale consists of five sub-scales: "Expressing Emotions Verbally", "Recognizing and Accepting Emotions", "Showing Emotions as They Are", "Controlling Negative Physical Reactions", "Coping" and "Managing Anger". High scores indicate being competent in one"s ability to manage his/her emotions. The internal consistency coefficient (cronbach's alpha) for EMSS was found as 0.83 (Çeç en, 2006

Social Exclusion Scale
The five-point Likert-type scale consists of 11 questions. There are two sub-dimensions of the scale: being ignored and exclusion. The scale gives scores based on the sub-dimensions and yields total scores. Cronbach's alpha internal consistency reliability coefficient was found as 0.93 for the being ignored sub-dimension, 0.90 for the exclusion sub-dimension and 0.89 for the whole scale. Corrected item-test correlations of the scale ranged between 0.51 and 0.70 (Akın, Doğan, Gönülalan, Atik, Çebiş, Akın, 2014).

Personal Information Form
The Personal Information Form was prepared by the researcher within the scope of the literature related to problematic behaviors in adolescents.
As for the questions about smoking and alcohol use of adolescents, smoking and alcohol expressions were not used; related questions are arranged as follows.
unhealthy/unsuitable substance for sale under 18 years of age (available for adults at the market) unhealthy/unsuitable drink for sale under 18 years of age (not available for adults at the market after a certain hour)

Data Analysis
The data were analyzed with SPSS 23 software, and the level of confidence was at 95%. Two-way ANOVA (Univariate) and Logistic Regression tests were used in the study. Two-way ANOVA is an analysis method that considers the correlation of independent variables with each other while examining the effect of independent variables on a dependent variable (Kalaycı 2006). Logistic regression analysis has recently become a widespread method, especially in the social sciences. In most socio-economic studies conducted to reveal cause-effect relationships, some variables consist of two-level data such as positive-negative, successful-unsuccessful, yes-no and satisfied-dissatisfied. In case such a dependent variable consists of two-level or multi-level categorical data, Logistic Regression Analysis has an important place in the study of cause-effect relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable(s) (Agresti, 1996). In logistic regression analysis, which aims to classify and investigate the relationships between dependent and independent variables, the dependent variable generates categorical data and takes discrete values. There is no requirement for all or some of the independent variables to be continuous or categorical variables. Logistic regression analysis is an alternative method to discriminant analysis and cross-tables when regression analysis does not provide some assumptions such as normality and presence of a common covariance. In addition to its applicability even when the dependent variable is a discrete variable with two levels such as 0 and 1 or more, its mathematical flexibility and ease of interpretability increase the interest in this method (Hosmer Jr, Lemeshow, May, 2008). The effects of explanatory variables on the dependent variable are obtained as probabilities to determine the probabilities of risk factors (Archer, Lemeshow, Hosmer, 2007).

Findings
In this section, the findings on the descriptive characteristics of the study group and the results of the analyses are stated.

Descriptive Findings
This section includes the findings related to the frequency of problem behaviors of the students involved in the study.  The model established to determine the factors affecting the Exclusion of Students is statistically significant (F=2,044, p<0,05) (see Table 9). Students' getting along with their peers affects Exclusion (F=4.482, p<0.05). Exclusion level is the highest among those who do not get along very well with their peers (7.41). The level of common sense of students' daily problems affects Exclusion (F=4.654, p<0.05). The Exclusion perception level of those who approach daily problems with some common sense is the highest (15.54). The perception that students feel about their opinion affects Exclusion (F=4.439, p<0.05). Those who do not find their opinion very satisfactory have the highest level of Exclusion perception (15.62).  The model established to determine the factors affecting the Verbal Expression of Students is statistically significant (F=1.841, p<0.05) (see Table 12). Alcohol use in the family affects students" ability to Express Themselves Verbally (F=4.308, p<0.05). Those whose families use alcohol have the highest level of Verbal Expression (24.42). The level of getting along with peers of students affects their Verbal Expression (F=6.342, p<0.05). Verbal Expression perception level is the highest among those who get along very well with their friends (25.07). The level of self-satisfaction of students affects their ability of Verbal Expression (F=4.128, p<0.05). Those who think that they are very talented have the highest level of Verbal Expression perception (25.72).  Table 13). Having smoker friends affects Coping (F=3.104, p<0.05). Those with some smoker friends have the highest level of Coping perception (12.97). The level of self-satisfaction of students affects Coping (F=6.151, p<0.05). Coping perceptions of those who consider themselves very talented are the highest (14.16). Going to the cinema and theater and participating in similar activities affects Coping (F=3.080, p<0.05). Students who always go to the cinema and theater and participate in similar activities have the highest level of Coping perception (13.34). The model established to determine the factors that affect students' Emotional Management Skills is statistically significant (F=2.184, p<0.05) (see Table 14). The negative behaviors of students' friends towards others affect Emotional Management Skill (F=5.310, p<0.05). Those with friends who do not behave badly to others have the highest level of Emotional Management Skill (95.14). The negative behaviors of students' friends towards others affect Emotional Management Skill (F=4.765, p<0.05). Emotional Management Skills perception level is the highest among those who get along very well with their peers (96.74). The level of self-satisfaction of students affects Emotional Management Skills (F=4.804, p<0.05). Those who find themselves very talented have the highest level of Emotional Management Skill perception (97.60).

Discussion
When the findings of the research are evaluated in general, it can be deduced that social exclusion, friendship quality and emotional management skills can be protective factors for the problem behaviors of young people, and it is seen that the findings support the relevant literature and research findings.
Peer relations constitute almost all of the daily social relationships of adolescents. For adolescents, social exclusion means being left alone by their peers and unintentionally being pushed out of the group. This gives information regarding that they are not sufficient in terms of the characteristics defined by their peers. The findings of the study emphasize the competencies that young people should have to be present in peer groups. The findings regarding social exclusion reveal that the same characteristics may lead to different but similar levels of exclusion (Peplak, Song, Colasante, Malti, 2017) (Paget, Parker, Heron, Logan, HenleyEmond, Ford, 2018). These characteristics include having smoker friends, that others behave badly and negatively, disagreement with their peers and dissatisfaction with their physical appearance. It is seen that being sensitive to and interested in social events increase the perception of exclusion in other dimensions except the sub-dimension of being cared. The findings related to social exclusion and its sub-dimensions are in line with the literature on risk behaviors and problem behaviors in adolescents. The studies conducted on smoking, alcohol and substance use consider activities related to these as risk behaviors or problem behaviors (Kobus, 2003;Leung, Toumbourou, Hemphill, 2014).Even though adolescents can consciously prefer smoking as a risk behavior to mimick adult role model behaviors or prove their own competence, this behavior should bring short-term benefit. According to the problem-behavior theory (Jessor, 2014), adolescents experience developmental behavior and adaptation problems due to the insufficiency of protective factors, presence of triggering factors, find it difficult to produce effective solutions and may feel as if they are able to solve exogenous behaviors such as cigarette and alcohol use, which are not healthy ways of coping. Therefore, it provides information on the lack of effective solutions to problems encountered in other areas of life such as smoking and alcohol and substance use. In other words, the three factors that increase social exclusion can be the causes and consequences of each other. Studies show that body perception affects interpersonal relationships among developmental adaptation problems in adolescents, in that, young people who do not have positive thoughts and feelings about their physical appearance have low self-esteem, self-efficacy and self-worth, which has negative consequences for initiating and sustaining friendship relationships (Guilamo-Ramos, Litardo, Jaccard, 2005;Meilstrup, Thygesen, Nielsen, 2016). In addition, considering the finding that the sensitivity to social issues is a factor affecting exclusion and the finding that this is one of the factors that increase individuals' perception of their social competence, the schemes on the basis of thoughts, emotions and behaviors related to individuals expressing their thoughts become more important during the socialization process. The knowledge gained by adolescents' friends, who exhibit these behaviors, through the educational environment and how they are perceived in the family and peer circles is important (Rosenbloom, 2003). In other words, it is necessary to answer the question for whom, what characteristic means what, and risk behavior and problem behavior theory in adolescents answer these questions from a different perspective (Leather, 2009). In addition, the perception of themselves and their friends on social issues, Adler's views on the impact of contrast and comparison behaviors of the social environment on the individual and Ericson's attention to the dynamics of children's socialization process in pre-adolescence period evoke the effect of feelings of inferiority and insufficiency compared to success in these dynamics (Lease, Musgrove, Axelrod, 2002). As Maslow puts it in his theory of hierarchy of needs (Greenhalgh, Wessely, 2004;Miller, Miller, 2009), one of the fundamental needs of the individual is respectability and a sense of accomplishment. It is thought that the opinions of young people about themselves and others and their relationships developing accordingly are also important for academic success.
The findings suggest that, even if it appears to be in contradiction with social exclusion in the dimension of smoking, the question of who thinks smoking increases the feeling of intimacy among friends should be answered. The researches on adolescents show that adolescents are members of the same groups that are like them and have similar problems (Kobus, 2003). This reveals a phenomenon not only seen in adolescent behavior but also in adult behavior: "People feel better with others who can empathize with themselves." They avoid relationships where there are such communication elements as judgment, criticism, guidance and inadequacy (Bagwell, Bukowski, 2018). One of the basic needs of people is to be accepted as they are. From a different point of view, we can find information that can support this idea in another factor that affects the feeling of intimacy: "Those who have a good understanding with their friends have a higher perception of intimacy." In addition, this finding is in line with the findings on the factors affecting social competence and social exclusion, and the highest level of social competence perception among the individuals who have smokers in the family and who have a good understanding with their peers. On the other hand, as a factor increasing the perception of social competence, the finding that there is a smoker in the family points out that the factors leading to health-threatening behaviors should be evaluated in a multidimensional way (Nam, Fukui, 2017). Many factors need to be considered, including family functions, the solutions the parent produces through these behaviors or the role of the parent as a means of identification in family or social relationships or the behaviors learnt by the adolescent as criteria of reaching adulthood (Segrin, Flora, 2011). One of the factors that affect intimacy is related to the economic status of the family of adolescent (Freund, Lous, 2012). The students who stated that they had some or less economic difficulties with their parents had the highest perception of intimacy. This situation can be evaluated with the phenomenon of inequality that humanity has reached to the information society from an interdisciplinary point of view but still does not produce a solution (Plenty, Mood, 2016;Lorant, Rojas, 2017). Therefore, it is natural that individuals who have basic life resources can reach them more easily or face less difficulties related to them can feel stronger in all areas of life, as in social relations. In other words, although it is stated that caste systems existed centuries ago and education provides the opportunity to move up and down the social ladder, the findings obtained here and interdisciplinary research findings show that this cannot be overcome, that is, having a certain economic quality of life or being less distressed about it makes it easier to maintain social and close relationships.
It is seen that the findings that having family members using alcohol perceive themselves more than sufficient in terms of expressing themselves verbally (Kogan, 2017) and that those with smoker family members have the highest perception of social competency are in parallel with each other (Lee, Cranford, 2008). In addition, this is consistent with the finding that students who state that they had some smoker friends had the highest problem-solving competence in terms of emotional management skills and problem-solving dimension. From a psychoanalytic perspective, it is possible to say that alcohol, etc. has a kind of mediation role in expressing experiences that cannot be expressed in consciousness in everyday life, which create a sense of frustration and are pushed into the unconscious (Wang, Liu, Zhan, Shi, 2010). The literature on risk-taking behavior correlates adolescents' use of substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, etc., as well as their orientation towards other risk behaviors with dynamics such as being able to perform adulthood behaviors, proving oneself, satisfying the need for short-term relaxation and the belief that they can control the outcomes of their behaviors or their own tendencies (Richter, 2010). The perspective of social learning theory, on the other hand, acts as the indirect reinforcer role of behaviors where another is rewarded. Therefore, the effect of alcohol use by family members can be encouraging for young people, and research emphasize that proximity to cigarettes, alcohol and drugs can play a triggering role in the use of these substances (Hill, Chow, 2002). It is seen that those who can communicate well with their friends, who find themselves capable enough and capable of expressing themselves verbally and coping with problems with their emotion management skills and sub-dimensions are found to have the highest perceptions; the findings are in parallel with findings on social exclusion, friendship quality and social competence. In addition, the perceptions of young people who stated that they had no friends who behaved badly to others had the highest perceptions of their ability to manage their emotions. Therefore, as the relevant literature emphasizes, peer relationships have undeniable importance in adolescents' lives (Klein, Cornell, Konold, 2012;Corsano, Musetti, Caricati, Magnani, 2017).
The finding that those who can participate in activities such as cinema, theater, etc. with their family have the highest perceptions about their ability to cope with problems correlates with the finding that those who have some or less economic problems in their family have the highest perception of intimacy (Berg, Kiviruusu, Karvonen, Rahkonen, Huurre, 2017). According to World Health Organization quality standards of life, participation in such activities is one of the basic human needs and can also contribute to the socialization process. Considering that visual arts such as theater and cinema are the means of telling mankind's own stories to each other, it is possible to state that they can teach not only the sense of empathy but also the ability to manage problem-solving.
One of the main aims of the study is to determine the prediction levels of adolescents' social exclusion, friendship quality, social competence and emotional management skills on risk behaviors according to risk-taking behavior theory, externalized behavior and adaptation problems according to problem behavior theory, smoking, alcohol use and unhappiness, hopelessness, feeling bad and self-harm (bodily-harm) within the internal problem behavior category. Logistic regression analysis results support the other findings of the study in this regard (Leary, 1990 ;Hasking, Lyvers, Carlopio, 2011;Tomé , de Matos, Simões, Camacho, AlvesDiniz, 2012;Gioia, 2017;Lodder, Scholte, Goossens, Verhagen, 2017;Mason, Zaharakis, Rusby, Westling, Light, Mennis, Flay, 2017).
The findings indicate that the quality of friendship intimacy is effective on smoking behavior. The intimacy of the quality of friendship reveals that perceiving and understanding the support and friendship of their friends increases smoking (Janssens, Van Den Noortgate, Goossens, Verschueren, Colpin, Claes, Van Leeuwen, 2017). The finding is consistent with the findings on the factors affecting the intimacy dimension. Considering the factors that affect the social exclusion characteristics of the participants, the fact that social exclusion has no effect on smoking is perceived as a natural result to some extent and that young people are relieved by their friends' problem-solving behaviors not to be excluded by them or as a social psychological phenomenon, there may be individuals with similar problems, problem-solving behaviors or tendencies. Considering the increasing effect of the related dimension of friendship quality on alcohol use and smoking, it becomes evident that the characteristics of young people and their group of friends, family, school and personality characteristics should be examined. Therefore, it is evident that the characteristics of the individual and social environment that determine behaviors should be evaluated as a whole (Marsden, Boys, FarrellStillwell Hutchings, Hillebrand, Griffiths, 2005).The findings of the study on coping with problems of social security, social exclusion and emotional management skills have a reducing effect on alcohol use support this idea. Considering that emotional management skills are closely related to the competences of social support resources gained through individual experience, especially the family functions, are an important factor. The security dimension emphasizes that one cannot be harmed by the existence of other people, as Maslow's hierarchy of needs emphasizes trust, and Ericson's emphasis on infancy regarding distrust versus basic trust. It is seen that the security dimension of the quality of friendship plays a protective role on unhappiness, hopeless, bad feeling and self-harm (bodily harm), as in alcohol use. That is, the security dimension has a negative, reducing effect on negative mood and self-harm (Heilbron, Prinstein, 2008;Prinstein, Heilbron, Guerry, 2011). Research indicates that self-harm is more common in cases of abuse and neglect. Self-harm is a kind of impulsive, repetitive, non-lethal or non-suicidal kind of help where individuals indicate that they cannot get themselves out of doing such behavior as a kind of unhealthy coping skill in the face of problems (Taliaferro, Muehlenkamp, Borowsky, McMorris, Kugler, 2012). Especially traumatic events, depending on the traumatic behavior experienced, not being able to prevent this experience creates feelings of guilt and self-punishment for the individual; the body feels pain and pleasure, relaxation and power; so, the behavior is performed with conflicting thoughts and emotions. The relevant literature shows that all types of abuse and neglect can increase the tendency to perform such behaviors and that young people may be affected by other individuals showing similar behaviors to solve their problems (Hallab, Covic, 2010;Adrian, Zeman, Erdley, 2011;Peh, Shahwan, Fauziana, Mahesh, Sambasivam, Zhang,..., Subramaniam, 2017). Therefore, the security dimension draws attention to the reductive effect of knowing the existence of friends who can direct the youth to healthy behaviors and provide the health support they need (Barry,Lui, Lee-Rowland, Moran, 2017;Schwartz-Mette, Smith, 2018).
The findings on depressive affect, feeling unhappy and hopeless, the intimacy dimension and the positive, enhancing effect of caring dimensions explaining social exclusion by friends support other findings and related literature (Schwartz-Mette, Smith, 2018;Lorant, Tranmer, 2019). Mobbing in the business world is seen as peer bullying in peer relationships and bullying in love affairs or personal relationships (Siyez, M., Aysan, 2007;Vanderbilt, Augustyn, 2010). It is seen that psycho-social risk predisposition is one of the determinants of young people who will not be harmed and can establish themselves with their peers with whom they feel safe (Kochel, Bagwell, Ladd, Rudolph, 2017).
As in the other findings on emotional management skills, it was found that emotional management skills act as a protective factor (Carthy, Horesh, Apter, Gross, 2010;Yeager, 2017) in self-harm and depressive affect, that is, internalized problem behaviors. This finding may provide effective solutions to "sudden emotional changes" that are perceived as a characteristic feature of adolescence and can be ignored by adolescents' families, especially teachers, and other adults as temporary or to which no one feels sufficient enough to react. As a result, in terms of social exclusion, friendship quality and emotional management skills and social competence, the study investigated risk-taking behaviors and problem behavior theory as well as behavior and adaptation problems, and it is consistent with the research findings highlighting the characteristics of adolescents that can be determined by the susceptibility of the psycho-social risk tendency.

Conclusion and Suggestions
This study was conducted to determine the predictive effect of the features (scale scores) related the factors that affect social exclusion, friendship quality, social competence and emotional management skills in adolescents on adolescent problem behaviors such as smoking, alcohol use, unhappiness, hopelessness and self-harm behaviors. The study reveals that the related factors can be either a protective or triggering factor that can determine the psychosocial risk predisposition of adolescents. According to the findings on social exclusion, those who have smoker friends, those with friends who treat others negatively, those who do not get along with their peers very well, those who have negative perceptions of their appearance and those who are interested in social events have a higher perception of social exclusion. Social exclusion was found to have a reducing effect on alcohol use. It was found that social competence was influenced by the presence of a smoker in the family, a very good relationship with their peers, an interest in social events, and no predictive effect on problem behaviors was determined. According to the findings on the factors affecting the quality of friendship, it was found that the intimacy dimension was influenced by having mostly smoker friends, getting along with peers very well and experiencing economic distress in the family to some extent or less frequently. It was determined that friendship quality and intimacy had an increasing effect on alcohol use and negative moods, and the security dimension had a decreasing effect on alcohol use, negative mood and self-harm.
In verbal self-expression, alcohol use in the family, getting along well with friends, having smoker friends, perceiving oneself as very skilled, family activities such as cinema, theater, etc., having no friends who behave badly to others, getting along with peers very well and perceiving oneself as very talented made a difference. Emotional management skills and coping with problems had a diminishing effect on alcohol use, and negative mood (unhappiness-hopelessness) and ability to control negative physical reactions had a reducing effect on self-harm.
The results showed the importance of peer relationships and the ability of adolescents to control emotions that make management of interpersonal relationships difficult for adolescents to solve their behavior and adaptation problems.
This study was designed to contribute to the prevention of self-harm behaviors, which are seen more frequently in cases of abuse and neglect and increase smoking and alcohol use. The findings support the related literature and show the importance of emotional management skills and friendship relationships in the life of adolescents, as in adult life. Therefore, it is considered that studies to be conducted on the management of emotional processes of adolescents should address not only adolescents, but also families and educators. In particular, it is necessary to raise awareness that sudden changes in emotions, which are accepted as characteristic of adolescence and somehow normalized, can affect their coping process. Emotional changes in adolescents are also a reflection of the support they need, and it is thought that studies aimed at restructuring adults' own roles and functions, especially family, are of utmost importance. It is necessary to raise awareness regarding the fact that adults are responsible for the behaviors of the young people who have positive behaviors and praise and perceive the group as negative and problematic. In other words, it is thought that the social environment of adolescents should be made aware of how they are role models for young people in their dynamics regarding emotional management, choice of friends and maintenance of friendship relationships in all areas of life.