Emotion, Vol 26(3), Apr 2026, 556-566; doi:10.1037/emo0001591
The transition from childhood to adolescence is a period of social–emotional reorganization involving changes in affect. Most research has examined developmental changes in between-person affect. Few studies have investigated developmental changes in associations between individual emotions and the structure of affective experience in youth across developmental age. This study used exploratory graph analysis to assess developmental changes in emotional complexity using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule administered at three time points from 2007 to 2013 in a three-cohort, accelerated longitudinal design spanning Grades 3 through 12 (N = 682): late childhood, Mage = 9.39, SD = 0.53; early adolescence, Mage = 11.80, SD = 0.67; and middle adolescence, Mage = 14.60, SD = 0.60. Decreases in edge density and entropy and increases in R² were identified across development. In contrast, nonlinear shifts were found for the number of negative edges between affective dimensions and mean absolute error and possible shifts in dimensionality. Results suggest that global network metrics support decreases in emotional complexity from childhood through adolescence, though other indices suggest distinct patterns of change. Implications for research and study limitations are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)