KEMATANGAN EMOSI SEBAGAI MODERATOR PENGARUH RELASI SISWA-GURU TERHADAP PERTEMANAN SEBAYA

Adolescence is a critical developmental period in which individuals undergo significant biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional changes, making the quality of interpersonal relationships—particularly with teachers and peers—essential for identity formation, emotional regulation, and social adjustment. Peer friendship serves as a primary social context for adolescents to obtain emotional support, a sense of belonging, and opportunities to develop social skills, the development of which is closely linked to the school environment, especially teacher–student relationships. This study aimed to examine the effect of teacher–student relationships on peer friendship and to test the moderating role of emotional maturity in this relationship. Using a quantitative correlational design, the study involved 250 adolescents aged 13–18 years enrolled in junior and senior high schools in Blitar City. Data were collected using the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS), the Perceived Acceptance Scale–Friends (PAS-Friends), and the Emotional Maturity Scale (EMS), and were analyzed using Moderated Regression Analysis through PROCESS Model 1. The results indicated that teacher–student relationships had a positive and significant effect on peer friendship (β = 0.4906; p
< 0.001), and emotional maturity also contributed positively to peer friendship (β =
0.0804; p < 0.001). Moreover, emotional maturity was found to significantly moderate the relationship between teacher–student relationships and peer friendship (β = 0.0009; p = 0.0006), indicating that higher levels of emotional maturity strengthen the positive effect of teacher–student relationships on the quality of social interactions with peers. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of fostering emotional maturity and supportive classroom relationships to optimize adolescents’ social development.