This study examined emotional and social competence in early adolescence, focusing on the relationship between the ability to identify the emotions of another, emotion regulation, friendship quality, and peer-identified prosocial and overtly aggressive behavior. Gender was examined for potential moderator status. Participating in the study were 114 adolescents, ages 12 to 15 years, from two public middle schools in San Diego. The Adolescent Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (AMEIS) was used to assess emotional skills and knowledge. Peer nominations were used to assess emotional regulation, prosocial behavior, and overt aggression. Friendship quality was measured using the Friendship Qualities Scale. Participants completed the instruments in two group sessions. Findings indicated that the ability to identify others' emotions could be measured in a relatively straightforward and highly reliable way, but that the AMEIS demonstrated mixed effectiveness. Many of the emotional competence scores were not significantly related to each other and different scores had different relationships with the criterion variables. It was suggested that emotional competence is composed of a set of skills, and talking about those skills independently provides a more accurate portrayal and assessment of an individual. Control over one's emotions emerged as a key variable in maintaining positive social interactions. Early adolescents who were better able to control their emotional displays reported greater friendship quality, behaved in prosocial ways, and were less aggressive in relation to their peers than those who were less adept at this. Emotion regulation was not related to friendship quality or to proactive prosocial behavior, although those who did better at recognizing others' emotions were more likely to have their peers report that they were warm and friendly and less likely to be aggressive. The hypothesized moderating role of gender was not supported. (Contains 24 references.) (KB)