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Associations Between Emotion Regulation and Social Impairment in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

In typically-developing (TD) individuals, effective emotion regulation strategies have been associated with positive outcomes in various areas, including social functioning. Although impaired social functioning is a core criterion of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the role of emotion regulation ability in ASD has been largely ignored. This study investigated the association between emotion regulation and ASD symptomatology, with a specific emphasis on social impairment. We used parent-report questionnaires to assess the regulatory strategies and symptom severity of 145 youth with ASD. Results showed that: (1) more effective emotion regulation, defined by greater use of reappraisal, predicted less severe ASD symptomatology, and (2) greater use of reappraisal predicted less severe social impairment. Suppression was not predictive of general symptomatology or social functioning.

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Notes

  1. Although 75 participants selected “Yes” to indicate that their child had co-morbid issues, not all participants provided specific details. The sample also included various other co-morbidities, reported with lower frequency.

  2. Language ability was measured categorically, as previous research in our lab using online survey methods has found it challenging to obtain accurate parent-report of formal test scores (i.e., vocabulary, verbal IQ).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Rosaria Furlano for her help with statistical analyses. We would also like to thank all of the families who took time out of their busy schedules to respond to this survey. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, 62 Arch Street, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Samantha F. Goldsmith & Elizabeth Kelley

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Samantha F. Goldsmith

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  1. Samantha F. Goldsmith
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  2. Elizabeth Kelley
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SFG was the primary author of this article; EK provided theoretical and editorial guidance.

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Correspondence to Elizabeth Kelley.

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Research Involving Human and Animal Rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Goldsmith, S.F., Kelley, E. Associations Between Emotion Regulation and Social Impairment in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 2164–2173 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3483-3

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