Parent Ratings of Emotion Regulation in Children with and without ASD Differ Based on Level of Psychosocial Functioning

Background: A child’s emotion regulation is associated with their psychosocial functioning (e.g., McDowell et al., 2002). Parent ratings indicate that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have more challenges with emotion regulation than their typically developing (TD) peers (Rieffe et al., 2011). Difficulties regulating emotions may explain the high co-morbidity with mental health concerns in individuals with ASD (Mazefsky et al., 2013) as compared with their age matched TD peers (e.g., Samson et al., 2015). However, emotion regulation has not been studied in groups of children matched on mental health concerns.

Objectives: The objectives of the current study were to 1) replicate findings of group differences in emotion regulation between ASD and TD groups, and 2) examine group differences in emotion regulation when ASD and TD groups are categorized based on overall psychosocial functioning (as a proxy for mental health).

Methods: Eighty-five children (age 7-12, IQ >80) and their parents were included in this study (43 ASD). Data was collected at a summer research camp over several years. Parents provided family demographic information and completed the Behavioural Symptoms Index (BSI) of the Behaviour Assessment System for Children-2^nd edition (Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2004), and the Emotion Regulation subscale of the Multidimensional Social Competence Scale (MSCS;Yager & Iarocci, 2013). The BSI is an overall composite of psychosocial functioning that includes scales on hyperactivity, depression, aggression, atypicality, withdrawal, and attention problems. The MSCS has 7 distinct subscales including emotion regulation and an overall rating of social competence. Children were sorted into four independent groups based on diagnostic status and the BSI: 1) TD with low BSI (n=21), 2) TD with high BSI (n=21), 3) ASD with low BSI (n=21), and 4) ASD with high BSI (n=22).

Results: Compared to TD children, children with ASD had more challenges with emotion regulation (t=2.56, p=.01, d=.56) and higher BSI scores (t=-2.71, p<.01, d=.59). An analysis of variance found significant differences in emotion regulation between the four groups (F=21.59, p<.01). A Tukey post-hoc analysis revealed that both children with and without ASD and high BSI did not differ significantly from one another in their parent-reported emotion regulation (p=.69). Children with and without ASD and low BSI were significantly different in emotion regulation compared to all other groups (p<.03).

Conclusions: Consistent with previous research and the hypothesis that emotion regulation is associated with mental health problems, our results confirm that children with ASD have more challenges with emotion regulation than their non-ASD peers. However, when children with ASD are compared to children without ASD who also have similarly high levels of difficulties in psychosocial functioning, there are no significant differences in emotion regulation between groups. This suggests that there may be important similarities in children with and without ASD with poor psychosocial functioning. By comparing children with and without ASD with similar levels of psychosocial functioning we may be able to learn more about what is common about emotion regulation across groups and also what is unique in children with ASD. Implications for future research will be discussed.