Poster #216 - The role of a large and diverse emotion regulation repertoire in children's adjustment: Longitudinal findings

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

While numerous studies have investigated the effectiveness of children's specific emotion regulation (ER) strategies, studies on the role of a large and diverse repertoire of ER strategies on children's adjustment are still scarce. The availability of a variety of ER strategies, however, is supposed to be a precondition for a flexible ER, allowing the individual to fit his or her strategies to the situation and leading to a better health and well-being. For adulthood, there are a couple of studies that support this assumption (Cheng, Kogan, & Chio, 2012; Cheng, Lau & Chang, 2014; Cheng, Yang, Jun, & Hutton, 2007; De France & Hollenstein, 2017; Fresco, Williams, & Nugent, 2006; Galatzer-Levy, Burton, & Bonanno, 2012; Haines et al., 2016), however, the role of a broad repertoire of regulation strategies in children's and adolescents' (mal) adjustment has been investigated rarely. There are only four cross-sectional studies supporting the assumption that children's repertoire of regulatory strategies seems to be related to different psychological and psychosocial outcomes (Babb, Levine & Arseneault, 2010; Gust, von Fintel & Petermann, 2017; Lougheed & Hollenstein, 2012; Radovanovic, 1993).
This two-wave longitudinal study with 101 preschoolers (wave 1: 3–6 years, M = 5.19, SD = .84, 46.5% girls) and one of their parents investigates if a large and diverse repertoire of ER strategies in early childhood predicts children's internalizing and externalizing problems (assessed through parents' rating) and psychological health (assessed through children's self-rating) 1.5 years later. Moreover, the reverse direction, testing if children's early externalizing and internalizing problems possibly impair the development of a large and diverse ER repertoire, is investigated through latent cross-lagged panel modeling. Moreover, a set of control variables was included into the analyses (e.g. the ability to identify emotions, age, parents' education).
Results show that the mere size of strategies in children's ER repertoire does neither play a role in later externalizing, nor in internalizing problems. The diversity of strategies in children's ER repertoire, however, negatively predicts later externalizing problems, β = -.14, p < .05 (but not internalizing problems), and positively predicts psychological health, β = .36, p < .01. Results did not support the assumption that externalizing or internalizing problems could impair the development of a large and broad ER repertoire. All model fits were satisfactory or good, control variables did not play a role in the results. The study highlights the importance of a heterogeneous repertoire of different ER strategies for children's (mal)adjustment. It indicates that it is not only important to look at what children exactly do to regulate negative emotions, but also how many options they have to choose from.

Authors

• Tamara Thomsen, University of Hildesheim
  Presenting Author

• Nora Lessing, University of Hildesheim
  Non-Presenting Author