Emotion regulation in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from parent interviews and children’s daily diaries
Open accessAbstract
Background: Although emotion dysregulation is not a defining feature of Autism Spectrum Disorder ( ASD ), there is a growing consensus that emotional problems play a prominent role in this disorder. Methods: The present study examined a wide range of emotion regulation ( ER ) strategies in 32 individuals with ASD compared to 31 group‐matched typically developing ( TD ) participants in three emotional domains (anger, anxiety, and amusement). Parents of individuals with ASD and TD individuals were interviewed about their child's emotional experience and the use and efficacy of 10 ER strategies. In addition, participants filled out daily diaries on experience and regulation in the same emotional domains. Results: Compared to TD individuals, parents reported that individuals with ASD experienced more anger and anxiety and less amusement, made less frequent use of a variety of adaptive ER strategies (e.g. problem solving, cognitive reappraisal), and made more frequent use of maladaptive strategies (e.g. repetitive behavior). Moreover, individuals with ASD were less effective at utilizing adaptive ER strategies. Self‐reports showed differences in experience of amusement and in ER strategies for anger and anxiety, but not in experience of anger and anxiety. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that individuals with ASD less frequently use adaptive – but more frequently use maladaptive – ER strategies. Implications for ASD treatments that focus on increasing the use of adaptive strategies are discussed.
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Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder reported a reduced use of adaptive strategies (problem solving, cognitive reappraisal) and increased use of maladaptive ones (repetitive behaviors) in comparison to parents of typically developing children.
“Results highlighted that, when asked about their children’s behaviors, ASD parents reported a reduced use of adaptive strategies (problem solving, cognitive reappraisal) and increased of maladaptive ones (repetitive behaviors) in comparison to TD parents (45).”
From Emotional dysregulation as a part of the autism spectrum continuum: a literature review from late childhood to adulthood (2023) · cites this paper as Samson et al. (45)
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- Authors
- Samson, A. C., Wells, W. M., Phillips, J. M., Hardan, A. Y., & Gross, J. J.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Stanford Medicine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Samson, Andrea C.
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-12
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 903-913
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W2049255771
- Semantic Scholar
- 443136202ddf2b5a8fc95ba8eacfa2dc1274c22d
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 3.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Swiss National Science Foundation (PA00P1_136380)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, emotion regulation, emotional dysregulation, adaptive emotion regulation strategies, maladaptive emotion regulation, anger, anxiety, amusements, cognitive reappraisal, problem solving, repetitive behavior, parent report, daily diary
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adolescent, Adult, Affective Symptoms, Anger, Anxiety, Child, Emotions, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Parents, Young Adult, Self Report
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