Emotion regulation in adolescents: the predicting role of family function and attachment

Subject Areas : Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology

zeinab ghaempour ¹ , marziteh esmailian ² , Mehdireza Sarafraz ³

1 - Arak university
2 - kharazmi university
3 - shiraz university

Received: 2019-06-05 Accepted : 2019-06-05 Published : 2019-03-21

Keywords: attachment, emotion regulation, family function, adolescent,

Abstract :

Emotion regulation plays an important role in responding to possible stresses and crises, especially among adolescents, So, it is important to examine the role of effective factors in the development of emotion regulation. Current study investigated the role of attachment and family functions in prediction of emotion regulation in adolescents. A sample of adolescents between the age of 14 to 17, selected based on multi-level cluster sampling, completed a battery of questionnaires including family function assessment, inventory of parent and peer attachment and children and adolescent’s emotion regulation checklist. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The results of this study showed that the overall function of the family was most important in predicting emotional stability, self-awareness in expressing emotions, emotional expressiveness in suitable situations, emotional flexibility and control and management of emotions. Other family functions’ subscales including behavioral and communication control also played an important role in emotional expressiveness in suitable situations. However, attachment to mother showed weak correlations with several subscales of ERC, did not play a significant role to predict emotion regulation strategies in adolescents. Therefore, the healthy family function can play a crucial role in the formation of emotional stress during adolescence, and prevent many challenges during adolescence