Emotion Regulation and Emotional Distress in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Foundations and Considerations for Future Research

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often associated with emotional distress and psychiatric comorbidities. Atypical emotion regulation (ER) may underlie these accompanying features. This special issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders presents a series of mechanistic and applied papers on ER and emotional experiences in ASD. Important concepts for future research are discussed, including how to conceptualize emotion dysregulation in ASD, the importance of capturing variability in emotion dysregulation in ASD studies, and the promise of intervention approaches that target ER impairments. This special issue highlights the growing emphasis on ER and emotional distress in ASD, and aims to encourage continued research in this area given the potential for this line of inquiry to lead to improved outcomes.

Factor Analysis of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale in a Sample of Two Year Olds with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…As a result, the current study provides initial support for the continued relevance of the CARS in the diagnosis of ASD in two year olds using the DSM-5. Further, the current study’s finding of an additional Emotional Reactivity factor supports the growing body of literature highlighting the importance of understanding emotion regulation and emotional distress in individuals with ASD (e.g., Mazefsky 2015). …”

“…This is notable given that while stereotyped behaviors are included as a core symptom domain in DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5, emotional reactivity is not. Emotion regulation difficulties are certainly not specific to ASD, and therefore, likely would not be a meaningful core symptom domain; however, understanding difficulties in emotion regulation in this group may prove helpful in creating meaningful subgroups in research studies (Mazesfky 2015), and in planning appropriate intervention targets. Given that the gold standard diagnostic measures, the ADOS and ADI-R, do not emphasize this domain of functioning, the CARS could provide useful unique information in this area.…”

Predictive Impact of Resilience on Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…This implies that care-givers' relationships and attachment are important protective/resilience factor of depressive symptoms in adolescents with high functioning ASD. Given that adolescents with high functioning ASD are biologically vulnerable to depressive symptoms (Case-Smith et al, 2015;Mazefsky, 2015;Pitskel et al, 2014;Minke et al, 2014), the present study supports that building strong relationship with significant adult caregiver could be a feasible way of moderating biological depressive vulnerability in adolescents with high functioning ASD. Through physical and psychological supports, caregivers can help adolescents with high functioning ASD navigate their social-emotional and functional situations that could ordinarily constitute stress to such individual (Mazefsky et al, 2016;Minke et al, 2014).…”

Brief report: Poor self‐regulation as a predictor of individual differences in adaptive functioning in young children with autism spectrum disorder

“…As noted, self‐regulation is a broad construct encompassing cognitive and emotion aspects of self‐regulation [Mick et al, ] and a large body of research in ASD indicates significant impairment across all aspects of self‐regulation including executive functioning [Hill, ], effortful control [Adamek, Nichols, Tetenbaum, Ponzio, & Carr, ; De Pauw, Mervielde, Van Leeuwen, & De Clercq, ; Faja & Dawson, ], and emotion regulation [Berkovits, Eisenhower, & Blacher, ; Cai, Richdale, Foley, Trollor, & Uljarević, ; Cai, Richdale, Dissanayake, & Uljarević, ; Konstantareas & Stewart, ; Mazefsky et al, ; Mazefsky, ; Nuske et al, ; Pitskel, Bolling, Kaiser, Pelphrey, & Crowley, ; Richey et al, ; Samson et al, ; for comprehensive overviews, please see Cai et al, under review and Mazefsky & White, ]. Importantly, impairments in cognitive aspects of self‐regulation have been found that are associated with a range of negative outcomes in ASD, in terms of both core and associated ASD symptomatology [Hollocks et al, ; Leekam, Prior, & Uljarević, ; Macari, Koller, Campbell, & Chawarska, ; Uljarević, Richdale, Evans, Cai, & Leekam, 2017; Wallace et al, ].…”