Emotional (dys)Regulation and Family Environment in (non)Clinical Adolescents’ Internalizing Problems: The Mediating Role of Well-Being

Abstract

Adolescence is a period of several changes and a time when young people are confronted with some difficult tasks of dealing with a diversity of emotions and building their own identity. Therefore, it is a period of higher vulnerability for the development of internalizing problems. The present paper aims to study some constructs considered relevant to adolescents’ adjustment and/or internalizing disorders, emphasizing the role of well-being, emotional regulation and family environment. Therefore, this research aims to (1) test the mediating role of well-being in the relationship between emotional regulation difficulties, the family environment, and internalizing problems, and (2) understand the differences between adolescents with a higher and lower risk of presenting internalizing problems. In the study, 723 adolescents of both sexes (12–18 years old) from middle to high school completed self-report questionnaires. The results indicated that the mediating role of well-being was partially established between emotional regulation difficulties and internalizing problems, explaining 31% of the variance in these problems. Well-being was also considered a partial mediator between family environment (cohesion and support and conflict) and internalizing problems, explaining 19 and 26% of the variance, respectively. Furthermore, the group with a higher risk of developing internalizing problems (n = 130) revealed higher levels of emotional regulation difficulties and family conflict. In contrast, this group reported less family cohesion and support and lower levels of well-being. The main results of the present study provide relevant data in the context of clinical practice. Important implications are also discussed for the design of psychopathology prevention programs and the promotion of global well-being with adolescents. Considering the limitations of the present study, such as the nonrandom sampling process and the reduced number of participants included in the clinical group, these results need to be deepened in future research in this area.

Academic Stress and Anxiety among Portuguese Students: The Role of Perceived Social Support and Self-Management

“…Self-management is one of the five core competencies integrated in social and emotional learning (SEL). During infancy and adolescence, SEL aims to foster skills and attitudes that promote identity building, including self-management skills as predictors of overall wellbeing and mental health [46][47][48]. This competency is defined as the ability of children and adults to manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a way that is adjusted to different life situations.…”

“…Moreover, children and adolescents who experience more social support are better able to manage their emotions [47], feel lower levels of internalizing symptoms [48], and present higher levels of well-being, self-esteem, and life satisfaction [49]. Hence, social support is established as an important protective factor for wellbeing and mental health in adolescence, including through its role in the promotion of key social and emotional competences.…”

Internalizing Problems in Childhood and Adolescence: The Role of the Family

“…As Cheunga et al 26 Han and Shaffer et al 27 and Özkula et al 28 point out, parental emotional dysregulation is related to children’s internalizing symptoms. Raposo and Francisco 20 affirm that children who witness more family conflicts are at greater risk of developing these types of problems.…”

Experience-dependent neurodevelopment of self-regulation in adolescence

“…Early in their children’s lives, caregivers begin modeling regulatory behaviors ( Morris et al, 2007 , Morris et al, 2011 , Morris et al, 2017 ), and these socialization practices predict greater down-regulation of amygdala reactivity in later adolescence, marked by less positive amygdala-vmPFC functional connectivity while viewing negative emotional stimuli ( Chen et al, 2020 ). Other work also suggests that negative caregiving experiences like exposure to maltreatment or parental conflict are linked to psychopathologies and augmented amygdala-PFC connectivity—which may serve as a potential protective factor against internalizing symptoms ( Herringa et al, 2016 , Morris et al, 2007 , Raposo and Francisco, 2022 , Weissman et al, 2019 ). However, this enhanced amygdala-PFC coupling was not observed in adolescents with greater internalizing symptoms, suggesting that higher doses of adversity may blunt compensatory mechanisms that help dampen amygdala hyperactivity to negative stimuli ( Herringa et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Far more research has been devoted to caregiver socialization in childhood, but emerging evidence highlights the continued role that caregivers play in socializing self-regulation skills for their adolescents. Familial cohesion and support seem to protect against adolescent internalizing problems, which likely reflects, among other things, healthy self-regulation skills ( Raposo and Francisco, 2022 ). Caregiving adversity (e.g., abuse or neglect) can instead result in greater utilization of suboptimal regulation strategies like emotional suppression and rumination ( Weissman et al, 2019 ).…”