The Relationship between Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Alexithymia with Hostile attribution bias and Anger in in adolescent boys with high bullying: A Path Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescence is one of the critical stages and the period of evolution of human physical and mental development that occurs between childhood and youth. Successful completion of this course plays a role in mental health and personality. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Alexithymia with Hostile attribution bias and Anger in adolescent boys with bullying, which plays an important role in developmental outcomes in adolescents. Methods: This research was conducted by cross-sectional method. 345 adolescent boys with high bullying living in Zanjan, Iran participated in the study. To measure self-reporting tools, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Questionnaire of Hostile attribution bias and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory tools were used to collect data. Path analysis method was used to analyze the causal model. The results show a good fit of the model with the experimental data. Results: The results also showed a direct and significant effect between anger with Difficulty in Emotion Regulation (β =0.19, p <0.05), with Alexithymia (β = 0.17, p <0.05) and with Hostile attribution bias (β =0.32, p<0.05) in male adolescents high bullying. As well the mediating role of Hostile attribution bias in the relationship between Difficulties in emotion regulation with anger is significant (β = 0.32). Moreover the mediating role of Hostile attribution bias in the relationship between Alexithymia with anger is significant (β = 0.20). Conclusion: These results contribute to the theoretical knowledge of how Alexithymia and hostile attribution bias affect anger in adolescent populations. The findings supported the mediating role of hostile attribution bias in the relationship between Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Alexithymia with anger in adolescents. All three predictor variables are trainable and can be used in anger reduction and bullying interventions in adolescents.