Predicting Academic Alienation From Emotion Dysregulation, Social Competence, and Peer Relationships in School-Attending Girls: A Multiple-Regression Approach

The network analysis of anxiety, depression and academic burnout symptom relationships throughout early, middle, and late adolescence

BACKGROUND

Previous research has explored the associations between anxiety, depression, and academic burnout primarily from a variable-level perspective. However, there is limited understanding of which symptoms might play a significant role in anxiety, depression, and academic burnout among adolescents at different stages.

METHODS

This study included 7,286 adolescents aged 10 to 18. Questionnaires assessed participants' anxiety, depression, and academic burnout. Network analysis was conducted on the overall sample and segmented by early, middle, and late adolescence to explore relationships between symptoms and variations in symptom expression across these stages, aiming to propose effective interventions targeting anxiety, depression, and academic burnout symptoms in early, middle, and late adolescence.

RESULTS

The study found that "feeling that studying is meaningless" emerged as a core symptom in the overall sample. Additionally, "acting or speaking slowly" emerged as a core symptom in early adolescence, while "the thought of dying or hurting" and "feeling bad about yourself, letting your family down" were prominent in middle adolescence, and "easily annoyed or irritable" and "feeling tired" may be prioritized in late adolescence. The varying central symptoms across different adolescent stages suggest the need for targeted interventions.

CONCLUSION

These findings underscore the importance of interventions tailored to specific symptoms to meet the unique needs of adolescents at different developmental stages.

Reflective functioning and emotion regulation in adolescents with a history of sexual offending: a comparative study with a non-offending control group

BACKGROUND

Sexual offenses encompass a diverse array of behaviors across various contexts, affecting numerous individuals. Despite the prevalence of sexual offending among adolescents, there is still a limited understanding of this population. To contribute further to the literature in this field, the present study was conducted to compare a group of male adolescents convicted of sexual offenses with a control group in terms of reflective functioning (RF), emotion regulation (ER) strategies, and emotion dysregulation (ED).

METHODS

60 male adolescents aged 12 to 18 years (M = 16.90; SD = 0.97) who had been convicted of at least one serious sexual offense were recruited from male adolescents referred by juvenile courts to the Legal Medicine Organization in Mashhad, Iran, and compared with a control group of non-offending adolescents consisting of 60 male adolescents aged 12 to 18 years (M = 16.97; SD = 0.82) who were attending school. The groups were matched on age and education level.

RESULTS

A comparison between these two groups revealed that adolescents with a history of sexual offending exhibited poorer RF capacity, greater use of suppression as an ER strategy, and higher scores in all ED domains (p's < 0.001) except non-acceptance of emotional responses compared with the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that RF, ER strategies, and ED need to be considered as important psychological factors in understanding and treating adolescents with a history of sexual offending.

Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized controlled trial examining improvements in emotion regulation, defense mechanisms, quality of life, and IBS symptoms

Studies have provided evidence for the effectiveness of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP) in treating medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of ISTDP on individuals living with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in terms of, emotion regulation (ER) abilities, defense mechanisms, quality of life (QOL), and IBS symptoms. A total of 30 patients diagnosed with IBS were recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention (n = 15) or control (n = 15) group. Pre- and post-treatment assessments were conducted, along with a follow-up assessment after ten weeks. Repeated measures analyses of variance were employed to analyze the data. The findings revealed that ISTDP led to significant improvements in ER, defense mechanisms, and QOL, as well as a reduction in the severity and frequency of IBS symptoms. These results provide further support for the efficacy of ISTDP as a treatment modality for individuals with IBS.

Relationship between Internet addiction and body mass index and the predictive role of emotion dysregulation

In recent years, the widespread use of the Internet has led to increasing concerns about problematic behaviors related to excessive Internet use and their potential consequences. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Internet addiction (IA), body mass index (BMI), and emotion dysregulation (ED). Specifically, the study aimed to determine if IA significantly predicts obesity and if both Internet addiction and obesity can be significantly predicted by ED. 367 school-attending adolescents (Mage = 13.35; SD = 0.82; 49% girls) in Tekab participated in the study. Participants completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), while BMI was calculated using self-reported data to assess their obesity levels. The results indicated that ED significantly predicted both IA and increased BMI levels (p < 0.001). Furthermore, IA also significantly predicted elevated BMI levels (p < 0.001). Our findings showed that ED significantly predicted both higher IA and BMI values, while IA also significantly predicted elevated BMI levels These results have important implications for treatment. To address excessive Internet use or overeating behavior in individuals with either condition, it may be necessary to target the underlying emotional dysregulation that contributes to the problem.

Normative reference interval for youths on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)

Background

The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) is widely used in both clinical and non-clinical research to assess emotional regulation difficulties. To guide interpretation of scores, establishing thresholds for normative DERS scores is informative. However, despite its widespread use, to date no study has provided such threshold for youths. This literature review aimed to fill this gap by examining the 90% reference interval for the DERS in youths aged 11-19 years.

Methods

We conducted a systematic search on PubMed (MEDLINE) on 12 March 2024, to identify studies reporting DERS-36 total scores (DERS-T) in youths aged 11-19 years from either community-based populations or healthy volunteers.

Results

A total of 34 studies were included; 20 studies included community-based participants (n = 6,960), while the remaining 14 studies included healthy volunteers (n = 766), resulting in a total of 7,726 participants. The 90% reference interval for DERS-T from all included participants had a threshold of 121.8 normative emotion regulation in youths.

Conclusion and significance

This threshold is considerably higher than DERS-T scores reported in most clinical studies and a substantial variation in reference intervals across studies is observed. We identify five main methodological factors related to the DERS-36 and discuss their potential impact on the validity, reliability, and generalizability of findings. Given the DERS-T range of 36-180, we conclude that the 90% reference interval derived from our review is not sufficiently robust to guide clinical or scientific interpretations. Our work is not exhaustive, and further research is needed to validate and test the reliability of this reference interval.

Autistic traits predict social avoidance and distress: The chain mediating role of perceived stress and interpersonal alienation

Social avoidance and distress are the primary aspects of social anxiety. Nonautistic people with high levels of autistic traits are more likely to exhibit social avoidance and distress. However, research has yet to reveal how autistic traits induce social avoidance and distress. To fill this gap, the present study recruited 708 participants to complete the 25-item Autism Spectrum Quotient, Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, Chinese Perceived Stress Scale, and Interpersonal Alienation Subscale. The results indicated that autistic traits significantly predicted social avoidance and distress in nonautistic people. In addition, autistic traits induced social avoidance and distress through perceived stress and interpersonal alienation, respectively. Importantly, perceived stress and interpersonal alienation (including the subdimensions of interpersonal alienation: sense of loneliness, sense of social isolation, and alienation between family members) partially mediated the relationships between autistic traits and social avoidance and distress. Overall, autistic traits predict social avoidance and distress via perceived stress and interpersonal alienation. This finding extends the hypothetical model of clinical anxiety in autism spectrum disorders. Furthermore, reducing perceived stress and interpersonal alienation in nonautistic people with high levels of autistic traits may be a valid intervention method to prevent and eliminate their social avoidance and distress.

Comparison of behavioral activation/inhibition systems, emotional regulation difficulties, and selective attention in adolescents with and without parents

Existing literature has established a relationship between adverse childhood experiences and negative outcomes in cognitive and affective functioning. However, further research is needed to thoroughly understand and validate these findings. In this regard, the current study aimed to compare behavioral activation/inhibition systems, emotional regulation difficulties, and selective attention in adolescents with and without parents. A sample of 70 adolescents (M age = 16.36, SD = 1.09, 48.57% female) with caretakers from schools and 55 parentless adolescents (M age = 16.58, SD = 1.28, 52.00% female) from orphanage centers in Tehran were recruited and completed the measures tapping behavioral activation/inhibition systems, emotion dysregulation difficulties, and selective attention. The results revealed that parentless adolescents exhibited significantly higher levels of behavioral activation/inhibition scores, emotion regulation difficulties, and impaired selective attention. These findings suggest that the absence of parents during the early years of life may have detrimental effects on behavioral inhibition and activation systems, emotional regulation abilities, and selective attention capabilities. The implications of these findings are further discussed.