Emotion regulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A review

Introduction: Emotion regulation is an important aspect of children emotional and social development. Especially, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seem to be at a disadvantage regarding emotion regulation due to social interaction difficulties. In the present study we review the research findings on the specific emotion regulation strategies in children with ASD.
Participants and Methods: We carried out literature searches using Primo Central ExLibris for all articles published on emotion regulation in children with ASD since 2003. Articles were included if they met the following criteria: a) comprised participants with ASD under the age of 18 years; b) contained empirical research findings on emotion regulation; and c) used a prospective group comparison design. At the end, the review includes 12 independent studies.
Results: In general, findings indicate that children with ASD use less emotion regulation strategies than typically developing peers. However, some studies prove less efficient strategies in children with ASD, while others did not find differences. In studies analysing the impact of interventions, children show diminished expression of negativity and more appropriate emotion regulation during post-treatment.
Conclusion: Emotion regulation difficulties are a serious concern for children with ASD, yet empirical studies on this topic are still scarce. More studies with larger samples are needed. Especially, other characteristics, such as social interaction and caregiver’s intervention, that might influence emotion regulation have to be further analysed.