How do children with intellectual disabilities regulate their emotions? The views of parents

Abstract

Background: Compared to their typically developing peers, children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities are at an increased risk of developing emotion regulation difficulties, this is especially the case for autistic individuals with intellectual disabilities. To better understand the emotion regulation experiences of children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities, the views of parents were considered through the lens of one of the leading emotion regulation frameworks, the process model of emotion regulation. Method: Twenty parents participated in semi-structured interviews. Results: Thematic analysis supported the relevance of the process model to this population; and identified additional themes and sub-themes. Parental perspectives also differed between parents with autistic children with intellectual disabilities, compared to parents whose children were reported to only have a diagnosis of intellectual disability. Conclusions: These identified themes could guide the development of an emotion regulation measure founded on the process model for this population.