A qualitative study of the emotion regulation experiences of children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities: “Because it helps my brain to calm down”

Abstract

Background: Children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities are prone to developing emotion dysregulation difficulties. The process model of emotion regulation may offer a comprehensive structure by which to understand this phenomenon. Method: Seventeen children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities participated in semi-structured interviews on their experience of emotion regulation. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data obtained. Results: The applicability of the process model of emotion regulation for children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities was confirmed. Additional themes and sub-themes relevant to the model were also identified. Discrepancies in emotion regulation experiences were noted between autistic and non-autistic children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Conclusions: The process model was found to be relevant to children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities. The identified themes and sub-themes could guide the development of outcome measures founded on the model for this population.