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Emotion Regulation Strategies in Preschoolers with Autism

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Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Definition

At the core of mental health and well-being lies the ability to manage negative emotions. Emotion regulation is “the processes related to modifying one’s emotions to fit the context or meet one’s goals” (Thompson 1994). We all carry a toolbox of strategies to regulate our emotions (Calkins 1994; John and Gross 2007), which can be driven by ourselves, or driven by others, and can be active or passive (Gross 1998; Gyurak and Etkin 2014). Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty with regulating their emotions, which has been found to impact their behavioral and mental health. An emerging field of research has documented the strategies that children with ASD use to regulate their emotion and how these strategies overlap and differ from their typically developing peers across ages. Of particular importance is the emergence of emotion regulation strategies early in life.

Historical Background

Emotion regulation skills have been shown to predict school...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Penn Center for Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Heather J. Nuske

  2. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Carla Mazefsky

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  1. Heather J. Nuske
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  2. Carla Mazefsky
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Correspondence to Heather J. Nuske .

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  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Nuske, H.J., Mazefsky, C. (2020). Emotion Regulation Strategies in Preschoolers with Autism. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102419-1

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