Children’s relationship problems and the role of adaptive functioning, emotion dysregulation and parental cognitive restructuring

ABSTRACT Positive social relationships have been variously linked to mental well-being, and it is therefore important to more fully understand the factors that may impede positive relationship development. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between elementary school-age children’s emotion regulation, relationship problems, adaptive behaviour (communication, daily living, social skills), and parental emotion regulation. A sample of 210 parents of children ages 7 to 10 years old reported on their child’s socioemotional functioning by completing the Child Behaviour Checklist, Vineland Adaptive Behaviour – III, and the Emotion Regulation Checklist. Parents also reported on their own emotion regulation strategies with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Results showed parental emotion regulation (cognitive restructuring) to be associated both with child emotion regulation and child adaptive functioning. Negative covariance was found between child emotion dysregulation and adaptive functioning ratings. Structural modelling revealed child emotion dysregulation to be the direct predictor of relationship problems.