Language development,emotion regulation and emotion expression.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The influence of language development upon emotion regulation and emotion expression in adults with an intellectual disability.
IRAS ID
139869
Contact name
Mark Littlewood
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Research has identified emotion regulation skills are involved in the development and maintenance of mental health problems (Levine, Marziali, & Hood,1997) and deficits in various emotion regulation skills are associated with psychopathology (Novick-Kline, Turk, Mennin, Hoyt, & Gallagher, 2005). More specifically, people who cannot regulate their emotions effectively are at risk of developing; mental health problems(e.g., depression, generalised anxiety disorder), physical illnesses, social relationships problems and behavioural difficulties (Aldao, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Schweizer, 2010).
The development of emotion regulation skills is believed to be reliant upon language development (Vygotsky,1934/1978) with research showing strong links between them (Lengua, Honorado, & Bush, 2007). Additionally, several studies have identified language disorders are associated with behavioural problems (Beitchman, Wilson, Johnson, Atkinson, Young, Adlaf, Escobar, Douglas, 2001; Camarata, Hughes, & Ruhl, 1988).
Different emotion regulation strategies have been identified to have different outcomes with some emotion regulation strategies being more beneficial. Two of the most investigated emotion regulation strategies are cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression (Webb, Miles, & Sheeran, 2012). In general, cognitive reappraisal has been found to be a more adaptive emotion regulation strategy whilst expressive suppression appears to be maladaptive (Abler & Kessler 2009).
Individuals with intellectual disabilities experience identifiable language delays/difficulties with the population having a high prevalence of mental health problems (Dekker & Koot 2003), approximately 4-5 times higher than the typically developed population (Koller et al, 1982) and a greater chance of developing challenging/aggressive behaviour (Wallander, Koot, & Dekker, 2003). Therefore, it appears plausible that language ability may be linked to mental health and behavioural problems via limited or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies.
This study aims to identify if a relationship exists between language development, emotion regulation strategies, anxiety and aggression in adults with intellectual disabilities.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NE/1068
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jul 2014
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion