Childhood Abuse and Emotion Regulation Between Parental And Suicidal Teens

Experiences of negative parenting and childhood abuse can

have adverse consequences for the child's development particularly in

relation to the ability to regulate emotions effectively. There has been

extensive research in this area and attachment theory is pivotal. Problems in

regulating emotions can involve not being able to recognise, label or

manage internal and external states of mind and behaviour. Therefore

research has shown that problems in emotion regulation skills due to

negative parental and/or abusive experiences can result in long-term

psychosocial problems such as depression. Research has suggested that

adults with adverse childhood experiences exhibit risky behaviours as a

means of managing their emotions such as self-harming, dangerous sexual

encounters and substance misuse. Although research has shown that there is

an association between these factors no real understanding of the pathways

and the potential mediating roles these factors play has been investigated

with people presenting with suicidal behaviour, which could be argued as

the ultimate form of managing emotions and therefore the internal and

external self. Therefore this study aims to answer the following question:

Does childhood abuse and dysfunctional emotion regulation mediate the

relationship between parental bonding and suicidal behaviour.