Emotion regulation skills, autism severity of preschool children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and their relationship with parental temperament

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the temperament traits of parents of preschool children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), autism severity, and emotion regulation. Another aim of the study is to examine the relationship between potential psychiatric symptoms in parents and autism severity and emotion regulation in children. Method: The study sample included 70 cases aged 3-6 years diagnosed with ASD according to DSM-5 criteria and their parents who agreed to participate. Parents completed the TEMPS-A Temperament Scale and SCL 90-R scale, while considering their children when filling out the Emotion Regulation Scale. Autism severity was determined by the researcher using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Results: The mean age of the children was 50,91±10,55 months, and the mean age at diagnosis was 34,87±10,28 months. A negative correlation was found between Lability/Negativity and maternal depressive, cyclothymic, and anxious temperament. A positive correlation was observed between paternal cyclothymic and anxious temperament, somatization, anxiety, obsession, depression, paranoia, anger, additional symptoms, general symptom index, as well as maternal somatization, obsession, depression, and general symptom index. A negative correlation was found between Emotion Regulation and paternal paranoid symptoms (r=0,281, p<0,05). No correlation was found between the subtypes of psychiatric symptoms of the parents and the CARS scores. A negative correlation was identified between autism severity and the Emotion Regulation scores rated by both mothers (r=0,327, p<0,01) and fathers (r=0,357, p<0,01). Regression analyses revealed that the Lability/Negativity variable in children was predicted by both maternal and paternal anxious temperament, maternal depressive symptoms, general symptom index, and paternal somatization symptoms and general symptom index. Lastly, it was found that autism severity had a statistically significant effect on Emotion Regulation assessed by both mothers and fathers (F=8,119, p=0,006; F=9,936, p=0,002, respectively). Conclusion: It appears that the severity of autism symptoms in children reduces their emotion regulation skills. Given the significance of parental temperament traits, particularly anxious temperament and psychiatric symptoms, in the early developmental stages of emotion regulation skills in children with autism, it is thought that providing training for parental attitudes and ensuring that parents benefit from mental health services for psychiatric symptoms may contribute to the development of children's emotion regulation skills.