In an earlier study we have found that emotion regulation in childhood and adolescence had been associated with depression and different type of suicidal behaviors. None of the studies has examined, however, the features of emotion regulation in youth with different psychiatric disorders. We thus investigated in a clinical sample of youth (N=400; ages 10-17 years) with internalizing and externalizing disorders the features of emotion regulation.

Our subjects were recruited from the inpatient unit of our hospital; children completed a self-rated scale of emotion regulation, “Feelings and Me” Questionnaire. The functional and dysfunctional, and the cognitive, behavioral and social domains of emotion regulation were examined.

We found differences in the cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation strategies in youngsters with different diagnoses, that is children with internalizing disorder were more likely to exhibit cognitive than behavioral emotion regulation strategies, and youth with externalizing disorders could be characterized by more behavioral than cognitive emotion regulation strategies.

These results emphasize the importance of investigation of different emotion regulation strategies in internalizing and externalizing disorders, as a basic of cognitive-behavioral or contextual emotion regulation psychotherapy.