Emotion Regulation and Prospective Memory in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has often been associated with emotion dysregulation and poor memory functions. While both these aspects are integral to daily life, understanding their relationship with individuals with ASD is critical. Previous research has indicated amplified emotional response, suggesting emotion dysregulation to be a core feature of ASD. Findings in the area of prospective memory (PM) yield inconsistent results. Therefore, this study aims to explore parental assessment of emotion regulation (ER) strategies and PM in children with ASD. Methods: This cross-sectional research was conducted using proxy reports by parents using snowball sampling between the ages of 5 and 12 years (n = 40) and analyzed using ANOVA. Results: The factorial ANOVA revealed that children with ASD exhibited significantly lower utilization of cognitive reappraisal strategies compared to the neurotypical group (F [1, 78] = 29.829, P < 0.001). In addition, significant main effects were observed for cue (F [1, 78] = 4.191, P = 0.044) and term (F [1, 78] = 35.669, P < 0.001). However, the main effect of memory was not found to be statistically significant (F [1, 78] = 3.194, P = 0.078). Furthermore, a substantial group effect was detected in the context of memory performance (F [1, 78] = 135.170, P < 0.01). Conclusion: The findings suggest that parent rating on ER and PM can adequately provide an insight into the actual performance of children.