Difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the relationship between childhood emotional neglect severity and psychological well-being in Italian young adults

Abstract

Given the negative impact of childhood emotional neglect experiences on current positive relational functioning and one’s psychological well-being (e.g., Berzenski, 2019; Fitzgerald et al., 2020), it is crucial to understand which mechanisms are able to mediate the impact of childhood emotional neglect on relational well-being in young adulthood. The current study was aimed to analyze the role of individual differences in the use of emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between emotional neglect severity and relational well-being, controlling for multi-type maltreatment experiences. Participants were 375 Italian university students (84% females) (Mage=19.87; SD = 1.92). Findings of the mediational models underlined that reduced self-awareness and lack of emotional confidence are the core mechanisms of emotion regulation that specifically mediate the relationship between childhood emotional neglect experiences and low levels of relational well-being in young adulthood. However, they act differently with respect to the levels of severity of such experiences. Emotional confidence is the most compromised mechanism among those who have experienced low levels of emotional neglect (B = −208, se = .106, p < .05) and emotional awareness is the most compromised mechanism among those who have experienced more severe levels of these traumatic experiences (B = −104, se = .067, p<.05). Findings suggest the need to differentiate clinical and social interventions in relation to the severity of the neglectful experiences.