My Emotions and Me v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
My Emotions and Me: characterising emotion regulation in young people
IRAS ID
307053
Contact name
Edmund Songua-Barke
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research Summary
The proposed study is part of a wider programme called RE-STAR (Regulating Emotions - Strengthening Adolescent Resilience). In RE-STAR we are trying to understand the way people with a diagnosis of ADHD and/or autism manage their emotions in the face of day-to-day stresses and hassles - something we know they can sometimes find challenging. This is important because we also know that emotion regulation problems in young people with ADHD and/or autism increase the risk of adolescent depression. The overall goal of RE-STAR, therefore, is to find ways to help young people with a diagnosis of ADHD and/or autism to better manage their emotions and so reduce the likelihood of developing depression during adolescence.
In the My Emotions and Me study, we begin by addressing the research question: how do people with a diagnosis of ADHD and/or autism think and talk about emotion regulation?
We will do this by conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews with young people with a diagnosis of ADHD and/or autism. Participants will be recruited via South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. The interviews will take place remotely, via video call. 11-15 year-olds with a diagnosis of ADHD and/or autism spectrum disorder, attending mainstream school, with sufficient use of spoken English will be eligible.
Once we have collected the young people's accounts, we will use them to develop a new way of measuring emotion regulation for autistic/ADHD young people (not part of the current application). Existing measures fail to take account of the young persons' experiences and points of view, being developed in neurotypical populations or reliant on parent/clinician reports. Our new self-report measure will be used in later stages of the RE-STAR project when we focus on developing interventions.
RE-STAR is a four year programme. The interviews for My Emotions and Me will be completed within a 4-month period.
Summary of Results
Qualitative interviews were completed with 57 young people with a diagnosis of autism (n=21), ADHD (n=24), autism+ADHD (n=12). Their accounts identified similar themes in terms of everyday stressors in school and home environments. However, the three groups differed in how they experienced and managed strong emotions in response to these stressors. The themes from these interviews were used to develop a new self-report measure of emotional responding, which was subsequently piloted with a sample of 50 autistic and/or ADHD young people. This measure is now undergoing psychometric evaluation and validation in a follow-up study (My Emotions and Me: Part 2).
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
22/NI/0017
Date of REC Opinion
8 Feb 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion