Influence of language on emotion regulation in adolescence: links with mental health (360G-Wellcome-211550_Z_18_Z)

Evidence from a number of epidemiological and clinical research studies have demonstrated a robust link between child language and later social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH), which impacts children’s educational experience and increases the risk of poor mental health in adulthood. An effective intervention strategy requires an understanding of the mechanisms that underpin the link between child language and later SEMH, which remain unclear. The proposed research will investigate the hypothesis that the ability to regulate emotional responses mediates the link between language ability and later SEMH in late adolescence (ages 18-21). The proposal’s key goals are 1. To determine the influence of language ability on temporal distancing success, 2. To identify cross-sectional developmental differences in temporal distancing success, and 3. To evaluate the test-retest reliability of the temporal distancing experimental paradigm. Finding a significant association between language ability and emotion regulation success would identify emotion regulation behaviours as the more proximal target for intervention strategies for SEMH concerns in adolescence. The temporal distancing paradigm has yet to be evaluated in a test-retest comparison, and reliability estimates will advance understanding of the developmental relationships in emotion regulation. Keywords: mental health; language disorder; adolescence; emotion regulation; temporal distancing