Early adversity, including institutional orphanage care, is associated with the development of internalizing disorders. Previous research suggests that institutionalization can disrupt emotion regulation processes, which contribute to internalizing symptoms. However, no prior work has investigated how early orphanage care shapes emotion regulation strategy usage (e.g., cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) and whether the said strategy usage contributes to internalizing symptoms. This study probed emotion regulation strategy usage and internalizing symptoms in a sample of 36 previously institutionalized and 58 comparison youth. As hypothesized, previously institutionalized youth exhibited higher rates of internalizing symptoms than comparison youth, and more frequent use of suppression partially accounted for the relationship between early institutional care and elevated internalizing symptoms. Contrary to our initial hypotheses, reappraisal use did not buffer previously institutionalized or comparison youth against internalizing symptoms. Our findings highlight the potential utility of targeting emotion regulation strategy usage in adversity-exposed youth in future intervention work.

中文翻译：

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情绪调节策略的使用解释了机构照料和内化症状升高之间的联系

早期逆境，包括机构孤儿院护理，与内化障碍的发展有关。先前的研究表明，制度化可以破坏情绪调节过程，这有助于内化症状。然而，以前没有研究过早期孤儿院护理如何影响情绪调节策略的使用（例如，认知重新评估、表达抑制）以及所述策略的使用是否有助于内化症状。本研究调查了 36 名以前被收容的青年和 58 名对照青年的样本中情绪调节策略的使用和内化症状。正如假设的那样，以前被收容的青年比对照组青年表现出更高的内化症状率，并且更频繁地使用抑制部分解释了早期机构护理与内化症状升高之间的关系。与我们最初的假设相反，重新评估的使用并没有缓冲以前被制度化或比较青年对内化症状的影响。我们的研究结果强调了在未来的干预工作中，针对暴露于逆境的青年中使用情绪调节策略的潜在效用。