The art of emotion regulation: Association between the quality of anger regulation and the level of prosocial behavior in Dutch youth, moderated by gender (identity)

Abstract

The ability to regulate emotions in an adaptive way is important and partly dependent on self-regulation. It is associated with personal well-being and high quality relationships. Prosocial behavior is triggered in social situations where children, help, share and cooperate with others. In order to develop this, emotion regulation that is well developed is crucial. Disturbances in the experience of self-regulation can lead to an increased risk of psychopathology. Although emotion regulation and prosocial behavior has been linked in several studies already, it still lacks studies that examine this relationship more precisely. This cross-sectional study examined the possible coherence between anger regulation and prosocial behavior development in Dutch youth (N = 156, M = 14.29 years) and whether gender (identity) moderates this (n girls = 96, gender incongruency = 8). Data was collected through an online survey, completed by youth aged 8 to 18 years old. Anger regulation was measured by using the FEELKJ and prosocial behavior by using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Gender (identity) was examined by using three different questions regarding birth gender and psychological gender. A significant coherence was found between adaptive anger regulation and prosocial behavior, however not between maladaptive regulation and prosocial behavior. The mean age could explain this result. Moreover, girls scored significantly higher on prosocial behavior than boys, when high in total anger regulation. However, no significant moderation effect of gender identity was found. A small sample size could account for this result. A suggestion for future research would be to recruit a larger sample for gender identity and to use the perspective of teachers and parents as well.