Is emotion dysregulation in childhood a precursor to internalising problems in adolescence?

Internalising problems such as anxiety and depression affect a sizeable proportion of adolescents and show a peak age of onset around the transition to adolescence. Emotion regulation issues have been associated with internalising problems; however, it is less clear whether emotion regulation issues in childhood are a causal precursor to internalising problems in adolescence. The present study uses a counterfactual analysis approach in a large-scale UK representative study to assess whether emotion regulation issues at age 7 appear to have a causal impact on internalising problems at age 11,14, and 17, when accounting for confounding factors, including pre-existing internalising problems. Results suggested a modest but significant effect of emotion dysregulation in childhood on adolescent mental health. These results suggest that childhood emotion regulation problems impact mental health later in development and potentially point to childhood emotion dysregulation as a promising intervention target for reducing adolescent mental health issues. • Emotion regulation issues have been associated with internalising problems. • We found that childhood emotion dysregulation may be a causal precursor to adolescent internalising problems. • We used a counterfactual analysis approach in observational data. • Emotion regulation in childhood may be a promising preventive intervention target.