The moderating role of emotion regulation on the association between complicated grief and psychosocial difficulties in bereaved youth

Following the death of a loved one, bereaved youth may experience complicated grief and psychosocial difficulties. This study examined the association between these two variables, as well as the moderating role of emotion regulation strategies, specifically expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal. Participants were 112 bereaved youth aged 8-17 years (M = 12.41, SD = 2.58; 52.2% girls). Hierarchical linear regression modeling showed that more complicated grief reactions and higher expressive suppression were associated with more psychosocial difficulties. Further, expressive suppression functioned as a moderator, such that the combination of less expressive suppression and less complicated grief reactions was associated with youth experiencing the fewest psychosocial difficulties. For youth with elevated expressive suppression, psychosocial difficulties were higher irrespective of complicated grief. Cognitive reappraisal was not significantly related to psychosocial difficulties in this sample. Findings illustrate the central role of expressive suppression as a modifiable factor that could be intervened upon to improve bereaved youth's functioning.