Graduation Term

Summer 2026

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Department of Psychology: School Psychology

Committee Chair

Karla Doepke

Committee Member

Christy Borders

Committee Member

Adena Meyers

Committee Member

Shengtian Wu

Abstract

Emotion regulation skills lay the foundation for effective social interactions and future success. Children on the autism spectrum experience greater difficulties regulating their emotions than their neurotypical peers, leading to difficulties in social and academic settings. Therefore, it is essential to directly teach these children emotion regulation strategies. Additionally, autistic children often have difficulties generalizing what they have learned from one setting to another, and as such it has been helpful to involve caregivers in their treatment. Currently, the scant research that exists primarily describes emotion regulation interventions implemented in individual settings, which are both time intensive and expensive. One possible way to reduce costs and make emotion regulation interventions more accessible would be to provide intervention in a group setting with caregiver involvement. Research suggests that group interventions have been effective in teaching emotion regulation skills to autistic children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a group-based emotion regulation intervention for children on the autism spectrum and their caregivers. Autistic children ages 7 through 11 and their caregivers were recruited to participate in the study. Methods used in the study include dialectical behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, video modeling, and explicit teaching. It was hypothesized that this group-based emotion regulation intervention would reduce emotion regulation challenges in autistic children, reduce the stress experienced by their caregivers and that caregivers would report feeling more capable of teaching their child emotion regulation skills.

Access Type

Dissertation-Open Access

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