Date of Award

8-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department/Program

Psychology

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Erin Kang

Committee Member

Jeremy Fox

Committee Member

Manveer Mann

Committee Member

Brady Nelson

Abstract

Emotion dysregulation (ED) is a transdiagnostic mechanism that is conceptualized as difficultly regulating emotions and deploying appropriate regulation strategies in response to environmental stimuli. Meta-analyses suggest that autistic people, across the lifespan, experience more severe ED as compared to both neurotypical people and those with mental health conditions. Despite elevated risk and evidence linking ED to disruptions in neural mechanisms, no studies to date have examined neural markers of ED in autistic populations. The current project uses multi-method and multi-informant measurement to examine similarities and differences in neural mechanisms of ED in autistic and non-autistic populations. Forty-four youth aged 11—17 years from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds participated in an in-person project using an electroencephalogram (EEG) to examine neural mechanisms of ED and their relationships with behaviorally expressed ED, as reported by both youth and their parents. Delta-beta coupling (DBC) and late positive potential (LPP) were used to examine associations of subtypes of ED with resting-state brain activity and cognitive reappraisal, respectively. Significant differences were seen in LPP amplitudes, but not DBC, between autistic and non-autistic youth. Bivariate and multivariate analyses suggest that larger LPP amplitudes (after reappraisal) and weaker frontal DBC (marginally) were related to greater challenges with ED. These findings are the first to examine associations between neural mechanisms of ED and parent- and self-report challenges of ED in autistic children. Future work can continue to examine the predictive utility of these metrics in autistic youth and adults, which can assist in both a better understanding of ED as a construct and more precise intervention planning.

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