Emotion regulation and executive functions in adolescents with skin picking disorder

This study aimed to investigate emotion regulation difficulties and executive functions of adolescent outpatients with skin picking disorder (SPD).

Ninety six adolescents with SPD and ninety healthy controls were included in the study. All patients were diagnosed with SPD as per the diagnostic criteria of DSM-5. A battery of tests were implemented to evaluate emotional regulation strategies (i.e. acceptance,), as well as associations between those strategies and executive functions, and clinical variables (anxiety, depressive symptoms, impulsivity and illness characteristics).

The SPD group had significantly higher scores in inhibition (t = 2.982, p = 0.030), emotional control (t = 2.461, p = 0.016), and planning-organization (t = 2.139, p = 0.038) Multiple linear regression model explained a considerable amount of variance of executive functions in the patient group (Adjusted R²=66.4%). In the patient group, age at illness-onset and the severity of inhibiton were significantly associated with the disruptions in emotional control functions (For age at illness-onset, β= -0.45, t=-3.0, p = 0.012 and for BRIEF Inhibition scores, β = 0.31, t = 2.8, p = 0.008).

The results of this study suggest that those with SPD have more emotion regulation problems and poorer executive function skills compared to those without SPD. Deficits in emotional control were associated with inhibition process and age-onset of the illness.