Emotion Regulation and Temperament Characteristics in Children and Adolescents Diagnosed With Migraine and...

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between headache and psychiatric characteristics by comparing emotion regulation skills, temperament traits, and psychiatric symptom severity among children and adolescents diagnosed with migraine and tension- type headache (TTH) versus healthy controls.

A total of 131 participants aged 9-18 years were included: 45 with migraine, 42 with TTH, and 44 healthy controls. Assessments included the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised, and the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Migraine patients had significantly higher scores on DERS subscales related to difficulty maintaining goal-directed behavior and developing effective coping strategies, as well as on major depressive disorder scores, compared to controls. TTH patients showed significantly lower effortful control scores, associated with attention and self-regulation, than the control group. No significant differences were found between the migraine and TTH groups in emotion regulation or temperament traits.

The findings suggest that both migraine and TTH may be associated not only with secondary psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety, but also with innate structural predispositions (emotion regulation skills and temperament characteristics). These shared structural predispositions may contribute to the development of both headache types and psychiatric symptoms.