Emotion dysregulation as a pathway linking adversity and temperament to general psychopathology in childhood

The general psychopathology factor (p factor) reflects a common liability underlying a broad range of emotional and behavioural problems in childhood. Although adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and temperament are established vulnerability dimensions, the mechanisms through which contextual and dispositional influences converge on general psychopathology remain unclear. Emotion regulation may represent a key transdiagnostic process linking early vulnerability to broad psychopathological risk. In a community sample of 241 children aged 6-12 years (57.7% girls), a path model examined associations among cumulative ACEs, temperament dimensions (negative affectivity, effortful control, behavioural inhibition, and surgency), emotion regulation processes (emotional lability and adaptive regulation), and the p factor. The model was estimated using WLSMV and adjusted for age and sex. The model explained 45% of the variance in the p factor. Emotion dysregulation was positively associated with general psychopathology (β = 0.510, p < .001), whereas adaptive regulation was not significant. ACEs (β = 0.201, p < .001), behavioural inhibition (β = 0.152, p = .003), and surgency (β = -.100, p = .023) showed direct associations with the p factor. Significant indirect effects through emotional lability were observed for adversity, negative affectivity, effortful control, behavioural inhibition, and surgency. Emotion dysregulation emerged as a key intermediary process linking adversity and temperament with broad psychopathology in middle childhood. These findings highlight emotion dysregulation as a clinically relevant transdiagnostic target that may help identify children vulnerable to broad psychopathology and guide early preventive interventions.