Early maladaptive schemas and emotion regulation, psychological knots between family and health

Abstract

Early maladaptive schemas and emotion regulation represent relevant psychological constructs in the family-health equation. The present study aims to investigate the impact of parental styles of emotion socialisation (fear and happiness) on health, by testing an integrative explanatory model with early maladaptive schemas and emotion regulations in parallel mediation models. According to research, priorities established by the experts and the executive board of the International Society for Schema Therapy (Pilkington et al., 2023), the present study investigates the parenting models involved in the generation of schemas, and also, schemas in relation to health, moreover, schemas and emotion regulation as mediators.The research involved a sample of 455 adults, (M = 21.33; SD = 6.03) 74.3% female (N = 338), 25.7% male (N = 165). Instruments measuring parental emotion socialisation, early maladaptive schemas, emotion regulation, anxiety and physical health were used. The conceptual models were tested in a statistical analysis, including parallel mediation models and a moderate mediation model to the right, designed to measure direct and indirect effects of the variables included in the models. The results indicate that the mother’s strategies for socialising emotions of fear and happiness do not have a direct effect on anxiety and physical health, but one mediated by the domains of Impaired autonomy and Performance, Separation and Rejection. Specific schemas, such as Abandonment and Mistrust/Abuse, act as mediators between mothers’ emotional responses in childhood and health in adolescence. In contrast, the impact of fathers’ emotional responses has a direct effect on physical and emotional health in adolescence, with early maladaptive schemas and emotional regulation mechanisms not acting as mediators. These findings support the research priorities in the field of schema therapy and allow the conceptualisation of health and parental emotion responses through the lens of maladaptive schemas, as well as future interventions through rescripting modes in a healthy perspective for the reconfiguration of the personality, even after emotional experiences have shaped maladaptive responses during childhood.