Childhood Trauma and Identity Disturbance in Male Adolescents: Emotion Regulation and Executive Function as Mediators

Objective: The present study examined the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties and executive function deficits in the relationship between childhood traumas and identity disturbance in adolescent boys. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study utilizes a correlational design employing structural equation modeling. A sample of 311 adolescent boys from Yazd City, Iran, was included in the study (mean age=16.95 years) and selected through convenience and purposive sampling. Data were collected through a childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ), difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS) (short form), cognitive abilities questionnaire and adolescent identity development questionnaire. Results: The final model indicated that the direct relationship between childhood trauma and identity disturbance was not significant. Instead, this relationship was mediated by executive function deficits and difficulties in emotion regulation. The direct relationship between childhood trauma and emotion regulation difficulty was not significant; instead, childhood trauma affected difficulties in emotion regulation through the mediation of executive function deficits. Therefore, in the relationship between childhood trauma and identity disturbance, emotion regulation functioned as a second-order mediating variable. Conclusion: Considering emotion regulation and executive functions in designing preventive and therapeutic interventions can be beneficial when working with adolescents experiencing identity disturbance and childhood traumatic experiences.