The Relationship Between the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences with Emotion Regulation and Cognitive Flexibility in Teenage Students

Background: Adolescence is a developmental period when the adverse childhood experiences have a significant impact due to the changes in the brain structure and functioning during this period. This is mainly related to cognitive and emotional functioning. Childhood treatment, relationships, and health are the key factors involved in predicting later life emotional and cognitive growth and function. Objectives: This research aimed to investigate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences with emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility in teenage students. The research method was descriptive correlational. Methods: The population of the study included all enrolled teenage students in English language institutes of Ardabil city in 2019; 135 individuals were selected as the sample of the study. The research tools were Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, Cognitive Flexibility Questionnaire, and Emotional Regulation Scale. Results: The results showed that there was a significant negative correlation between adverse childhood experiences with emotion regulation (r=-0.409), (P=0.001) and cognitive flexibility(r=-0.435), (P=0.001). The results of the regression analysis showed that 29.5% of emotion regulation was explained by adverse childhood experiences. Also, 50.6% of cognitive flexibility was explained by adverse childhood experiences. Conclusion: There was found a negative and significant correlation between adverse childhood experiences with emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility in teenage students. From this finding, it can be concluded that the early development period and family member treatment, relationships, and health are the key factors in predicting later life emotional and cognitive growth and function.