The Relationship Between School-Age Children’s Self-Reported Perceptions of Their Interoceptive Awareness and Emotional Regulation: An Exploratory Study
Hei Yuet Lucy Cheung, Ted Brown, Mong‐Lin Yu, Phoebe PP Cheung
Abstract
Interoceptive awareness (IA) refers to one’s ability to perceive and recognize internal bodily signals. Our behavioral and emotional responses to interoceptive signals are determined by self-regulation. Therefore, IA and self-regulation have considerable impacts on children’s daily occupational engagement and performance. Nonetheless, the relationship between IA and self-regulation relevant to pediatric occupational therapy practice continues to lack empirical evidence. This study explores the association between school-age children’s self-reported IA, emotional regulation, and academic self-regulation. Twenty-five children completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for children (CERQ-k), the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness – Youth adapted version (MAIA-y), and the Academic Self-Regulation Scale; parents/caregivers completed a demographics questionnaire (n = 25). Data were analyzed using Spearman’s rho (ρ) correlation and linear regression analyses with bootstrapping. Nineteen significant correlations were identified between MAIA-y and CERQ-k subscales (ρ = −.724 to .700, p < .05) and 14 between MAIA-y and ASRS subscales (ρ = .448 to .687, p < .05). Two MAIA-y subscales (“not-distracting” and “self-regulation”) were predictive of cognitive emotional regulatory strategies (total variance = 33%, 74.1%; p < .05); one MAIA-y subscale (“trusting”) was predictive of children’s autonomous academic self-regulation (total variance = 64.1%; p = .005). The result demonstrates significant correlations in children’s self-reported IA, emotional regulation, and academic self-regulation. Therapists should consider assessing children’s IA to inform self-regulation goal setting and treatment planning.