| Abstract [eng] |
The links between body awareness, early childhood experiences and emotion regulation / Interoceptive awareness as well as emotion regulation are thought to develop from the infancy in the interpersonal context, and that the awareness of internal bodily sensations is essential for emotional processes, and, therefore, emotional regulation. The aim of this study is to identify the links between interoceptive awareness, the use of emotion regulation strategies in adulthood, and early childhood experiences. The study included 316 respondents (260 women and 56 men), aged between 18 to 67 (M = 32.38; SD = 9.66). The subjects were mainly urban residents with higher education, reached through social networks via convenient selection of participants. Respondents completed the instruments used in this study online: demographic data questionnaire, Multidimensional Interoceptive Awareness Questionnaire (MAIALT), Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and Childhood Experience Questionnaire (VPK). The study found that poorer interoceptive awareness in adulthood is associated with parental overprotection in childhood, whereas childhood abuse is associated with lower trust in one’s body, as well as lower tendency not to worry about sensations of pain or discomfort in the body. The use of cognitive reappraisal, adaptive emotion regulation strategy, in adulthood is associated with more parental care, less experience of childhood abuse, and better interoceptive awareness in adulthood. The higher the trust in one’s body and its sensations, the lower the prognostic significance of maternal care in childhood has for the use of cognitive reappraisal for emotion regulation in adulthood. |
