Mr Ying Man Sung1
1Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
Biography:
Ying Man has around 20 years of experience as an IT consultant specialising in virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). During his work life, Ying Man has participated in developing several large-scale professional training systems in clinical settings using VR, such as nursing, OT on-the-job, and pre-service training systems. He has also developed several AI systems, such as face recognition and voice-to-text AI systems. Furthermore, Ying Man’ also runs two special needs education centres in Hong Kong and Singapore and has tremendous practical experience working with special needs children, especially those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Abstract:
Emotion regulation difficulties are common among autistic adolescents. However, the extent to which emotion regulation predicts behavioural and emotional outcomes, and whether autistic traits influence these relationships, remains unclear.
This study investigated whether emotion regulation ability predicts challenging behaviour, anxiety symptoms, and daily functioning in autistic adolescents, and whether autistic traits moderate the relationship between emotion regulation ability and challenging behaviour. Parents of 100 autistic adolescents aged 13–17 years completed an online survey reporting on their child’s behaviours. Emotion regulation ability was assessed using the Emotion Regulation Checklist. Challenging behaviour, anxiety symptoms, daily functioning, and autistic traits were measured using the ASD–Problem Behaviour Checklist, Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale–Parent Version, World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule, and Autism Spectrum Quotient, respectively. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined predictors of anxiety symptoms and daily functioning, while moderation analysis tested the moderating effect of autistic traits on challenging behaviour.
Results showed that poorer emotion regulation ability significantly predicted higher levels of challenging behaviour and anxiety symptoms, as well as poorer daily functioning. Autistic traits moderated the relationship between emotion regulation ability and challenging behaviour, with stronger associations observed at higher levels of autistic traits.
These findings identify emotion regulation ability as a key predictor of behavioural, emotional, and functional outcomes in autistic adolescents. The moderating role of autistic traits highlights individual differences in vulnerability to the behavioural impacts of emotion regulation difficulties and supports emotion regulation as an important target for interventions aimed at improving psychosocial outcomes.