The Moderating Role of Parental Overprotection and Insecure Child-Caregiver Attachment on the Association Between Adaptive Emotion Regulation Strategies and Vegetative Somatoform Symptoms in Childhood

The current study investigates the moderating role of parental overprotection and insecure mother-child attachment on the association between adaptive emotion regulation (ER) strategies and vegetative somatoform symptoms in children. A study sample of 221 primary (Grade 4) school children completed questionnaires assessing vegetative somatoform symptoms, ER strategies, and attachment. Their parents completed a questionnaire for parental overprotection. In contrast to our assumption, the relation between the use of adaptive ER strategies and vegetative somatoform symptoms is only moderated by parental overprotection. Insecure child-caregiver attachment plays no moderation role. The results support the assumption that the child-caregiver interaction factor "parental overprotection" plays an important role in explaining the occurrence and maintenance of vegetative somatoform symptoms in children. This underlines the importance for parents to undergo a process of adjustment to support children in an age-adequate way in regulating their emotions, which does not impair children's own competences, for example, the autonomous use of adaptive ER strategies.