Establishing the transdiagnostic contextual pathways of emotional outbursts

Abstract

Emotional outbursts (also known as temper outbursts) are commonly experienced by people with neurodevelopmental disorders and people who have experienced childhood adversity, which can negatively impact individuals and their families. Emotional outbursts may manifest via different pathways that are related to context-specific differences in the regulation and expression of emotions. Caregivers (N = 268) of young people (6-25 years) with neurodevelopmental disorders and/or childhood adversity completed a newly designed caregiver-report questionnaire. Six contextual factors were derived from the Emotional Outburst Questionnaire. The responses were classified based on these factors into three clusters, which may represent potential pathways of emotional outbursts. The three clusters were characterised by the increased likelihood of outbursts: 1) across all setting events and triggers; 2) in safe setting events; 3) across setting events. These potential pathways might be related to the following mechanisms: 1) differences in sensory processing; 2) masking of emotions in unsafe environments; 3) differences in safety perception. Establishing the potential pathways of emotional outbursts may facilitate the identification of the context-dependent cognitive and emotional differences that distinguish these pathways, which may consequently inform the development of pathway-specific intervention strategies.