THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METAEMOTIONS AND EMOTIONAL REGULATION AMONG ORPHANS AND OTHER VULNERABLE CHILDREN (OVC)

Abstract

Emotional regulation refers to the ability to direct and manage one’s own emotions and emotional responses. It is widely known that adverse childhood experiences and stressful life events are important risk factors for developing psychopathology in the future. Adolescents may have a specific need to control their emotions in reaction to stressors because of the increased independence and unique demands they face during adolescence compared to childhood. Among this, children who lack 
a family's love and care, orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC) housed in institutions tend to experience behavioural and psychological issues compared to others. Therefore, the present study tries to study the relationship between emotional regulation and metaemotions among adolescents belonging to three different groups such- students from Private English medium schools, students from Government schools and Orphans and Vulnerable children (OVC). It also tries to study the relationship between the various types of metaemotions with difficulties in emotional regulation. The study was carried out on 313 participants belonging to all three groups, both male and female. The findings from the study indicates that there is a positive relationship between negative metaemotions and difficulties in emotional regulation. Among these three groups of adolescents, OVC children has maximum emotional regulation difficulties and higher negative metaemotion compared to other groups.