Autistic Traits & Emotion Functioning: An Examination of Emotion Regulation and Alexithymia

Abstract

The present thesis aims to examine the nature of the relationship between autistic traits and emotion functional difficulties, covering both negative and positive emotions. This thesis composed of two studies with study (1) focusing on emotion regulation ability (N = 661) and study (2) on alexithymia (N = 868). Each study found that difficulties regulating both negative and positive emotions should be considered when examining autistic traits, which holds implications for research and clinical settings.