Prevalence and correlates of emotional dysregulation in clinical versus community samples of Egyptian youth

Abstract Background Self-regulation is a core phenomenon in child psychology. The Dysregulation Profile (DP), a composite scale that results from adding up three scores of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL 6–18), has emerged during the last two decades as a transdiagnostic construct in child and ad...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohammad A. Seleem, Masha Y. Ivanova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-07-01
Series:Middle East Current Psychiatry
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-025-00552-8
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Background Self-regulation is a core phenomenon in child psychology. The Dysregulation Profile (DP), a composite scale that results from adding up three scores of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL 6–18), has emerged during the last two decades as a transdiagnostic construct in child and adolescent psychiatry that reflects serious difficulties in self-regulation, including emotional and behavioral dysregulation. This work aimed to investigate the prevalence of DP in a clinical sample compared to a community sample of Egyptian youth and to explore the potential demographic and clinical correlates of this phenomenon. Methods The electronic scoring records of the previously validated Arabic version of the CBCL 6–18 were reviewed for a large clinical sample of convenience (n = 3642, age range 6–18) and another community sample (n = 595) previously recruited by our group with the same age range. The prevalence and the clinical correlates of the Dysregulation Profile (DP) of the CBCL were investigated. Results Almost one-third of the clinical sample (33.1%) had a positive DP (≥ 210) in comparison to 4.2% of the community sample. No statistically significant differences were noted in mean age, age category (children versus adolescents), or sex between DP + ve and DP − ve youth in any of the two samples. DP was most associated with affective disorders and negatively correlated with social competence in both clinical and community samples. Conclusions Dysregulation Profile (DP) commonly coexists with other psychiatric disorders, especially affective disorders, in Egyptian youth regardless of sex and age category.
ISSN:2090-5416