Anger regulation and school-related somatic complaints in children with special educational needs: A longitudinal study

Otterpohl N, Stranghöner D, Vierhaus M, Schwinger M. Anger regulation and school-related somatic complaints in children with special educational needs: A longitudinal study. Learning and Individual Differences. 2017;56:59-67.Somatic complaints are a widespread problem among children, and are considered as an important precursor to internalizing problems. Particularly, children with special educational needs are at risk of suffering from school related somatic complaints. However, there is a lack of research on the role of anger regulation for the development of somatic complaints. Moreover, studies on underlying mechanisms are scarce. We assumed that the effect of anger regulation on somatic complaints is mediated by school-related affect, and that the effect of anger regulation on school-related affect is moderated by intelligence. A representative German sample of 467 elementary school children with special educational needs participated in the study. We collected longitudinal data at two measurement occasions (Grade 3 and Grade 4). Children were asked about their use of adaptive anger regulation strategies, their school-related affect, and their somatic complaints in school, and they completed an intelligence test at the first measurement point. Somatic complaints again were assessed one year later. As expected, adaptive anger regulation strategies were not related directly to somatic complaints, but were positively related to school-related affect, which, in turn, predicted decreased somatic complaints over and above initial levels. Also, as expected, children higher in intelligence benefitted more from using adaptive anger regulation strategies in terms of school-related affect. Our findings support the assumption that adaptive anger regulation strategies and intelligence may be important protective factors and potential starting points in the prevention of somatic complaints in children with special educational needs