Comparison of Cognitive Emotion Regulation and Identity Styles among Normal and Delinquent Adolescents

Adolescence is a period characterized by numerous social, psychological, behavioral and physical changes that can lead to some social problems such as delinquency. The purpose of this study was to compare the cognitive emotion regulation and identity styles among delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents. The present study was of causal-comparative design. The statistical population of this study included all delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents in the city of Rasht in northern Iran in 2017, among which 120 adolescents were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were gathered via questionnaires of cognitive-emotion regulation and identity styles for data analysis. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance by SPSS version 20. The mean (SD) age of the delinquent group was 16.9 (3.5) and the normal group 17.1 (4.6). The mean (SD) score of the cognitive emotion adjustment components was higher among the delinquent group: 18.1 (2.2) vs. 15.6 (3.6) for rumination and 12.1 (1.5) vs. 8.9 (2.5) for blaming others (P<0.05). However, the mean (SD) scores of focus on planning and self-blame were higher among the normal group: 36.1 (2.6) vs. 30.1 (4.5) and 9.1 (1.6) vs. 7.1 (2.6), respectively (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of other components of cognitive emotion regulation and identity styles. The study showed that the rumination and blaming others was more frequent among the delinquent group, while self-blame was more frequent among the normal group. The delinquent and normal group did not differ significantly in terms of other components of cognitive emotion regulation and identity styles.