The Role of Traumatic Experiences and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies in Predicting High-risk Behaviors among Adolescents

The goal of the present study was to investigate adolescents’ tendency to engage in high-risk behaviors based on traumatic life experiences and adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. A descriptive/correlational design was used. The participants included 220 adolescents (154 girls and 66 boys) who were selected among high-school students in Shiraz, using a convenience sampling method. The Traumatic Experiences Checklist (TEC), the Iranian Adolescents Risk-taking Scale (IARS), and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies Questionnaire (CERQ) were used collect data. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and regression analysis. According to the results, among traumatic experiences, only emotional abuse (P<0. 001), and among maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, only rumination (P<0. 001) had a significant effect on high-risk behaviors. In addition, no significant relationship was found between adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and tendency to engage in high-risk behaviors. The results suggest that providing training on emotion regulation can help students select adaptive emotion regulation strategies in coping with high-risk situations.