Abstract
Interoception, refers to sensing, interpretating, and integrating the information in the body, has been reported to be associated with emotional experience, but little is known about its role in social influence and particularly, the association with social-emotional competence (SEC). The potential mechanism linking interoception with SEC was also unexamined. This study explores how interoception relates to SEC among adolescents and examines whether emotion regulation mediates this association. A total of 695 adolescents completed Body Awareness Questionnaire, Delaware Social-Emotional Competency Scale, and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. A series of linear regression models revealed that interoception was positively associated with the SEC as well as both strategies of emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression). Emotion regulation mediated the association between interoception and SEC, which explained more than 70% variance of total effect. Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression showed different mediator roles in the association between interoception and the subdomains of SEC. This study has important implications for the use of interoception-based intervention or emotion regulation strategies to promote SEC in conducting high-quality social-emotional learning programs.
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12144-024-06307-8/MediaObjects/12144_2024_6307_Fig1_HTML.png)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12144-024-06307-8/MediaObjects/12144_2024_6307_Fig2_HTML.png)
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
Adolfi, F., Couto, B., Richter, F., Decety, J., Lopez, J., Sigman, M., ... Ibáñez, A. (2017). Convergence of interoception, emotion, and social cognition: A twofold fMRI meta-analysis and lesion approach. Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior, 88, 124–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.12.019
Ardi, Z., Golland, Y., Shafir, R., Sheppes, G., & Levit-Binnun, N. (2021). The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on the association between autonomic interoceptive signals and emotion regulation selection. Psychosomatic Medicine, 83(8), 852–862. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000994
Arnold, A. J., Winkielman, P., & Dobkins, K. (2019). Interoception and social connection. Frontiers in Psychology, 2589. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02589
Arsenio, W. F., Adams, E., & Gold, J. (2009). Social information processing, moral reasoning, and emotion attributions: Relations with adolescents’ reactive and proactive aggression. Child Development, 80(6), 1739–1755. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01365.x
Brackett, M. A., Bailey, C. S., Hoffmann, J. D., & Simmons, D. N. (2019). RULER: A theory-driven, systemic approach to social, emotional, and academic learning. Educational Psychologist, 54(3), 144–161. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2019.1614447
Brockman, R., Ciarrochi, J., Parker, P., & Kashdan, T. (2017). Emotion regulation strategies in daily life: Mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 46(2), 91–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2016.1218926
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
Brudner, E. G., Denkova, E., Paczynski, M., & Jha, A. P. (2018). The role of expectations and habitual emotion regulation in emotional processing: An ERP investigation. Emotion, 18(2), 171. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000313
Butler, E. A., Egloff, B., Wlhelm, F. H., Smith, N. C., Erickson, E. A., & Gross, J. J. (2003). The social consequences of expressive suppression. Emotion, 3(1), 48. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.3.1.48
Chen, W. G., Schloesser, D., Arensdorf, A. M., Simmons, J. M., Cui, C., Valentino, R., ... Spruance, V. (2021). The emerging science of interoception: Sensing, integrating, interpreting, and regulating signals within the self. Trends in Neurosciences, 44(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2020.10.007
Chen, L., Long, F., Chang, L., & Zhou, R. (2023a). Electrocortical effects of detachment and reinterpretation on the regulation of negative emotion. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 188, 62–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2023.03.004
Chen, L., Oei, T. P., & Zhou, R. (2023b). The cognitive control mechanism of improving emotion regulation: A high-definition tDCS and ERP study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 332, 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.03.059
Critchley, H. D., & Garfinkel, S. N. (2017). Interoception and emotion. Current Opinion in Psychology, 17, 7–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.020
DeCicco, J. M., Solomon, B., & Dennis, T. A. (2012). Neural correlates of cognitive reappraisal in children: An ERP study. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2(1), 70–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2011.05.009
Denham, S. A., Blair, K. A., DeMulder, E., Levitas, J., Sawyer, K., Auerbach–Major, S., & Queenan, P. (2003). Preschool emotional competence: Pathway to social competence? Child Development, 74(1), 238–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00533
Dias Rodrigues, A., Cruz-Ferreira, A., Marmeleira, J., & Veiga, G. (2022). Effects of body-oriented interventions on preschoolers’ social-emotional competence: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 752930. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.752930
Domitrovich, C. E., Durlak, J. A., Staley, K. C., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Social-emotional competence: An essential factor for promoting positive adjustment and reducing risk in school children. Child Development, 88(2), 408–416. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12739
Dryman, M. T., & Heimberg, R. G. (2018). Emotion regulation in social anxiety and depression: A systematic review of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal. Clinical Psychology Review, 65, 17–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2018.07.004
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school‐based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
Goodall, E. (2021). Facilitating interoceptive awareness as a self-management and self-regulation tool to increase engagement in learning and education. University of Southern Queensland].
Gross, J. J. (2002). Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281–291. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0048577201393198
Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 348. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348
Hayes, A. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Publications.
Hoffmann, J. D., Brackett, M. A., Bailey, C. S., & Willner, C. J. (2020). Teaching emotion regulation in schools: Translating research into practice with the RULER approach to social and emotional learning. Emotion, 20(1), 105. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000649
Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491–525. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308325693
Jones, D. E., Greenberg, M., & Crowley, M. (2015). Early social-emotional functioning and public health: The relationship between kindergarten social competence and future wellness. American Journal of Public Health, 105(11), 2283–2290. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302630
Kever, A., Pollatos, O., Vermeulen, N., & Grynberg, D. (2015). Interoceptive sensitivity facilitates both antecedent-and response-focused emotion regulation strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 87, 20–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.07.014
Khalsa, S. S., Adolphs, R., Cameron, O. G., Critchley, H. D., Davenport, P. W., Feinstein, J. S., ... Mehling, W. E. (2018). Interoception and mental health: A roadmap. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 3(6), 501–513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.12.004
Mantz, L. S., Bear, G. G., Yang, C., & Harris, A. (2018). The delaware social-emotional competency scale (DSECS-S): Evidence of validity and reliability. Child Indicators Research, 11, 137–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-016-9427-6
Mather, M., & Thayer, J. F. (2018). How heart rate variability affects emotion regulation brain networks. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 19, 98–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.12.017
Matsumoto, N., Watson, L. A., Fujino, M., Ito, Y., & Kobayashi, M. (2022). Subjective judgments on direct and generative retrieval of autobiographical memory: The role of interoceptive sensibility and emotion. Memory & Cognition, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2022.103358
Meyers, D. C., Gil, L., Cross, R., Keister, S., Domitrovich, C. E., & Weissberg, R. P. (2015). CASEL guide for schoolwide social and emotional learning. CASEL. Search in.
Mohammed, A. R., Kosonogov, V., & Lyusin, D. (2021). Expressive suppression versus cognitive reappraisal: Effects on self-report and peripheral psychophysiology. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 167, 30–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2021.06.007
Ochsner, K. N., Silvers, J. A., & Buhle, J. T. (2012). Functional imaging studies of emotion regulation: A synthetic review and evolving model of the cognitive control of emotion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1251, E1. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06751.x
Palmer, C. E., & Tsakiris, M. (2018). Going at the heart of social cognition: Is there a role for interoception in self-other distinction? Current Opinion in Psychology, 24, 21–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.04.008
Paul, S., Simon, D., Kniesche, R., Kathmann, N., & Endrass, T. (2013). Timing effects of antecedent-and response-focused emotion regulation strategies. Biological Psychology, 94(1), 136–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.05.019
Salamone, P. C., Legaz, A., Sedeño, L., Moguilner, S., Fraile-Vazquez, M., Campo, C. G., ... Birba, A. (2021). Interoception primes emotional processing: Multimodal evidence from neurodegeneration. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(19), 4276–4292. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2578-20.2021
Salazar Kämpf, M., Adam, L., Rohr, M. K., Exner, C., & Wieck, C. (2023). A meta-analysis of the relationship between emotion regulation and social affect and cognition. Clinical Psychological Science, 21677026221149953. https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026221149953
Schuette, S. A., Zucker, N. L., & Smoski, M. J. (2021). Do interoceptive accuracy and interoceptive sensibility predict emotion regulation? Psychological Research Psychologische Forschung, 85, 1894–1908. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01369-2
Shields, S. A., Mallory, M. E., & Simon, A. (1989). The body awareness questionnaire: Reliability and validity. Journal of Personality Assessment, 53(4), 802–815. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5304_16
Smith, S. D., Nadeau, C., Sorokopud-Jones, M., & Kornelsen, J. (2022). The relationship between functional connectivity and interoceptive sensibility. Brain Connectivity, 12(5), 417–431. https://doi.org/10.1089/brain.2020.0777
Tallon-Baudry, C. (2023). Interoception: Probing internal state is inherent to perception and cognition. Neuron. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2023.04.019
Tan, Y., Yan, R., Gao, Y., Zhang, M., & Northoff, G. (2022). Spatial-topographic nestedness of interoceptive regions within the networks of decision making and emotion regulation: Combining ALE meta-analysis and MACM analysis. Neuroimage, 260, 119500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119500
Terasawa, Y., Moriguchi, Y., Tochizawa, S., & Umeda, S. (2014). Interoceptive sensitivity predicts sensitivity to the emotions of others. Cognition and Emotion, 28(8), 1435–1448. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.888988
von Mohr, M., Finotti, G., Esposito, G., Bahrami, B., & Tsakiris, M. (2023). Social interoception: Perceiving events during cardiac afferent activity makes people more suggestible to other people’s influence. Cognition, 238, 105502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105502
Weissberg, R. P., Durlak, J. A., Domitrovich, C. E., & Gullotta, T. P. (2015). Social and emotional learning: Past, present, and future. In J. A. Durlak, C. E. Domitrovich, R. P. Weissberg, & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.), Handbook of social and emotional learning: Research and practice (pp. 3–19). The Guilford Press.
Zaki, J. (2014). Empathy: A motivated account. Psychological Bulletin, 140(6), 1608. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037679
Zamariola, G., Frost, N., Van Oost, A., Corneille, O., & Luminet, O. (2019). Relationship between interoception and emotion regulation: New evidence from mixed methods. Journal of Affective Disorders, 246, 480–485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.12.101
Funding
This work was supported by Basic Research Program Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu (BK20230609), Research on Philosophy and Social Sciences in Higher Education Institutions in Jiangsu Province (2023SJYB1698) and Educational Reform in Nantong University (2023B25).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
LC: Methodology, Writing- Original draft preparation, Writing- Review & Editing; SB: Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Writing- Original draft preparation; LZ: Methodology, Writing- Original draft preparation; YZ: Methodology, Formal analysis; PL: Writing- Original draft preparation, Writing- Review & Editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics statement
The project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Nanjing university and carried out in accordance with the approved guidelines.
Conflict of interest
The authors of this article declare no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, L., Bai, S., Zhang, L. et al. Interoception and social-emotional competence among adolescents: the role of emotion regulation. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06307-8
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06307-8