Looking at the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents with Cleft Lip and/or Palate through Neuroticism and Emotional Regulation Strategies: A Case-Controlled Observational Study.

Children and adolescents with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) are at an increased risk of developing emotional disorders. This study aims to explore this question in greater depth by addressing three objectives: (1) the presence of neuroticism as an indicator of emotional symptomatology, (2) the use of adaptive and non-adaptive emotional regulation strategies, and (3) the relationship between these strategies and neuroticism. A case-control correlational methodology was employed, with 60 children and adolescents with CL/P (mean age = 12.80 years; 33 females) and 60 non-clinical equivalent children and adolescents. The CL/P group has higher scores on neuroticism ( = -7.74; ≤ 0.001, d Cohen = 1.43) and lower scores in almost all emotional regulation strategies. The presence of CL/P moderated the relationship between neuroticism and self-blame (Beta = -0.46, = -2.81, = 0.005), rumination (Beta = -0.49, = -3.73, < 0.001), catastrophizing (Beta = -0.61, = -4.26, < 0.001), and blaming others (Beta = -0.45, = -2.84, = 0.005). This model predicted a significant variance of neuroticism (all < 0.005), which ranged from 39% to 41%. The CL/P group has worse mental health indicators. Particularly novel results about the CL/P group are the lower scores on regulation strategies (both adaptive and non-adaptive) and the fact that non-adaptive strategies contribute, contrary to their effect in the general population, to a decrease in neuroticism. It supports the need to incorporate mental health indicators in the diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with CL/P.