INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONAL PROCESSES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS TO ADOLESCENTS’ HOARDING TENDENCIES

Back to Page Authors: Rhalf Jayson Guanco

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Keywords: hoarding, psychological distress, emotional processes, adolescents

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Abstract: The things we possess may incite a sense of fulfillment, pleasure and other positive experiences. However, when we lose control over the stuffs we value the most, they may affect us. Hoarding is deemed to be a public health concern of the elderly that is progressively being addressed and studied by mental health practitioners and researchers, but existing information and studies about the predominance and correlates of hoarding in younger population are not yet well-established in spite that hoarding behaviors start early in life. The present study investigated the influence of psychological distress and emotional processes to adolescents’ hoarding tendencies for an efficient proactive intervention program. The study is quantitative in nature, using descriptive correlational design. Using a multi-stage sampling process, a total of 640 (M age = 14.5, SD = 1.4) non-clinical sample of adolescents from high school institutions in the Philippines during the school year 2018-2019 participated in the study. Current findings imply that hoarding tendencies are comparative across adolescent years. Adolescents’ emotion regulation components could be effective if flexibly applied. Also, adverse experiences, decision making difficulty, problem solving and adaptability concerns during adolescent years significantly contributed to the perseverance of hoarding concerns. The findings suggest that adolescents’ tendencies to hoard stuff showed not to be taken lightly for it may pose greater concern in the future when not addressed. The current evidences in this study added to the growing body of knowledge about adolescents’ hoarding concerns.

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