Disgust regulation strategies for children: A comparison between reappraisal and expression

Abstract

The ability to effectively control feelings of disgust is an adaptive skill in childhood that would appear to be associated with the prevention of disgust-related mental disorders. A total of 162 children (71 boys, 91 girls) aged between 10 and 13 participated in a disgust regulation experiment, during which they were presented with disgust-evoking and neutral images. The children were assigned to one of two regulation groups. They were asked to either reinterpret the meaning of the disgust stimuli (reappraisal) or to show typical facial and vocal disgust expressions (expression/venting). Reappraisal was an effective method to reduce self-reported disgust for boys and girls. The personality trait disgust sensitivity (the tendency to experience one's own feelings of disgust as aversive and uncontrollable) negatively correlated with regulation success during reappraisal. This effect, however, was only found in female subjects. The expression of disgust did not change disgust ratings in either of the two gender groupings. The findings demonstrate that reappraisal was a helpful regulation strategy for most children with the exception of disgust-sensitive females. Future studies should focus on this group to see if adapted reappraisal methods or alternative regulation strategies are more effective.