Investigating the mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation in the development of adolescent emotional problems

Abstract

Previous research has indicated that cognitive emotion regulation strategies contribute to the development and maintenance of emotional problems in adults and adolescents. However, there is a lack of longitudinal research with adolescent samples, hence knowledge of exactly how these strategies influence the development of emotional problems in adolescence is sparse. This study investigated maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation (cognitive avoidance and repetitive negative thinking) as a potential mediator in the development of anxiety and depressed mood over time in adolescence. Self-reported depressed mood, anxiety, and cognitive emotion regulation strategies were assessed during school hours in a sample of Swedish 10th graders (N = 149; 53% girls), with follow-up assessments one and two years later. Repetitive negative thinking and cognitive avoidance formed a unidimensional factor of cognitive emotion regulation. Cognitive emotion regulation was found to mediate the development of both anxiety and depressed mood over time, lending support to the previous findings that cognitive emotion regulation strategies such as cognitive avoidance and repetitive negative thinking might act as transdiagnostic mechanisms in the development of emotional symptoms in adolescence. This suggests that maladaptive forms of cognitive emotion regulation could be important targets in prevention and treatment of emotional problems in adolescence.