Negative Urgency Is Correlated With the Use of Reflexive and Disengagement Emotion Regulation Strategies

Abstract

Negative urgency predicts both internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Although it is hypothesized that urgency is characterized by reflexive responses to negative emotion that focus on immediate relief from distress, little research has addressed this hypothesis. Using data from four independent samples of adolescents and college students ( n = 1,268), we estimated the association between trait negative urgency and emotion regulation strategies that reflect either reflexive responses or disengagement. We verified these effects in two ecological momentary assessment samples (EMA; n = 198). In retrospective data, negative urgency was correlated with using more disengagement or reflexive emotion regulation strategies relative to engagement strategies, r = .39, .38, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.30, 0.49], [0.18, 0.57]. This finding replicated in EMA data, r = .24, 95% CI = [0.11, 0.38]. Emotion regulation may be a key mechanism of the effects of urgency on psychopathology. Interventions targeting emotion regulation among those high on urgency may be warranted.