Aspects Of Emotion Regulation Research Articles

Positive and Negative Emotion-Regulation Ability Profiles: Links With Strategies, Goals, and Internalizing Symptoms

Emotion regulation (ER) encompasses multiple, interdependent aspects (e.g., abilities, strategies, goals) whose collective contribution to mental-health outcomes is not well understood. To provide a more holistic picture of ER and better identify individuals who may be more susceptible to maladaptive ER and internalizing psychopathology, we examined latent profiles of positive and negative ER abilities and their associations with other aspects of ER (e.g., strategies, goals, success) and internalizing symptoms among adults cross-sectionally (Study 1) and daily (Study 2). In both studies, profiles characterized by pronounced deficits in positive ER abilities and below-average negative ER abilities were associated with maladaptive ER strategies and internalizing symptoms. Individuals with these profiles were also more likely to want to down-regulate positive emotions and use strategies reflecting disengagement from positive emotions in daily life. These findings provide insight into characteristics of vulnerable individuals, which can help refine current theory of ER and intervention efforts.

Targeting Beliefs About Emotions via Meta-Emotion Therapy for Adolescents with Anxiety: A Case Series Study

Research suggests that best-practice psychotherapies only have moderate effects on reducing anxiety in youths. Such limitations in outcomes prompt consideration of alternative conceptualisations of anxiety and its treatment. Based upon the metacognitive model, we propose a novel therapy targeting metacognitive knowledge (beliefs about emotions and emotion regulation) for the treatment of anxiety in adolescents. The current case series study aimed to provide a proof of concept for the effectiveness of Meta-Emotion Therapy for adolescents (MET-A) for the treatment of adolescent anxiety. Four adolescents with elevated anxiety participated in this case series study. All participants received 10 individual sessions of MET-A. Participants and a parent completed the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale at baseline, weekly and at one-month follow-up. The participants also completed the Beliefs About Emotions Questionnaire and the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale at baseline, post-therapy and one-month follow-up. The results showed that all participants improved or recovered from symptoms of anxiety and depression from pre- to post-treatment, when taking into consideration both self- and parent-reported ratings (however, these ratings were often non-concordant). Gains were maintained at one-month follow-up. Further, participants who self-reported reductions in anxiety and depression also cited reductions in several maladaptive beliefs about emotions and improvements in aspects of emotion regulation. The participants endorsed the therapy as highly acceptable, appropriate, and feasible. Overall, the results of this study provide preliminary proof of concept for MET-A as a promising intervention for the treatment of adolescent anxiety Further investigation of MET-A is warranted to optimise treatment outcomes and measurement of change.Clinical Trial Registration: Registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry number 382327.

The psychological guidance of traditional culture music education to college students with social anxiety disorder

BackgroundSocial anxiety disorder is a common mental health problem, especially prevalent among college students. Excellent traditional culture is a treasure of the Chinese nation and plays an important role in cultivating the comprehensive qualities of college students. Music education is an effective psychological guidance method that can help alleviate stress. Therefore, the study explored the psychological guidance of the collaborative development of music education among excellent traditional cultural college students with social anxiety disorder.Subjects and Methods A group of college students with social anxiety disorder were selected from different universities and randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received collaborative intervention through excellent traditional culture and college students’ music education, while the control group received intervention through traditional psychological guidance. Acute stress response before and after the intervention was assessed using the Stanford Acute Stress Response Questionnaire (SASRQ), and delirium was assessed using the 3-minute Delirium Diagnostic Scale (3D-CAM).Results After the intervention, the level of social anxiety in the experimental group decreased significantly, and the difference was statistically significant compared with the control group. At the same time, the experimental group has significantly improved in the aspects of emotional regulation, social ability and self-cognition, indicating that excellent traditional culture and college students’ music education have a better psychological guidance effect.ConclusionsBy actively promoting the combination of traditional culture and music education, it can help college students alleviate social anxiety, improve emotional regulation, social skills, and self-awareness, thereby effectively promoting their mental health development.

The Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Academic Stress in Madrasah Aliyah Students in Sidoarjo

This research is motivated by the phenomenon of stress academic experience experienced by students of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Sidoarjo. This study aims to determine the relationship between emotion regulation and academic stress achievement of the students of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Sidoarjo. This research belongs to the type of quantitative research with a correlational approach. This research was conducted at Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Sidoarjo, East Java. The population in this study amounted to 1368 students, so from the calculation using the Slovin formula the sample used was 309 students who were taken using stratified random sampling technique. Data collection in this study used two psychological scales, namely the emotional regulation scale from the aspect of emotion regulation and obtained a reliability coefficient value of (α) 0.868 [1]. Scale academic stress from the aspect of academic stress and obtained a reliability coefficient value of (α) 0.920 [2]. Analysis of the data in this study using Pearson's Correlations and the analysis process using the JASP program version 0.13.1.0 for windows. The results showed that the value of r = -0.506 and p value = 0.001 where 0.001 <0.05, which means that there is a significant negative relationship between emotional regulation variables and academic stress in Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Sidoarjo students. It is known that the value of r = -0.506, which means that the magnitude of the effect of emotional regulation on academic stress is quite large with a value of r = -0.506.

Linking heart rate variability to psychological health and brain structure in adolescents with and without conduct disorder.

Heart rate variability (HRV) measures have been suggested in healthy individuals as a potential index of self-regulation skills, which include both cognitive and emotion regulation aspects. Studies in patients with a range of psychiatric disorders have however mostly focused on the potential association between abnormally low HRV at rest and specifically emotion regulation difficulties. Emotion regulation deficits have been reported in patients with Conduct Disorder (CD) however, the association between these emotion regulation deficits and HRV measures has yet to be fully understood. This study investigates (i) the specificity of the association between HRV and emotion regulation skills in adolescents with and without CD and (ii) the association between HRV and grey matter brain volumes in key areas of the central autonomic network which are involved in self-regulation processes, such as insula, lateral/medial prefrontal cortices or amygdala. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) measures of HRV were collected from adolescents aged between 9-18 years (693 CD (427F)/753 typically developing youth (TD) (500F)), as part of a European multi-site project (FemNAT-CD). The Inverse Efficiency Score, a speed-accuracy trade-off measure, was calculated to assess emotion and cognitive regulation abilities during an Emotional Go/NoGo task. The association between RSA and task performance was tested using multilevel regression models. T1-weighted structural MRI data were included for a subset of 577 participants (257 CD (125F); 320 TD (186F)). The CerebroMatic toolbox was used to create customised Tissue Probability Maps and DARTEL templates, and CAT12 to segment brain images, followed by a 2 × 2 (sex × group) full factorial ANOVA with RSA as regressor of interest. There were no significant associations between RSA and task performance, neither during emotion regulation nor during cognitive regulation trials. RSA was however positively correlated with regional grey matter volume in the left insula (pFWE = 0.011) across all subjects. RSA was related to increased grey matter volume in the left insula across all subjects. Our results thus suggest that low RSA at rest might be a contributing or predisposing factor for potential self-regulation difficulties. Given the insula's role in both emotional and cognitive regulation processes, these brain structural differences might impact either of those.

Improved emotion regulation following a trauma-informed CBT-based intervention associates with reduced risk for recidivism in justice-involved emerging adults.

ObjectiveMale youth who have been involved in the juvenile legal system have disproportionate rates of trauma and violence exposure. Many justice-involved youth have untreated mental illness, with an estimated 66% of young men who are incarcerated meeting criteria for at least one mental health disorder, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and substance abuse. While Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approaches are considered among effective evidence-based treatments for addressing and treating behavioral and emotional difficulties, male youth with a history of incarceration and youth who are at risk for (re)incarceration, violence, emotion dysregulation, and trauma face significant barriers in accessing these services.MethodsRoca, Inc. (Roca), an internationally recognized organization moving the needle on urban violence by working relentlessly with young people at the center of violence in Massachusetts and Maryland, employs a trauma-informed CBT-based skills curriculum and approach in their intervention model, to improve youths' educational, employment, parenting, and life skills opportunities, while decreasing risk for recidivism, addressing trauma and increasing skills for emotion regulation. The aim of this analysis was to assess the effectiveness of Roca's trauma-informed CBT skills curriculum on youths' emotional and behavioral outcomes. We analyzed data from over 300 participating emerging adult men from four sites in Massachusetts and one site in Baltimore, Maryland who had at least three series of data collection across multiple skills-based sessions.ResultsWe found improvements in outcomes in overall mean scores related to decreased distress about employment and education, as are expected with standard intervention approaches for justice-involved youth. Participants who show improvement in emotion regulation across engagement (approximately half the cohort), were found to have significant improvements in distress related to relationship and family functioning and self-care, and decreased substance use, along with other outcomes compared to those participants with less improvement in emotion regulation. Furthermore, improvement in different aspects of emotion regulation were associated with improved relationships, life distress, substance use, and improved prosocial thinking.ConclusionsTogether, these data suggest that adding mental health support and skills training, such as with trauma-informed CBT models, to programs for justice-involved youth may lead to significant improvements in functioning, quality of life, and mental health outcomes.

The Relationship Between Peer Attachment and Emotion Regulation in Grade 12 Students at School

According to research by Bowlby [1], where the support figure attachment physically and emotionally can affect the development of adaptive emotion regulation. The purpose of this study was to see whether there was a relationship between peer attachment and emotional regulation in class XII students at school X. This study used a quantitative research type with a sample of 114 students sitting in bench XII. The sampling technique used is quota sampling with non-probability sampling technique. The scale used by the author for data collection uses the peer attachment scale which was developed by the author himself through the dimensions of peer attachment and the emotion regulation scale which was developed through aspects of emotion regulation with a total of 80 questions in the form of a Likert scale. The results showed that there was no relationship between peer attachment and emotional regulation in class XII students with a correlation coefficient of r=0.072 Sig 0.444 > 0.05. Then the researchers conducted a different test on the peer attachment scale with emotion regulation for each major. The results of the different peer attachment test with a value of F = 5.668 and sig (0.001) > 0.05 where there are differences for each major.

Profil Regulasi Emosi dan Implikasinya bagi Bimbingan dan Konseling

AThe purpose of this study is to get an overview of emotion regulation, then design a guidance and counseling program to improve emotion regulation in class VIII students of SMP Negeri 10 Serang City for the 2020/2021 academic year. The approach used is a quantitative approach with a descriptive method. The population is class VIII students as many as 343 people, sampling using a simple random sample technique so that the research subject is obtained as many as 185 respondents. The research technique uses a questionnaire or questionnaire consisting of 38 statement items with a reliability value of 0.80 (very high). The instrument scale used is derived from four aspects of emotion regulation, namely the ability to regulate emotion strategies, the ability not to be affected by negative emotions, the ability to control emotions, and the ability to receive emotional responses. The results obtained are that most of the students are in the medium category, namely 144 students with a percentage of 77.83%. The data obtained were then analyzed using descriptive quantitative analysis techniques. After knowing the level of emotion regulation, the design of the guidance and counseling program is made according to the needs based on the results of the research.

The consequences of compulsion: A 4-year longitudinal study of compulsive internet use and emotion regulation difficulties.

Little is known about how compulsive Internet use (CIU) relates developmentally to different aspects of emotion regulation. Do young people engage in CIU because they have difficulty regulating emotions (the "consequence" model), does CIU lead to emotion regulation problems (the "antecedent" model), or are there reciprocal influences? We examined the longitudinal relations between CIU and 6 facets of difficulties in emotion regulation. Adolescents (N = 2,809) across 17 Australian schools completed measures yearly from Grades 8 (MAge = 13.7) to 11. Structural equations modeling revealed that CIU preceded the development of some aspects of emotion dysregulation, such as difficulties setting goals and being clear about emotions, but not others (the antecedent model). We found no evidence that emotion regulation difficulties preceded the development of increases in CIU (the consequence model). Our findings indicate that teaching adolescents general emotion regulation skills may not be as effective in reducing CIU as more direct approaches of limiting Internet use. We discuss the implications of our findings for interventions designed to reduce CIU and highlight issues for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Predictors of posttraumatic stress symptom severity and meaning made in treatment-seeking veterans.

Combat-exposed veterans risk encountering events that disrupt beliefs. To facilitate reduced discrepancy between prior beliefs and current trauma appraisals, veterans may engage in a process of meaning-making. Meaning-making can lead to positive outcomes, such as integrating the traumatic event into one's life narrative or adapting global meaning (meaning made) or elicit distress. Given these potentially different outcomes, this study examined potential correlates of posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) severity and meaning made, including relationship attachment dimensions of anxiety and avoidance, and difficulties with emotion regulation, while controlling for combat exposure. Veterans receiving mental health services at a Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and a VA community-based outpatient clinic (N = 130) completed measures through a paper-and-pencil survey. Almost all participants (92%) were male, with a mean age of 55.92 years. In terms of meaning made, lower levels of attachment anxiety and emotional clarity (an aspect of emotion regulation) predicted higher meaning made. In terms of PTSS severity, higher attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior (an aspect of emotion regulation) significantly predicted higher PTSS severity. Aspects of both attachment style and emotion regulation difficulties affect meaning made and PTSS severity. These constructs may be especially relevant for clinicians working with veterans to help PTSS and support meaning made postcombat.

Emotion Regulation in Psychodynamic and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: An Integrative Perspective.

ObjectivePsychotherapy fragmentation constitutes a significant barrier to progress. In the present article, we argue that emotion regulation processes operate across psychotherapy approaches, serving as an overarching meta-factor of therapeutic change.MethodTwo major therapeutic approaches–psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioural–were examined through the lens of emotion regulation theory. In particular, key constructs within each approach were analyzed in terms of relevant emotion regulation processes.ResultsEmotion regulation processes are an overarching meta-factor relevant to a wide range of therapeutic constructs (e.g., defence mechanisms, internal working models, coping strategies, ruptures/reparations of alliance). Different clinical traditions emphasize different aspects of emotion regulation, mainly in terms of implicit vs explicit emotion regulation processes.ConclusionsAn integrative emotion regulation perspective contributes to our understanding of the core change mechanisms of psychotherapy, with significant implications both for research and clinical practice.

Kesabaran dalam Regulasi Emosi pada Santri di SMA Al Muqoddasah

This study aims to empirically determine the emotional regulation of students at Al Muqoddasah High School, which focuses on the aspects of emotional regulation, factors that influence emotional regulation, and the patience of students. This research is a qualitative research with a study focused on emotion regulation and uses a phenomenological research design, and uses a Gross’s theory of emotion regulation as a reference in the analysis. The subjects of this study were one male student and one female student. The data collection technique is done by interview and documentation methods. Meanwhile, data analysis was performed using data reduction techniques, data presentation, verification, and conclusion drawing. The results of this study are the differences in aspects and emotional regulation factors possessed by the two students, as well as patience in dealing with existing problems. This study provides an overview of aspects of emotion regulation that affect the way students regulate their emotions; factors that affect emotion regulation such as the relationship between parents and children, gender, and interpersonal relationships; and patience of students as a form of regulation of positive emotions of students in dealing with the problems they have The conclusion of this study is that both students have aspects of emotional regulation and factors that influence emotional regulation, although both of these indicators are not owned by both of them as a whole, and the patience possessed by both students is not completely perfect.

Emotion regulation and substance use: A meta-analysis

There has been exponential growth in research on emotion regulation and substance use in the past decade. The current meta-analysis evaluated variability in the magnitude of the relation between aspects of emotion regulation and substance use. A search of PsycINFO, Embase, PubMed, CINAHL Plus, and PILOTS in December 2020 resulted in 6642 initial studies, of which 95 met inclusion criteria (association between emotion regulation and substance use was reported, participants were > 18 years old, article was in English). A total of 445 effects were obtained (N = 156,025 participants; weighted Mage = 29.31; 59.5% female; 66.1% White; 76.6% non-clinical). Emotion regulation and substance use were significantly related (r = 0.19; p < 0.001; 95%CI [0.17, 0.20]). Emotion regulation abilities were generally more strongly related to substance use than emotion regulation strategies; this pattern was stronger for behavioral vs. cognitive abilities and extended to both negative and positive emotions. Relations were stronger for older and clinical samples; mixed effects were found for sex and no conclusive effects were found for race. Despite limitations of the existing literature (e.g., cross-sectional, self-reports), results indicated that the magnitude of the relation between emotion regulation and substance use varied considerably as a function of emotion regulation and substance use constructs and sample characteristics.

Emotional Regulation in Adolescent Girls when Experiencing Menstrual Pain or Dysmenorrhea

The biological pride of young women is characterized by a standard physical mechanism of menstruation or menstruation followed by pain in the lower abdomen. The pain results in psychological symptoms such as anxiety, tension, anger, or emotion. Young women who cannot regulate their feelings properly are more likely to experience severe pain or so-called dysmenorrhea. Emotional regulation is the achievement of emotional balance performed by a person either from his attitude or behavior. This study aims to examine the regulation of emotions in young women who experience dysmenorrhea during menstruation. Assessment through aspects of emotional regulation, namely emotional regulation strategies, behaviors to achieve goals, control emotional responses, and acceptance of emotional responses. This research uses qualitative research methods with a case study approach. Data retrieval was conducted through semi-structured interviews of two primary informants and four secondary informants. Credibility using triangulation of sources and methods. Data analysis using interactive model data analysis. This study's findings are that both young women's ability to regulate their emotions during menstruation can relieve severe pain or dysmenorrhea during menstruation.

An Exploratory Investigation of Goal Management Training in Adults With ADHD: Improvements in Inhibition and Everyday Functioning.

Background: Adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are predominantly treated with medication. However, there is also a need for effective, psychologically based interventions. As ADHD is strongly associated with reduced inhibitory control, cognitive remediation approaches should be efficient. Goal management training (GMT) aims at enhancing inhibitory control and has shown positive effects on inhibitory control in non-ADHD patient groups. The aim of the current study was to explore whether GMT would specifically enhance inhibitory control in adults with ADHD, and if such an enhancement would lead to secondary improvements in self-reported everyday functioning.Methods: Twenty-one participants with ADHD (mean age: 39.05 years [SD 11.93]) completed the intervention and assessments pre-, post- and 6 months after the intervention. Measures included neuropsychological tests and self-report questionnaires pertaining to cognitive- and executive functioning, emotion regulation, quality of life, and ADHD symptoms.Results: Compared to baseline, the participants showed enhanced inhibitory control on performance-based measures at post-assessment and 6-month follow-up. The participants also reported increased productivity and reduced cognitive difficulties in everyday life at both assessments post-treatment, as well as improvements in aspects of emotion regulation and a reduction in the severity of core ADHD-symptoms at 6-month follow-up.Conclusion: Our exploratory study showed that GMT seems to specifically improve one of the core executive dysfunctions in ADHD, namely inhibitory control, with a positive effect lasting at least 6 months post-treatment. The adults with ADHD also reported improved self-regulation in their everyday life after completing GMT, providing strong arguments for further investigations of GMT as a treatment option for this group of adults.Clinical Trial Registration: The study is registered under ISRCTN.com (ISRCTN91988877; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN91988877).

Feeling you, when you feel me: attachment, empathic concern, and interpersonal emotion regulation

ABSTRACT Empathic concern is an important part of social relationships. Attachment orientation may explain individual differences in empathic concern. However, the circumstances under which attachment orientation is related to empathic concern remain unexamined. This exploratory study investigated the moderating role of a novel aspect of emotion regulation, interpersonal emotion regulation, in the relationship between attachment orientation and empathic concern. Study 1 (N = 179) and Study 2 (direct replication, N = 202) yielded consistent main effects for emotion regulation. Interpersonal emotion regulation efficacy (people’s belief that interpersonal emotion regulation can effectively change their negative and positive emotions) was positively associated with empathic concern. Avoidant attachment showed a moderately consistent negative association with empathic concern. Negative efficacy moderated the association between anxious attachment and empathic concern only in Study 1. The findings focus attention on the importance of interpersonal emotion regulation efficacy to empathic concern and on the complex relationship between attachment and empathic concern.

Risk factors for prospective increase in psychological stress during COVID-19 lockdown in a representative sample of adolescents and their parents.

COVID-19 lockdown measures imposed extensive restrictions to public life. Previous studies suggest significant negative psychological consequences, but lack longitudinal data on population-based samples. We aimed to prospectively identify increased psychological stress and associated risk factors in parent-child dyads. We conducted a prospective, observational online study on a representative German sample of 1221 adolescents aged 10-17 years and their parents. Psychological stress and psychosocial variables were assessed before the pandemic (baseline) and 1 month after the start of lockdown (follow-up), using standardised measures. We used multilevel modelling to estimate changes in psychological stress, and logistic regression to determine demographic and psychosocial risk factors for increased psychological stress. The time of measurement explained 43% of the psychological stress variance. Of 731 dyads with complete data, 252 adolescents (34.5%, 95% CI 31.0-37.9) and 217 parents (29.7%, 95% CI 26.4-33.0) reported a significant increase in psychological stress. Baseline levels were lower than in dyads without increased psychological stress. Risk factors for increased psychological stress included sociodemographic (e.g. female parents, severe financial worries) and emotion regulation aspects (e.g. non-acceptance of emotional responses in parents, limited access to emotion regulation strategies in adolescents), explaining 31% of the adolescent (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.31) and 29% of the parental (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.29) model variance. This study is the first to prospectively show an increase in psychological stress during COVID-19 lockdown in a representative family sample. Identified demographic and psychosocial risk factors lead to relevant implications for prevention measures regarding this important public health issue.

Impact of comorbid borderline personality disorder on the outcome of inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa: a retrospective chart review

BackgroundData on patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and comorbid Borderline personality disorder (AN+BPD) are scarce. Therefore, we investigated (1) whether patients with AN and AN+BPD differ in characteristics related to admission to, discharge from, and course of specialized inpatient eating disorder treatment and (2) how comorbid BPD affects treatment outcome.MethodOne-thousand one-hundred and sixty inpatients with AN (97.2% female, 5.9% with comorbid BPD; mean age = 26.15, SD = 9.41) were administered the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Eating Disorder Inventory 2 (EDI-2), and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) at admission and discharge. Data were extracted by a retrospective chart review of naturalistic treatment data. Age, sex, weekly weight gain, length of stay, and discharge characteristics were compared with independent t-tests and χ2-tests. Changes in outcome variables, including body mass index (BMI), were analyzed with longitudinal multilevel mixed-effects models.ResultsNo differences in age or sex were found between patients with AN and AN+BPD, but groups differed in previous inpatient treatments, BMI at admission, and frequency of at least one additional comorbidity with higher values for AN+BPD. Higher levels of disorder-specific and general psychopathology at admission were found for AN+BPD. Patients with AN showed statistically significant improvement in all examined variables, patients with AN+BPD improved in all variables except EDI-2 body dissatisfaction. Strongest improvements in patients with AN+BPD occurred in BMI (Cohen’s d = 1.08), EDI-2 total score (Cohen’s d = 0.99), EDI-2 interpersonal distrust (d = 0.84). Significant Group x Time Interactions were observed for BSI GSI, GAF, and EDI-2 body dissatisfaction, indicating a reduced benefit from inpatient treatment in AN+BPD. At discharge, no differences were found in weekly weight gain, BMI, length of stay, or discharge characteristics (e.g., ability to work, reason for discharge), however, patients with AN+BPD were more frequently treated with medication.ConclusionsPatients with AN+BPD differ from patients with AN in that they show higher general and specific eating disorder psychopathology and only partially improve under specialized inpatient treatment. In particular, aspects of emotion regulation and core AN symptoms like body dissatisfaction and perfectionism need to be even more targeted in comorbid patients.

Long-term effects of intermittent early life stress on primate prefrontal-subcortical functional connectivity.

Correlational studies of humans suggest that exposure to early life stress has long-term effects on neural circuits involved in vulnerability and resilience to mental health disorders. Stress-related mental health disorders are more prevalent in women than in men. Here, female squirrel monkeys are randomized to intermittently stressful (IS) social separations or a non-separated (NS) control condition conducted from 17 to 27 weeks of age. Nine years later in mid-life adulthood, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was employed to parcellate prefrontal cortex (PFC). Resulting subdivisions were then used to characterize functional connectivity within PFC, and between PFC subdivisions and subcortical regions that are known to be altered by stress. Extensive hyper-connectivity of medial and orbitofrontal PFC with amygdala, hippocampus, and striatum was observed in IS compared to NS monkeys. Functional hyper-connectivity in IS monkeys was associated with previously reported indications of diminished anxiety-like behavior induced by prepubertal stress. Hyper-connectivity of PFC with amygdala and with hippocampus was also associated with increased ventral striatal dopamine D2 and/or D3 receptor (DRD2/3) availability assessed with positron emission tomography (PET) of [11C]raclopride binding in adulthood. Ventral striatal DRD2/3 availability has been linked to cognitive control, which plays a key role in stress coping as an aspect of emotion regulation. These findings provide causal support for enduring neurobiological effects of early life stress and suggest novel targets for new treatments of stress-related mental health disorders.

The use and change of emotion regulation strategies: The promoting effect of cognitive flexibility

Being flexible to the environment is of great significance to the individual’s successful social life, the improvement of subjective well-being and the maintenance of physical and mental health. Cognitive flexibility deficits and mood disorders are generally considered to be typical characteristics of depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. Although cognitive flexibility as an important component of executive function has been shown to play an important role in the process of emotional regulation, it is not yet clear that how cognitive flexibility contributes to different aspects of emotional regulation and the mechanisms of its influence. Based on existing theories and empirical studies, we systematically elaborated the promoting effect of cognitive flexibility on emotional regulation and analyzed its influencing mechanism from four aspects of emotional regulation tendency, effectiveness, flexibility and adaptiveness. The emotional cognitive control model and the cognitive control framework emotional regulation flexibility provide the theoretical basis of cognitive flexibility promoting emotional regulation. The former emphasizes that cognitive flexibility play a role in the use of emotional regulation strategies, while the latter emphasizes that cognitive flexibility also have an impact on the change of emotional regulation strategies. On the one hand, cognitive flexibility plays an important role by promoting individuals tend to use protective regulation strategies and effectively alleviate emotional responses during using emotional regulation strategies. On the other hand, cognitive flexibility also plays a promoting role by helping individuals to respond rapidly to situational changes and reducing cognitive load in multi-objective tradeoffs during goal pursuit behaviors. Specifically, (1) emotional regulation strategies that play a protective role in physical and mental health may benefit from cognitive flexibility, which promotes individuals’ tendency to use cognitive reappraisal; (2) cognitive flexibility may promote the effectiveness of emotional regulation either indirectly (enhancing the effect of emotion regulation strategies) or directly (decreasing the intensity of emotional responses); (3) in the process of adjusting emotion regulation strategies according to the situation, cognitive flexibility can promote individuals to make a rapid response to the changing situation that may be a necessary condition for emotional regulation flexibility; (4) cognitive flexibility can reduce cognitive load in multiple goal pursuit behaviors by flexibly balancing multiple personal goals, which promote emotion regulation adaptiveness. Additionally, we speculated that cognitive flexibility is most closely related to emotion regulation adaptiveness because the three aspects of emotion regulation: tendency, effectiveness, and flexibility are important prerequisites for adaptiveness. In summary, cognitive flexibility plays a promoting role in the use and change of emotional regulation strategies. Both cognitive flexibility and emotional regulation play an important role in individual mental health. Clarifying the promoting effect of cognitive flexibility on different aspects of emotional regulation can help us further understand the internal mechanism of cognitive deficits in mood disorders and provide important reference for the combination and improvement of cognitive flexibility with cognitive therapy related to depression, anxiety and other mental disorders.