Regulation Of Emotional Responses Research Articles

Scalp acupuncture targets for neurological disorders：evidence from neuroimaging studies (part 2).

Scalp acupuncture is a method of treating diseases by dividing and stimulating the corresponding function-oriented cortical scalp areas. It is a commonly used therapy for neurological disorders. However, the specific target selection for scalp acupuncture remains to be explored. This manuscript aims to initiate an attempt to develop/identify scalp acupuncture targets based on neuroimaging findings and noninvasive brain stimulation. Neurosynth-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies was conducted to identify brain stimulation targets of neurological disorders. The identified target regions were further projected to the scalp. The traditional acupoints and 10-20 EEG system were referenced for the localization of these targets. In this study, the "mild cognitive impairment" (MCI), "Alzheimer's disease" (AD) and "dementia" were used as the retrieval terms respectively, and a unity detection method was used to generate brain maps, with the default FDR (false discovery rate, P<0.01) threshold of Neurosynth set for subsequent exploration of various disease-related brain regions. The literature search was conducted on July 30, 2022. The localization and manipulation suggestions of neuroimage-based scalp acupuncture targets for MCI, AD, and dementia were introduced in the present paper (part 2). Here are 3 target examples for each of these 3 diseases due to word limitation. 1) MCI：Based on the 81 papers retrieved, we identified 6 potential scalp acupuncture points for MCI, their corresponding brain regions, brain functions and the possible resultant effects of the scalp target acupoint stimulation respectively are as below. MCI1：the orbital part of the left inferior frontal gyrus (left Brodmann area ［BA］47), related to semantic coding, working memory and episodic memory, improving semantic coding and memory function；MCI2：the anterior motor area/left anterior central gyrus (left BA6), the motor center area, improving MCI motor function；MCI3：the left medial temporal gyrus (left BA21), related to the processing of speech, visual space, language and word understanding, improving language and memory. 2) AD：Based on the 196 papers retrieved, we found 6 potential scalp acupuncture targets for AD, their corresponding brain regions and brain functions of the 3 example targets respectively are as below. AD1：the left medial temporal gyrus (left BA21), participating in language and semantic processing, sentence and word generation, intent expression, deductive reasoning；AD2：the left angular gyrus (left BA39), related to semantic processing, word reading and comprehension, memory retrieval, attention and spatial cognition, reasoning, etc.；AD3：the left fusiform/suboccipital gyrus (left BA37), related to semantic classification, text generation, sign language, phonology processing, etc. 3) Dementia：Based on the 142 papers retrieved, we found 4 potential scalp acupuncture targets for dementia, their corresponding brain regions, brain functions and the possible targets of the proposed scalp stimulation respectively are as below. D1 and D2：the left inferior frontal gyrus (i.e., left BA46, and left BA47, respectively), being closely related to working memory, emotional response regulation, melody and other processing processes, may be suitable for treating memory decline and advanced executive dysfunction in patients with dementia；D3：the left medial temporal gyrus (left BA21), an important brain region for various sensory integration, cognitive processing and memory functions, and emotional processing, may be suitable for temporal dementia. We identified scalp acupuncture targets for several common neurological disorders based on neuroimaging findings and noninvasive brain stimulation. The proposed targets may also be used for treating these disorders using nerve/brain stimulation methods.

Unveiling the dynamics and impact of emotional presence in collaborative learning

This study aims to understand the dynamics and impact of emotional presence in a collaborative learning environment and its effects on the learning process and outcomes. Emotional presence, defined as the experience of emotion arising from cognitive appraisals in learner-environment interactions, encompasses four dimensions: interest-curiosity, emotional regulation, expression management, and emotional awareness. Using a mixed-methods approach, we surveyed 33 Japanese college students engaged in collaborative learning activities and conducted in-depth interviews with 10 participants to gather qualitative insights. The study revealed that emotional presence evolves throughout the collaborative process, with increased emotional regulation in response to complex tasks, reflecting learners’ adaptations to varying task demands. It highlighted the importance of emotional regulation in shaping the learning process and improving outcomes in collaborative learning. Our findings suggest that heightened emotional presence, with increased emotional awareness and regulation, fosters cognitive development and learner well-being, supporting more effective and fulfilling collaborative learning experiences. The study also emphasizes the crucial role of cognitive appraisal in shaping emotional experiences, significantly influencing outcomes in technology-enhanced environments. The study concludes by proposing future research directions, such as examining the longitudinal impacts of emotional presence and exploring interventions to enhance emotional regulation skills in diverse learning contexts.

Emotion-related impulsivity and suicidal ideation and behavior in schizophrenia spectrum disorder: a pilot fMRI study.

Suicidal ideation and behavior (SIB) are serious problems in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the circuitry underlying SIB in SSD. Recently, we showed that elevated emotional impulsivity (urgency) was associated with SIB in SSD. Here we examined brain activity in people with SSD and elevated SIB. We tested 16 people with SSD who had low SIB and 14 people with high SIB on a task in which emotion regulation in response to affective pictures was implicitly manipulated using spoken sentences. Thus, there were neutral pictures preceded by neutral statements (NeutNeut condition), as well as negative pictures preceded by either negative (NegNeg) or neutral (NeutNeg) statements. After each picture, participants rated how unpleasant each picture was for them. The latter two conditions were compared to the NeutNeut condition. We compared the emotion-regulated condition (NeutNeg) to the unregulated condition (NeutNeut). Statistics were threshold using threshold free cluster enhancement (TFCE). People in the low SIB group showed higher activation in this contrast in medial frontal gyrus, right rostral anterior cingulate, bilateral superior frontal gyrus/DLPFC, and right middle cingulate gyrus, as well as right superior temporal gyrus. This study provides clues to the neural basis of SIB in SSD as well as underlying mechanisms.

Attention Circuits Mediate the Connection between Emotional Experience and Expression within the Emotional Circuit.

: Most affective neuroscience studies use pictures from the International Affective Picture System or standard facial expressions to elicit emotional experiences. The attention system, including the prefrontal cortex, can mediate emotional regulation in response to stimulation with emotional faces. We hypothesized that emotional experience is associated with brain activity within the neocortex. In addition, modification within the neocortex may be associated with brain activity within the attention system. : Thirty-one healthy adult participants were recruited to be assessed for emotional expression using clinical scales of happiness, sadness, anxiety, and anger as and for emotional experience using brain activity in response to pictures of facial emotional expressions. The attention system was assessed using brain activity in response to the go-no-go task. : We found that emotional experience was associated with brain activity within the frontotemporal cortices, while emotional expression was associated with brain activity within the temporal and insular cortices. In addition, the association of brain activity between emotional experiences and expressions of sadness and anxiety was affected by brain activity within the anterior cingulate gyrus in response to the go-no-go task. : Emotional expression may be associated with brain activity within the temporal cortex, whereas emotional experience may be associated with brain activity within the frontotemporal cortices. In addition, the attention system may interfere with the connection between emotional expression and experience.

Neurophysiology of predictable unpleasant event processing in pre-adolescents and early adolescents, part II: Reflex and event-related potential markers of defensive reactivity and peripheral attention modulation.

The ability to anticipate and process predictable unpleasant events, while also regulating emotional reactivity, is an adaptive skill. The current article and a companion in this issue test for potential changes in predictable event processing across the childhood-to-adolescence transition, a key developmental period for biological systems that support cognitive/ emotional abilities. While the companion article focuses on neurophysiology of predictable event processing itself, the present article examines peripheral emotional response regulation and attention modulation that coincides with event processing. A total of 315 third-, sixth-, or ninth-grade individuals saw 5-s cues predicting "scary," "every day," or uncertain pictures, and here, blink reflexes and brain event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by peripheral noise probes are analyzed. During the cue, blink reflexes and probe ERP (P200) amplitudes were increased when the cue predicted scary, compared to everyday, content. After picture onset, reflex enhancement by scary content then disappeared for predictable images, whereas ERP modulation was similar regardless of predictability. Patterns are similar to those in adults and suggest (1) sustained defensive response priming and enhancement of peripheral attention during aversive anticipation, and (2) an ability, even in pre-adolescents, to downregulate defensive priming while maintaining attentional modulation once an awaited predictable aversive event occurs.

Everybody Copes: An Interprofessional Workshop on Stress, Coping, and Helping Primary Care Patients Manage Medical Stressors.

The value of psychological principles has become apparent in medical settings, especially with the rise of patient-centered care. We aimed to provide a curriculum informing medical providers about the theoretical basis and clinical utility of the social-cognitive model of stress and coping. This workshop was delivered to an interprofessional team of faculty and trainees. Our initial pedagogical approach was to relate the concepts of cognitive appraisals and coping strategies to participants' own stress responses. We then used didactic presentation and small-group activities to explore ways to promote adaptive coping with patients to improve health outcomes. Learners participated in a mindfulness exercise, conceptualized coping strategies given a hypothetical case scenario, and, in small groups, role-played a patient encounter to construct an effective coping repertoire for the patient. Participants completed a prework self-assessment and workshop evaluation form. The 2.5-hour workshop had 48 participants from five professions (medicine, education, physician assistant, pharmacology, psychology). We received 35 evaluations (73% response rate). Learners reported increased real-world skills (M = 8.0 out of 10) and feeling better prepared for working in interprofessional settings (M = 7.6 out of 10). Qualitative feedback suggested that participants recognized the importance of individual differences in coping with stress and felt they could categorize strategies into emotion- or problem-focused coping. This workshop provided participants with basic knowledge about the social-cognitive model of stress and coping and allowed them to practice newly learned skills in a role-play as an interprofessional medical care team.

Psychopathy and heart rate variability: A new physiological marker for the adaptive features of boldness.

The boldness disposition of the triarchic model of psychopathy is theorized to entail, aside from mal-adaptive proclivities (narcissism, fearless risk-taking), some adaptive features (e.g., immunity to stressful events, high self-esteem, and emotional resilience) that seem to predispose high boldness individuals to an effective emotional regulation in response to environmental demands. The high frequency band of heart rate variability -an index of parasympathetic cardiac vagal activity-is a well-validated physiological index of emotional self-regulation and mental health resilience. The aim of this study was to examine the unique predictive contributions of triarchic dispositions of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition on resting vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) in a sample of 241 undergraduates (60 men) assessed via the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM; Patrick, 2010). A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted on vmHRV in which TriPM Boldness, Meanness, and Disinhibition scores were entered as predictors, along with gender, age, body mass index, mean resting heart rate, and respiratory activity. Results showed that only TriPM Boldness -but not Meanness or Disinhibition-scores significantly predicted vmHRV (positively), thus evidencing that adequate emotional self-regulation is one of the adaptive features encompassed by the boldness disposition. These findings encourage further use of vmHRV as a physiological marker of boldness and contribute to shedding light on the nomological network surrounding the construct of boldness in psychopathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The longitudinal trajectory of emotion regulation and associated neural activity in patients with bipolar disorder: A prospective fMRI study.

Impaired emotion regulation is a key feature of bipolar disorder (BD) that presents during acute mood episodes and in remission. The neural correlates of voluntary emotion regulation seem to involve deficient prefrontal top-down regulation already at BD illness onset. However, the trajectory of aberrant neuronal activity during emotion regulation in BD is unclear. We investigated neural activity during emotion regulation in response to aversive pictures from the International Affective Picture System in patients with recently diagnosed BD (n=43) in full or partial remission and in healthy controls (HC) (n=38) longitudinally at baseline and 16 months later. Patients with BD exhibited stable hypo-activity in the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and impaired emotion regulation compared to HC over the 16 months follow-up time. More DLPFC hypo-activity during emotion regulation correlated with less successful down-regulation (r=0.16, p=0.045), more subsyndromal depression (r=-0.18, p=0.02) and more functional impairment (r=-0.24, p=0.002), while more DMPFC hypo-activity correlated with less efficient emotion regulation (r=0.16, p=0.048). Finally, more DMPFC hypo-activity during emotion regulation at baseline was associated with an increased likelihood of subsequent relapse during the 16 months follow-up time (β=-2.26, 95% CI [0.01; 0.99], p=0.048). The stable DLPFC and DMPFC hypo-activity during emotion regulation represents a neuronal trait-marker of persistent emotion regulation difficulties in BD. Hypo-activity in the DMPFC may contribute to greater risk of relapse.

Autonomic indices and loss-of-control eating in adolescents: an ecological momentary assessment study.

Loss-of-control (LOC) eating commonly develops during adolescence, and it predicts full-syndrome eating disorders and excess weight gain. Although negative emotions and emotion dysregulation are hypothesized to precede and predict LOC eating, they are rarely examined outside the self-report domain. Autonomic indices, including heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), may provide information about stress and capacity for emotion regulation in response to stress. We studied whether autonomic indices predict LOC eating in real-time in adolescents with LOC eating and body mass index (BMI) ⩾70th percentile. Twenty-four adolescents aged 12-18 (67% female; BMI percentile mean ± standard deviation = 92.6 ± 9.4) who reported at least twice-monthly LOC episodes wore biosensors to monitor HR, HRV, and physical activity for 1 week. They reported their degree of LOC after all eating episodes on a visual analog scale (0-100) using a smartphone. Adjusting for physical activity and time of day, higher HR and lower HRV predicted higher self-reported LOC after eating. Parsing between- and within-subjects effects, there was a significant, positive, within-subjects association between pre-meal HR and post-meal LOC rating. However, there was no significant within-subjects effect for HRV, nor were there between-subjects effects for either electrophysiologic variable. Findings suggest that autonomic indices may either be a marker of risk for subsequent LOC eating or contribute to LOC eating. Linking physiological markers with behavior in the natural environment can improve knowledge of illness mechanisms and provide new avenues for intervention.

The Covid-19 Pandemic, Islamic Religious Education Teacher Self-Efficacy, and Implementation of Distance Learning from Home

This study aims to explore and analyze the experience of PAI teachers in carrying out learning process during the pandemic which is focused on three things; emotional regulation in response to school closure policies, their efforts to identify student learning facilities, and the learning strategies they choose. A qualitative approach with the phenomenological method was chosen to obtain information on the learning experiences of Islamic Religious education teachers of six Junior High Schools in Bandung, West Java, which were explored through semi-structured interviews and documentation. The results of the study found that there was psychological involvement and varied responses of the subject to school closure policies. In such conditions, they display self-efficacy to ensure the continuity of learning by carefully identifying student learning facilities and communicating effectively. The process has an impact on the implementation of their chose, with three strategies of Distance Learning (PJJ) from home, namely online; synchronous-asynchronous and outside the network with the module system. This study concludes that teacher self-efficacy plays a very important role in responding to and choosing appropriate learning strategies and technologies in various circumstances to ensure the continuity of learning, and at the same time recommending the improvement of these essential competencies to the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia on a regular and programmed basis.

A Qualitative Study on Patients’ Use of Emotion Regulation Strategies During Therapeutic Relationships

Introduction Emotion regulation may be an important tool that therapists and patients use to build and maintain therapeutic relationships. This exploratory study investigates how patients use intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies during interactions with occupational therapists and physiotherapists. Methods A two-staged qualitative study was conducted. In the first stage 11 patients were interviewed regarding their use of emotion regulation during their therapeutic relationships. In the second stage, 14 patient/therapist dyads were observed during the course of the therapeutic relationship and then interviewed individually at the end of the relationship. Results Patients utilise the full range of intrapersonal emotion regulation strategies that can be categorised in Gross’s (1998) process model of emotion regulation including situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive reappraisal and response modulation. They used interpersonal emotion regulation strategies to a lesser extent, only reporting using strategies that fit into one of the four interpersonal emotion regulation strategies identified Williams’ (2007), altering the situation. Conclusions This study makes an important contribution to research on patients’ contribution to therapeutic relationship development/maintenance. It is the first study to explore patients use of intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation in response to negative and positive emotions arising from interactions with therapists.

The effect of sleep continuity disruption on multimodal emotion processing and regulation: a laboratory-based, randomised, controlled experiment in good sleepers.

Previous research shows that experimental sleep deprivation alters emotion processing, suggesting a potential mechanism linking sleep disruption to mental ill-health. Extending previous work, we experimentally disrupted sleep continuity in good sleepers and assessed next-day emotion processing and regulation using tasks with established sensitivity to depression. In a laboratory-based study, 51 good sleepers (37 female; mean [SD] age 24[3.63]years), were randomised to 1 night of uninterrupted sleep (n=24) or sleep continuity disruption (n=27). We assessed emotion perception, attention, and memory the following day. Participants also completed an emotion regulation task and measures of self-reported affect, anxiety, sleepiness, overnight declarative memory consolidation, and psychomotor vigilance. Confirming the effects of the manipulation, sleep continuity disruption led to a marked decrease in polysomnography-defined total sleep time (229.98 versus 434.57 min), increased wake-time after sleep onset (260.66 versus 23.84 min), and increased sleepiness (d=0.81). Sleep continuity disruption led to increased anxiety (d=0.68), decreased positive affect (d=-0.62), reduced overnight declarative memory consolidation (d=-1.08), and reduced psychomotor vigilance (longer reaction times [d=0.64] and more lapses [d=0.74]), relative to control. However, contrary to our hypotheses, experimental sleep disruption had no effect on perception of, or bias for, emotional facial expressions, emotional memory for words, or emotion regulation following worry induction. In conclusion, 1 night of sleep continuity disruption had no appreciable effect on objective measures of emotion processing or emotion regulation in response to worry induction, despite clear effects on memory consolidation, vigilance, and self-reported affect and anxiety.

A domain-differentiated approach to everyday emotion regulation from adolescence to older age.

Flexibly using different emotion-regulation (ER) strategies in different situational contexts, such as domains, has been argued to promote effective emotion regulation. Additionally, emotion regulation processes may change with age as narrowing time horizons shift emotion-regulation preferences. The purpose of the present study was to examine the occurrence and effectiveness of flexible emotion regulation in response to daily hassles from different domains within the age range from adolescence to old age. Participants, ranging from 14 to 88 years old (N = 325), completed an experience-sampling study of approximately 9 days over a 3-week period. At each momentary assessment, participants reported on their hassles, emotion-regulation strategies, and affect. As expected, strategy use varied across individuals and domains. For example, emotion expression and suppression were typical responses to interpersonal hassles, whereas social sharing was often used in response to work/school hassles. In situations wherein hassles included multiple life domains, participants reported the use of more emotion-regulation strategies than for single-domain hassles. Although flexible emotion regulation was evident in participants' responses to hassles, the expectation that it would be associated with lower hassle reactivity was not confirmed. These patterns were, for the most part, consistent across ages. This study contributes new insights into situational characteristics that are associated with emotion-regulation flexibility, showing that hassles domains are important for strategy selection, and that this holds from adolescence to old age. It also suggests that such defined emotion-regulation flexibility is not as strongly linked to emotion-regulation effectiveness as has been previously suggested. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotion regulation in context: A naturalistic study of emotion regulation in response to everyday happy and sad memories during dysphoria

Background and objectivesEffective emotion regulation is an important marker of mental health. However, only a sparse number of studies have examined emotion regulation within the context of different emotion type and intensity levels among individuals with elevated depressive symptoms. MethodWe investigated emotion regulation in response to happiness and sadness experienced in the context of everyday memories of 23 dysphoric and 20 non-depressed participants. Participants completed a diary indicating the intensity of these emotions when thinking about a personal memory, as well as their employment of five emotion regulation strategies at that moment. ResultsMultilevel models indicated that dysphoric and non-depressed individuals differed in how they employed three emotion regulation strategies depending on the intensity of the emotions. Relative to non-depressed individuals, dysphoric individuals employed greater brooding, expressive suppression, and memory suppression when experiencing less intense happiness, and employed more brooding for more intense sadness. These effects were maintained after controlling for habitual emotion regulation, and controlling for the opposite concurrent emotion. The findings suggest that dysphoric individuals adjust the use of emotion regulation strategies differently from non-depressed individuals depending on the intensity level of happiness and sadness experienced. These patterns may be indicative of reduced emotion regulation flexibility or fear of emotional shifts. LimitationsThe sample consisted of mostly young women. ConclusionsClinical implications, particularly concerning emotion-focused interventions, are discussed.

A Mediating Model of Emotional Balance and Procrastination on Academic Performance.

Deficit in the management of time continues to be an important difficulty students are faced with. The present work aimed to test the hypothesis that self-regulation is the major predictor of academic performance and that this effect can be mediated both by the student’s emotional regulation and his propensity for procrastination. Participants were 450 university students who were administered MPP and AIP. The procedures involved the administration of instruments and the collection of average exam grades as a measure of academic performance. The effect of a specific component of self-regulation on academic performance, namely action orientation, was significant, while procrastination showed a limiting effect on the performative quality of the student. The model confirmed the mediation role of emotional balance on the effect that action orientation exerts on procrastination, and the mediation of procrastination in the relationship between action orientation and Academic Performance. Results of the study suggest focusing on student support and on prevention of procrastinating behavior through programs that enhance first of all student’s proactive attitude, planning skills, self-monitoring and effective/efficient time management, and secondly, emotional awareness and regulation of emotional response in situations of stress and performance anxiety.

Coping and emotion regulation in response to social stress tasks among young adolescents with and without social anxiety

Given that threat appraisal and coping are amenable to intervention, we aimed to identify threat appraisals and coping responses of anxious adolescents, relative to less anxious peers, during induced social stressors. Adolescents (N = 76; Mage = 13.5yrs) completed a clinical interview and five stress tasks. After each task, we measured threat appraisals (state anxiety and social evaluation), general coping ability, and eight ways of coping and regulating emotion. Adolescents with high anxiety appraised more threat and used more distraction, behavioral disengagement and rumination. As adolescents progressed through tasks, threat appraisal decreased, perceived coping ability increased, and problem-solving, distraction, behavioral disengagement and rumination decreased. Social anxiety level task interactions were not significant. In person-centered analysis, adolescents were distinguished as active copers, suppressors, or expressives. Anxious adolescents were more likely to be active copers, whereas their less anxious peers more likely suppressed or expressed emotions to cope with the tasks.

The Immediate and Lasting Effect of Emotion Regulation in Adolescents: An ERP Study

Environmental and individual contextual factors profoundly influence how people regulate their emotions. The current article addresses the role of event intensity and psychopathology (an admixture of depression, anxiety, and psychoticism) on emotion regulation in response to naturally occurring events. For six days each evening, a youth sample (aged 15–25, N = 713) recorded the intensity of the most positive and most negative event of the day and their subsequent emotion regulation. The intensity of negative events was positively associated with summed total emotion regulation effort, strategy diversity, engaging in rumination, situation modification, emotion expression, and sharing and negatively associated with reappraisal and acceptance. The intensity of positive events was positively associated with strategy diversity, savoring, emotion expression, and sharing. Higher psychopathology symptoms were only related to ruminating more about negative events. We interpret these findings as support for the role of context in the degree of effort and type of emotion regulation that young people engage in.

Neural responses during down-regulation of negative emotion in patients with recently diagnosed bipolar disorder and their unaffected relatives.

Aberrant emotion regulation has been posited as a putative endophenotype of bipolar disorder (BD). We therefore aimed to compare the neural responses during voluntary down-regulation of negative emotions in a large functional magnetic resonance imaging study of BD, patients' unaffected first-degree relatives (URs), and healthy controls (HCs). We compared neural activity and fronto-limbic functional connectivity during emotion regulation in response to aversive v. neutral pictures in patients recently diagnosed with BD (n = 78) in full/partial remission, their URs (n = 35), and HCs (n = 56). Patients showed hypo-activity in the left dorsomedial, dorsolateral, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (DMPFC and DLPFC) during emotion regulation while viewing aversive pictures compared to HCs, with URs displaying intermediate neural activity in these regions. There were no significant differences between patients with BD and HCs in functional connectivity from the amygdala during emotion regulation. However, exploratory analysis indicated that URs displayed more negative amygdala-DMPFC coupling compared with HCs and more negative amygdala-cingulate DLPFC coupling compared to patients with BD. At a behavioral level, patients and their URs were less able to dampen negative emotions in response aversive pictures. The findings point to deficient recruitment of prefrontal resources and more negative fronto-amygdala coupling as neural markers of impaired emotion regulation in recently diagnosed remitted patients with BD and their URs, respectively.

Emotion regulation in response to daily negative and positive events in youth: The role of event intensity and psychopathology

Environmental and individual contextual factors profoundly influence how people regulate their emotions. The current article addresses the role of event intensity and psychopathology (an admixture of depression, anxiety, and psychoticism) on emotion regulation in response to naturally occurring events. For six days each evening, a youth sample (aged 15–25, N = 713) recorded the intensity of the most positive and most negative event of the day and their subsequent emotion regulation. The intensity of negative events was positively associated with summed total emotion regulation effort, strategy diversity, engaging in rumination, situation modification, emotion expression, and sharing and negatively associated with reappraisal and acceptance. The intensity of positive events was positively associated with strategy diversity, savoring, emotion expression, and sharing. Higher psychopathology symptoms were only related to ruminating more about negative events. We interpret these findings as support for the role of context in the degree of effort and type of emotion regulation that young people engage in.

Internalising and externalising in early adolescence predict later executive function, not the other way around: a cross-lagged panel analysis

ABSTRACT Developmental changes in the brain networks involved in emotion regulation are thought to contribute to vulnerability to mental health problems during adolescence. Executive control is often viewed as allowing top-down regulation of emotional responses. However, while associations between executive control and mental health are commonly observed in both clinical and non-clinical populations, the direction of these associations remains unclear. Low, or immature, cognitive control could limit emotion regulation. Reversely, high emotionality could impede cognitive functioning. The scarcity of longitudinal studies testing for bi-directional effects, particularly in adolescence, has made it difficult to draw conclusions. This study analysed data from 1,445 participants of a longitudinal cohort in a cross-lagged panel design to understand bi-directional longitudinal associations between executive function and emotional behaviours across adolescence. Executive function was assessed using experimental working memory and inhibitory control tasks, emotional behaviours through parental report of internalising and externalising behaviours. Cross-sectional associations were replicated. Controlling for cross-sectional associations, early executive functions were not found to predict later emotional behaviours. Instead, early emotional behaviours predicted later executive function, with the strongest link observed between early externalising and later working memory. These results suggest that emotional well-being may affect the maturation of executive function during adolescence.