Exploring Emotion Regulation Research Articles

Maternal emotion regulation abilities affect adolescent depressive symptoms by mediating their emotion regulation ability: An ERP study

Adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) experience significant difficulties in emotion regulation. This study aimed to explore emotion regulation in adolescents with depression using an emotion regulation paradigm combined with event-related potentials (ERP) while investigating the relationship between maternal emotion regulation and adolescent depressive symptoms through a mediation model. Overall, 38 healthy controls (HC) and 57 adolescents with depression (MDD) rated the pictures they saw according to aversive reappraisal (reappraisal of an aversive picture or down-regulate aversive emotions), aversive watch, and neutral conditions. Adolescents with depression gave more negative ratings to aversive images, and the emotional regulation success index (ERSI) of adolescents with depression was lower than that of healthy individuals. ERP data revealed an elevation in late positive potential (LPP) amplitude during the aversive reappraisal and aversive watch conditions compared with that in the neutral condition in the MDD group. Compared with the HC group, adolescents with depression showed larger LPP amplitudes under aversive watch conditions. The aversive reappraisal condition evoked a larger LPP than that in the other conditions in the HC group in the late time windows. The ΔLPP (separating the variability in the ERP wave associated with emotion regulation) was larger in the HC group than in the MDD group. Mediation analysis revealed that maternal emotion regulation influenced adolescent depression levels through its effect on the adolescent’s emotion regulation. These findings provide important insights into the emotion regulation process in adolescents with depression and offer suggestions for clinical interventions.

Exploring emotion regulation mechanisms and attachment styles in individuals with childhood traum

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between childhood trauma and attachment styles, as well as emotional regulation strategies. Data were collected using valid questionnaires examining Childhood Trauma Questionnaire by Bernstein & Fink (2003), Attachment Style scale by Becker & Gilbert (1997) and Emotion Regulation scale by Gross and John (2003). A sample of 150 participants aged 18 to 30 years was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman correlation tests. The analysis revealed a significant correlation between childhood trauma and the use of expressive suppression as an emotion regulation strategy. Individuals with trauma tended to rely more on suppression than cognitive reappraisal. Additionally, anxious and avoidant attachment styles were predominant among participants with childhood trauma, suggesting disruptions in attachment formation due to childhood trauma. In conclusion, childhood trauma significantly influences attachment styles and emotion regulation strategies in individuals.

A multi-method assessment of emotional processes predicting longitudinal anxiety symptom trajectories in an adolescent clinical sample

ObjectiveEmotion recognition, reactivity, and regulation are important in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. Whether and how these processes differentiate between different trajectories in anxiety remain unclear. The current study examined emotional processes as prospective predictors of anxiety symptom trajectories in psychiatrically hospitalized youth. MethodParticipants were 180 adolescents (Mage = 14.89; SD = 1.35) from a psychiatric inpatient unit. At index hospitalization, participants completed a behavioral task assessing facial emotion recognition, and self-report measures of emotion dysregulation and reactivity. They completed a self-report measure on anxiety symptoms at baseline and 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-discharge. Latent growth curve analysis was conducted to identify subgroups of individuals based upon their trajectory of anxiety symptoms across 18-months. ANOVAs were used to examine subgroup differences in emotional processing variables. ResultsThree distinct trajectories were identified, a stable moderate-to-high anxiety group, a group with moderate-to-high anxiety at baseline with symptom improvement over time, and a group characterized by relatively stable low-to-moderate anxiety throughout the study. The two initially moderate-to-high anxiety groups scored higher for emotion dysregulation and emotion reactivity at baseline compared to the low-to-moderate anxiety group. Emotion regulation difficulties relating to emotional non-acceptance were higher for the stable moderate-to-high anxiety group than for the moderate-to-high anxiety group that experience symptom improvement over time. ConclusionsThese findings may have clinical implications for discharge planning. Future studies should explore emotion regulation with a focus on non-acceptance of one’s emotional experiences as a potential target of intervention in individuals with elevated anxiety.

Positive psychological traits predict future sleep quality and quantity: exploring emotion regulation as a common mediator

Objective Mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude, and optimism have each been associated with better sleep quality and quantity; however, their collective and relative contributions to future sleep outcomes remain unexplored. The current study therefore investigated whether baseline levels of these positive psychological traits could predict subsequent sleep quality and quantity. In addition, emotion regulation was examined as a potential common mediator of the relationships between each of the positive traits and sleep. Methods and Measures A prospective, correlational design was employed. Student participants (N = 220) completed self-report measures of mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude, optimism, emotion regulation and sleep quality and quantity at three separate time-points, each approximately 12 wk apart. Results Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that, collectively, the positive traits at baseline predicted better sleep quality and quantity 12 wk and 24 wk later. Optimism emerged as a unique predictor of sleep at each time-point, with higher levels of optimism predicting better sleep. Maladaptive emotion regulation mediated the relationships between optimism and sleep and self-compassion and sleep. Conclusion Findings are consistent with the idea that positive psychological traits might help to facilitate good sleep quality and quantity and indicate that reductions in maladaptive emotion regulation may underpin associations between some positive traits and sleep.

On the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and posttraumatic stress symptoms during treatment: A test of reciprocity

Positive associations between difficulties in emotion regulation and PTSD symptom severity have been consistently found in the literature. Little is known whether these associations are the result of reciprocal effects between the two constructs. This study investigated the reciprocal relationship between post-traumatic stress symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties. The study used a longitudinal design with two time points. The sample consisted of 293 patients who were all in treatment for PTSD. We estimated the cross-lagged panel model with latent variables. The results showed a significant cross-lagged effect of emotion regulation difficulties on post-traumatic stress symptoms. This finding highlights that emotion regulation difficulties play a pivotal role in the development and maintenance of post-traumatic stress. Therefore, exploring emotion regulation difficulties early on in treatment may support the effectiveness of trauma-focused interventions.

Exploring emotion regulation in small ensemble contexts; three cases from higher music education

Exploring emotion regulation in small ensemble contexts; three cases from higher music education

Investigating the combined and unique contributions of positive psychological traits to sleep and exploring emotion regulation as a common mediator

The identification of variables which facilitate good quality and quantity sleep represents an important step in tackling the current global sleep loss epidemic. Previous research has established links between good sleep and the positive psychological traits of mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude and optimism. However, studies have typically focused on single traits, limiting understanding of their collective and independent associations. The two studies reported here address this gap by exploring the combined and unique contributions of mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude and optimism to sleep; Study 2 further investigated emotion regulation as a common underlying mechanism. Participants in both studies (Study 1 N = 268; Study 2 N = 333) completed online questionnaires assessing the four positive psychological traits and sleep quality and quantity; participants in Study 2 also completed measures of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation. Multiple regression analyses revealed that mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude and optimism collectively accounted for 24.96% (Study 1) and 15.81% (Study 2) of the variance in overall sleep quality and quantity. Optimism and mindfulness emerged as significant linear predictors in their own right, with higher levels of optimism and mindfulness respectively being associated with better sleep. Study 2 further identified maladaptive emotion regulation as a common mediating mechanism. Findings highlight the importance of positive psychological traits in relation to sleep and indicate that optimism and mindfulness might make unique contributions to the prediction of sleep outcomes. Findings also flag emotion regulation as a potential common mediator of associations between positive psychological traits and sleep.

The power of humorous audio: exploring emotion regulation in traffic congestion through EEG-based study

Traffic congestion can lead to negative driving emotions, significantly increasing the likelihood of traffic accidents. Reducing negative driving emotions as a means to mitigate speeding, reckless overtaking, and aggressive driving behaviors is a viable approach. Among the potential methods, affective speech has been considered one of the most promising. However, research on humor-based affective speech interventions in the context of driving negative emotions is scarce, and the utilization of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals for emotion detection in humorous audio studies remains largely unexplored. Therefore, our study first designed a highly realistic experiment scenario to induce negative emotions experienced by drivers in congested traffic conditions. Subsequently, we collected drivers’ EEG signals and subjective questionnaire ratings during the driving process. By employing one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t tests, we analyzed the data to validate the success of our experiment in inducing negative emotions in drivers during congested road conditions and to assess the effectiveness of humorous audio in regulating drivers’ negative emotions. The results indicated that humorous audio effectively alleviated drivers’ negative emotions in congested road conditions, with a 145.84% increase in arousal and a 93.55% increase in valence ratings compared to control conditions. However, it should be noted that humorous audio only restored drivers’ emotions to the level experienced during normal driving. Our findings offer novel insights into regulating drivers’ negative emotions during congested road conditions.

Assessment of the validity and feasibility of a novel virtual reality test of emotion regulation in patients with bipolar disorder and their unaffected relatives

BackgroundEmotion dysregulation has been suggested as an endophenotype of bipolar disorder (BD). Neuroimaging studies show aberrant neural activity during emotion regulation in remitted patients with BD and their unaffected first-degree relatives (UR) compared to healthy controls (HC). However, behavioural studies produce conflicting - generally negative findings - possibly due to limited sensitivity and ecological validity of current behavioural paradigms. MethodsThis study aimed to explore emotion regulation in BD (n = 30) and UR (n = 26) relative to HC (n = 47) by using a novel emotion regulation task in virtual reality (VR). Participants were instructed to either react naturally to, or dampen, their emotional response to highly positive or highly negative scenarios presented in first-person 360-degree spherically camera-recorded VR environments. Participants also completed a more traditional computerised task of emotion regulation for comparison purposes. ResultsPatients with BD exhibited difficulties with down-regulating their negative emotions in the VR paradigm compared to HC and UR (ps ≤ .04), whereas UR did not differ from HC (p = .97). There was no emotion regulation difference between groups in the more traditional computerised task (ps ≥ .40). LimitationsThe small sample size limits generalisability. ConclusionsThe results suggest trait-related reduced ability to down-regulate negative emotions in BD patients compared to HC in the VR paradigm, but not in the more traditional task of emotion regulation. This may indicate that VR provides a more sensitive measure relative to traditional paradigms. The findings provided no support for aberrant emotional regulation as an endophenotype of BD given the normal emotion regulation performance in UR.

Emotional Engagement and Caring Relationships: The Assessment of Emotion Regulation Repertoires of Nurses.

In spite of the importance of emotion regulation for nurses' well-being, little is known about which strategies nurses habitually use, how these strategies combine in order to regulate their emotional distress, and how these are related to their caregiving orientations. The current study aimed to explore the emotion regulation repertoires that characterize health-care providers and to investigate the association between these repertoires and caregiving orientations in a sample of nurses. Firstly, a confirmatory factor analyses was run to test the suitability of the Regulation of Emotion System Survey for the assessment of six emotion regulation strategies among health-care providers. Subsequently, the latent profiles analysis was employed to explore emotion regulation repertoires. Three repertoires emerged: The Average, the Suppression Propensity and the Engagement Propensity profiles. The participants of the last two groups relied on Expressive Suppression and Engagement, respectively, more often than others. Nurses were more likely to be placed within the Engagement Propensity group when compared to the first responders, and higher levels of hyperactivation of the Caregiving System were associated with this repertoire. A greater reliance on Expressive Engagement among nurses was discussed in terms of the fact that nurses usually have a longer and more care-oriented relationships with patients than first responders.

Self- and Situation-Focused Reappraisal are not homogeneous: Evidence from behavioral and brain networks

Reappraisal is an effective emotion regulation strategy which can be divided into self- and situation-focused subtypes. Previous studies have produced inconsistent findings on the moderating effects and neural mechanisms of reappraisal; thus, further research is necessary to clarify these inconsistencies. In this study, a total of 44 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to two groups. 23 participants were assigned to the self-focused group, while 21 participants were assigned to the situation-focused group. The participants' resting EEG data were collected for 6 min before the experiment began, followed by an emotional regulation task. During this task, participants were asked to view emotion-provoking images under four emotion regulation conditions (View, Watch, Increase, or Decrease). Late positive potential (LPP) was obtained when these emotional images were observed. LPP is an effective physiological indicator of emotion regulation, enabling this study to explore emotion regulation under different reappraisal strategies, as well as the functional connectivity and node efficiency within the brain. It was found that, in terms of the effect on emotion regulation, situation-focused reappraisal was significantly better than self-focused reappraisal at enhancing the valence of negative emotion, while self-focused reappraisal was significantly better than situation-focused reappraisal at increasing the arousal of negative emotion. In terms of neural mechanisms, multiple brain regions such as the anterior cingulate cortex, the frontal lobe, the parahippocampal gyrus, parts of the temporal lobe, and parts of the parietal lobe were involved in both reappraisal processes. In addition, there were some differences in brain regions associated with different forms of cognitive reappraisal. Self-focused reappraisal was associated with the posterior cingulate gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and lingual gyrus, and situation-focused reappraisal was associated with the parietal lobule, anterior central gyrus, and angular gyrus. In conclusion, this research demonstrates that self- and situation-focused reappraisal are not homogenous in terms of their effects and neural mechanisms and clarifies the uncertainties over their regulatory effects. Different types of reappraisal activate different brain regions when used, and the functional connectivity or node efficiency of these brain regions seems to be a suitable indicator for assessing the effects of different types of reappraisal.

Affective Brain-Computer Music Interface in Emotion Regulation and Neurofeedback: A Research Protocol

Introduction: Emotion regulation is an integral part of mental health, dynamically impacting brain function as one’s emotions change continuously throughout the day. Impairments in emotion regulation are associated with a range of psychiatric disorders. Although the implications of emotion regulation are crucial to mental health, few studies have examined training emotion regulation strategies with respect to the brain. Thus, this manuscript will propose an affective brain-computer music interface (aBCMI) prototype for emotion regulation that continuously generates music by estimating emotions from real-time electroencephalography (EEG) signals. Methods: In this proposal, we describe our prototype consisting of an emotion classifier that detects the expression of emotions from EEG signals, and a music generator that generates music reflective of those emotions. We evaluate the prototype in three separate studies. In study 1, the accuracy of the music generator is tested. In study 2, the accuracy of the emotion classifier is tested by assessing its correlation with real-time, self-reported emotions. In study 3, the generative music algorithm is assessed to explore emotion regulation strategies. Discussion: The proposed BCMI is expected to accurately estimate emotions, provide musical feedback of participants’ emotions, and enable users to intentionally modulate their emotions from musical feedback. This involves capturing the listener’s emotions in real-time using EEG signals, providing the opportunity to regulate one’s emotional state with musical feedback. Thus, in addition to enabling greater neurofeedback training of emotions, our prototype can enhance the understanding of affective computing and emotions with EEG and machine learning. Conclusion: Clinical applications of this prototype may have a tremendous impact as a neurofeedback tool in music therapy for training emotion regulation. Future research may benefit from using the proposed BCMI as a neurofeedback treatment in mood disorders.

Neural activation during emotional interference corresponds to emotion dysregulation in stressed teachers

Teacher stress and burnout has been associated with low job satisfaction, reduced emotional wellbeing, and poor student learning outcomes. Prolonged stress is associated with emotion dysregulation and has thus become a focus of stress interventions. This study examines emotional interference effects in a group of teachers suffering from high stress and to explore how individual differences in cognitive control, emotion dysregulation, and emotion recognition related to patterns of neural activation. Forty-nine teachers suffering moderate-high stress participated in an emotional counting Stroop task while their brain activity was imaged using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants viewed general or teacher specific words of either negative or neutral valence and were required to count the number of words on screen. Behavioural and neuroimaging results suggest that teachers are able to control emotional responses to negative stimuli, as no evidence of emotional interference was detected. However, patterns of neural activation revealed early shared engagement of regions involved in cognitive reappraisal during negative task conditions and unique late engagement of the hippocampus only while counting teacher-specific negative words. Further, we identified that greater emotion dysregulation was associated with increased activation of regions involved in cognitive control processes during neutral word trials. Teachers who showed slower emotion recognition performance were also found to have greater activation in regions associated with visual and word processing, specifically during the teacher specific negative word condition of the task. Future research should explore emotion regulation strategy use in teachers and utilise temporally sensitive neuroimaging techniques to further understand these findings.

The Association of Sleep Disturbance and Suicide Risk Among Firefighters: Exploring Emotion Regulation Dimensions

Aim This study explored the extent to which emotion regulation dimensions statistically mediate the association between sleep disturbance and suicide risk among firefighters. Method Participants were 865 firefighters working for a fire department in an urban area in the southern U.S. Bootstrapping was used to test the indirect effects of sleep disturbance on suicide risk through emotion regulation dimensions, after controlling for depression and trauma exposure Results The effect of sleep disturbance on suicide risk was significantly statistically mediated by emotion regulation difficulties (β= .09, SE = .02, 95% CI: .05, .14). Moreover, each of the five dimensions of emotion regulation difficulties significantly statistically mediated this association, with difficulties in engaging in goal-direct behavior (β = .09, SE = .02, 95% CI: .05, .14) and lack of strategies to reduce distress demonstrating the strongest indirect effects (β = .07, SE = .02, 95% CI: .04, .11), after accounting for depression and trauma exposure. Conclusion Results suggest that suicide interventions for firefighters who suffer from sleep disturbance should focus on the development of emotion regulation strategies.

Exploring Emotion Regulation and Perceived Control as Antecedents of Anxiety and Its Consequences During Covid-19 Full Remote Learning.

Maintaining the emotional well-being of learners during a pandemic is important. This study explored the effects of two emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) and perceived control on full remote learners' anxiety during Covid-19, and their relationship to perceived learning. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze 239 questionnaires completed by Chinese graduate students taking a course remotely from home for 13 weeks. This study showed that reappraisal was positively related to perceived control, whereas suppression was negatively related to perceived control. Reappraisers perceived more learning, whereas suppressors experienced more anxiety. Anxiety was significantly and negatively related to perceived learning. Mediation analyses showed the existence of different patterns of mediation in the pathways from the two types of emotion regulation to perceived learning. These findings are discussed in relation to relevant studies conducted during non-pandemic periods and Covid-19, and based on the results we highlight the need for interventions aimed at developing adaptive emotion regulation strategies and reducing anxiety in emergency remote learning.

Self-Distancing as a Strategy to Regulate Affect and Aggressive Behavior in Athletes: An Experimental Approach to Explore Emotion Regulation in the Laboratory.

Self-regulation, especially the regulation of emotion, is an important component of athletic performance. In our study, we tested the effect of a self-distancing strategy on athletes’ performance in an aggression-inducing experimental task in the laboratory. To this end, we modified an established paradigm of interpersonal provocation [Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP)], which has the potential to complement field studies in order to increase our understanding of effective emotion regulation of athletes in critical situations in competitions. In our experimental setting, we first tested the applicability of the self-distancing perspective and the athletes’ ability to dynamically adapt besides the self-distanced perspective a self-immersed perspective to provocation in the TAP. Secondly, we investigated how this altered perspective modulated regulatory abilities of negative affectivity, anger, and aggression. The experiment consisted of two conditions in which the participant adopted either a self-immersed or a self-distanced perspective. Forty athletes (female: 23; male: 17) from different team (n = 27) and individual sports (n = 13) with a mean age of 23.83 years (SD = 3.41) competed individually in a reaction-time task against a (fictitious) opponent. Results show that athletes are equally able to adopt both perspectives. In addition, within-person analyses indicate that self-distancing decreased aggressive behavior and negative affect compared to the self-immersed perspective. Our results suggest that self-distancing modulates different levels of athletes’ experience (i.e., affect and anger) and behavior. Furthermore, this demonstrates the feasibility of testing self-regulation of emotion in athletes in a laboratory setting and allows for further application in research in sports and exercise psychology.

Exploring Emotion Regulation in Counselors’ Management of Attraction to Clients

ABSTRACT Recent reports from malpractice insurance providers indicate an increase in the frequency of sexual misconduct among practicing counselors. This qualitative content analysis of practicing counselor survey responses (n = 67) examines reported experiences regarding sexual attraction to clients and related coping strategies. Findings suggest the importance of counselors’ emotion regulation in refraining from temptation to act on attraction. The authors propose increased discussion of emotion regulation and sexual attraction to clients in counselor training programs as well as during supervision.

Exploring emotion regulation as a mediator of the relationship between resilience and distress in cancer.

Distress in patients with cancer is a significant problem that affects up to 32% of patients. Yet research indicates that 35% of cancer patients do maintain high levels of well-being. Resilience is one psychological factor implicated as being protective against distress; however, the mechanisms for this relationship are currently unknown. The present study aimed to explore emotion regulation as a potential mediator of the relationship between resilience and distress. A cross-sectional survey examining emotional regulation, resilience, and distress was completed by 227 patients from two hospitals with heterogeneous cancer types. Measures included the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale. Difficulties in emotion regulation and resilience explained 33.2% of the variance in distress. Resilience had a significant direct effect on distress, accounting for 15.8% of the variance. However, this effect was no longer significant when difficulties in emotion regulation were controlled for. The indirect effect through difficulties in emotion regulation was significant, b=0.009, 95% CI [-0.013,-0.007], suggesting that the effect of resilience on distress was fully mediated by emotion regulation. Parallel mediation analyses also examined the differential effects of the six DERS subscales on the relationship between resilience and distress. These findings suggest that emotion regulation is an important mediator of resilience in cancer. Hence, in patients with cancer, difficulties in emotion regulation (and the DERS specifically) might be a useful focus for screening for patients at risk of distress.

Exploring emotion regulation and emotion recognition in people with presymptomatic Huntington's disease: The role of emotional awareness

Interest in the role of both emotion regulation and recognition in our understanding of mental health has been steadily increasing, especially in people with chronic illness who also have psychological difficulties. One illness which belongs to this category is Huntington's disease. Huntington's disease (HD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder that can cause a number of cognitive and psychological difficulties, including emotion recognition deficits, even before the onset of the symptoms required to make a formal diagnosis. Despite the lack of definite evidence, recent studies have suggested that deficits of emotion regulation and recognition may be expected to play a pivotal role in the early cognitive manifestations of HD.In this study, we hypothesised that the ability to regulate emotions can be impaired in people with presymptomatic HD, and that such impairment may be associated with a deficit of emotion recognition. To test this, an online survey was carried out with 117 English and Italian-speaking people with presymptomatic HD, compared to 217 controls matched for age and education.The results suggest that, in presymptomatic participants, emotion regulation and emotion recognition are generally not significantly impaired, and no significant relationships between performances on the two constructs were observed. However, a specific impairment in emotional awareness (a subscale on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, DERS) was observed, which appears to be enhanced by the co-occurrence of depressive symptoms, even at a subclinical level. Consequently, it is suggested that difficulties in emotional awareness may represent a precursor of more general emotion recognition impairments, which only become apparent as the disease reaches a more symptomatic level. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are proposed.

7.5 Exploring Late Positive Potential and Emotion Regulation in Youth With Bipolar Disorder

7.5 Exploring Late Positive Potential and Emotion Regulation in Youth With Bipolar Disorder