Facets Of Emotion Dysregulation Research Articles

The role of emotion dysregulation in self-management behaviors among adults with type 2 diabetes.

Suboptimal disease self-management among adults with type 2 diabetes is associated with greater risk of diabetes related health complications and mortality. Emotional distress has been linked with poor diabetes self-management; however, few studies have examined the role of emotion dysregulation in diabetes management. The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between different facets of emotion dysregulation and diabetes self-management behaviors among a sample of 373 adults with type 2 diabetes. Separate median regression and binary logistic regression models were used to examine the association of emotion dysregulation facets and each diabetes self-care behavior (i.e., medication nonadherence, diet, exercise, self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), foot care, and smoking). Generally, greater difficulties in emotion regulation were associated with poorer self-management behaviors. However, several facets of emotion dysregulation were linked with better self-management behaviors. Addressing emotion dysregulation among adults with type 2 diabetes has the potential to improve diabetes related self-management.

The role of specific emotion dysregulation facets in the association between child violence exposure and psychopathology.

African Americans living in low-income urban environments are disproportionately exposed to violence compared to other racial groups. Child exposure to community violence is linked to adverse psychological outcomes, including externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Emotion dysregulation may be one psychological process through which externalizing and internalizing behaviors develop in the context of childhood violence exposure. However, limited research exists on how different aspects of emotion dysregulation are affected by community violence exposure in children. The present study examined whether violence exposure was indirectly associated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors via facets of emotion dysregulation in a sample of 94 African American mother-child dyads. Mothers and children completed measures to assess child community violence exposure, externalizing and internalizing behaviors, and emotion dysregulation (anger, sadness, and worry dysregulation). Results indicated that maternal report of child community violence exposure was indirectly associated with externalizing behaviors via anger dysregulation and internalizing behaviors via worry dysregulation. Child report of community violence exposure was also indirectly associated with externalizing behavior via anger dysregulation; however, there were no significant associations with internalizing behavior. These findings suggest that certain components of emotion dysregulation serve as an indirect pathway of influence for community violence exposure on child behavior, and the pathways differ between externalizing and internalizing behavior outcomes. Emotion dysregulation may serve as an important potential treatment target in reducing long-term risks associated with violence exposure in urban communities of color. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Facets of emotion dysregulation differentially predict depression and PTSD symptom severity following traumatic injury

ABSTRACT Background: Emotion dysregulation is a hallmark characteristic of psychopathology following trauma. Yet, emotion dysregulation is multifaceted, and little is known about which aspects of emotion dysregulation predict depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity following traumatic injury. Objective: The aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate how facets of dysregulation differentially predicted the severity of PTSD symptom clusters and depressive symptoms six months after a traumatic injury requiring medical treatment. Methods: Traumatically injured adults (N = 99) presenting to a Level 1 trauma centre completed a measure of emotion dysregulation 2 weeks post-injury, and PTSD and depression were assessed at 2-weeks and 6 months later. Results: Using stepwise regressions controlling for baseline symptoms, age, gender, race, and injury severity, results showed baseline emotion dysregulation significantly predicted the four symptom clusters of PTSD 6 months post-injury. Notably, hyperarousal symptoms and negative alterations in mood and cognition were predicted by a lack of clarity. On the other hand, depressive symptoms were significantly predicted by difficulty accessing emotion regulation strategies. Conclusion: Results highlight that specific facets of emotion dysregulation predict PTSD and depression symptom severity differentially after injury. Indeed, lack of emotional clarity appears to predict PTSD symptomatology, suggesting a potential mechanism driving worsening symptoms. Lack of clarity could also be detrimental to engagement in PTSD treatment. Conversely, lack of regulation strategies may represent a sense of helplessness in managing depression after trauma. As such, future research should elucidate whether interventions targeting aspects of emotion dysregulation based on symptom presentations are useful in treating PTSD and depression following injury.

Emotion Dysregulation and Substance Use Risk and Protective Factors among Veterans in Residential Treatment

Background: Substance use disorders (SUDs) are frequent concerns among healthcare providers serving military personnel and Veterans, and SUDs are also associated with high healthcare utilization. Problematic substance use is consistently associated with deficits in emotion regulation, and changes in emotional regulatory processes may be important factors during treatment and recovery. Methods: The present study examined emotion regulation and substance use risk and protective factors among Veterans seeking residential treatment for SUD within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Data were collected from 138 Veterans at pre-treatment and post-treatment to examine if changes in emotion regulation were associated with post-treatment outcomes. Results: Results indicated difficulties with emotion dysregulation at discharge predicted substance use risk factors, but not substance use protective factors, after controlling for scores at intake. Emotion regulation significantly improved throughout the course of treatment. Facets of emotion dysregulation at post-treatment, specifically difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, lower emotional clarity, lower emotional awareness, and more impulse control difficulties, predicted future admission to withdrawal management services, but not future mental health engagement, mortality, or resumed use (positive urine drug screen). Conclusions: Emotion regulation skills may be valuable treatment components, as they are related to reduced substance use risk factors; however, the results of improved emotion regulation were mixed for other measures of treatment outcome.

The unique relationship between childhood sexual abuse, self‐injury and suicide ideation: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation

AbstractChild sexual abuse (CSA) has serious short‐term and long‐term effects, including non‐suicidal self‐injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation (SI). One possible thread linking CSA to NSSI and suicide risk is emotion dysregulation. The current study assessed whether facets of emotion dysregulation mediated relations of NSSI behaviours and functions, and SI. Participants (N = 121; Mean age = 18.69, age‐range 18–22; 78 per cent female), college students with a history of childhood trauma, completed an online survey. Results indicated that facets of emotion dysregulation (i.e. clarity, non‐acceptance) mediated the relationship between CSA and SI. CSA was associated with automatic negative reinforcement, social negative and social positive reinforcement NSSI functions, but was not associated with NSSI behaviours. Emotion dysregulation facets did not mediate the relationship between CSA and NSSI functions. Findings highlight the need to help CSA survivors have clarity and acceptance of emotional experiences to reduce SI risk.This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not‐for‐profit sectors.

0244 Associations among pre-sleep arousal, facets of emotion dysregulation, and sleep quality and efficiency during pregnancy

Abstract Introduction Pre-sleep arousal contributes to over 50% of pregnant people experiencing poor sleep quality and clinical insomnia. Given that poor sleep during pregnancy is associated with depression and suicide ideation, there is a critical need to identify intervention targets, such as difficulties with emotion regulation. However, emotion dysregulation is multifaceted and warrants further investigation in sleep research, particularly during pregnancy. Thus, the present study examined associations among pre-sleep arousal, various dimensions of emotion dysregulation, and sleep outcomes during pregnancy. Methods Participants (N = 62; Mage = 29.89, SD = 4.19 years) were recruited during pregnancy and enrolled to represent a range of scores on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. For 7 days during the 3rd trimester, they wore CamNtech MotionWatch-8 wrist actigraphs and completed the Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale and Consensus Sleep Diary. Results Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that high pre-sleep arousal predicted low sleep efficiency (measured via actigraphy) above and beyond facets of emotion dysregulation (B = -.316, p = .026). High pre-sleep arousal also predicted poor sleep quality (measured via diary) above and beyond total emotion dysregulation (B = -.038, p = .010). However, an interaction emerged between pre-sleep arousal and one particular facet of emotion dysregulation: access to emotion regulation strategies (B = -.005, p = .023). Specifically, high pre-sleep arousal was associated with poor sleep quality only among those who reported limited abilities to use emotion regulation strategies. Among participants who reported that they could access effective emotion regulation strategies, pre-sleep arousal did not predict sleep quality. Conclusion This study indicates that high pre-sleep arousal may not always be associated with poor sleep quality during pregnancy. Equipping pregnant people with emotion regulation strategies may buffer this association and promote long-term health. It is recommended that perinatal sleep scientists continue investigating relations between facets of emotion dysregulation and sleep. Support (If Any) This project was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under Awards R01MH119070 (MPIs Crowell & Conradt) and F31MH124275 (PI Kaliush). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIMH.

Emotion dysregulation across the span of eating disorder symptoms: Findings from a community sample of adolescents.

Emotion dysregulation is proposed as a key factor within eating disorder pathology. However, less is known about specific emotion regulation difficulties experienced by adolescents with varying levels of eating disorders symptoms. The present study examined the relationship between eating disorder behaviors and specific facets of emotion dysregulation, and differences in emotion dysregulation between eating disorder diagnostic groups. Participants were 2,783 adolescents, 11-19 years (M=14 years, 9months, SD=1year, 6months), who completed self-report measures as part of the EveryBODY study. Adolescents were identified as not having eating disorder symptoms (n=2,122) or meeting diagnostic criteria for symptoms of specific eating disorder, including: anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa (n=57), bulimia nervosa (n=136), binge-eating disorder (n=57), other specified feeding or eating disorder characterized by binge eating or purging (n=381), and unspecified feeding or eating disorder (n=30). Binge eating, driven exercise, and fasting were each uniquely associated with emotion dysregulation, whereas purging was not. Similar findings were obtained within specific domains of emotion dysregulation. Findings from diagnostic groups showed a significant main effect of diagnosis on overall emotion dysregulation and most domains of emotion dysregulation. Adolescents with eating disorder symptoms consistently reported higher emotion dysregulation compared to those without these symptoms. Findings indicate that emotion dysregulation is a key factor across eating disorder pathology, and potential treatment target across the spectrum of eating disorder diagnoses in adolescents.

Shame as a Moderator between Emotion Dysregulation and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Severity among Combat Veterans Seeking Residential Treatment

BackgroundGrowing evidence suggests that emotion dysregulation may be predictive of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity, with emotional non-acceptance, lack of counter strategies, impulse control deficits, and lack of emotional awareness all being positive predictors. However, findings have been mixed. This may be due to no previous study examining the association between emotion dysregulation and PTSD severity with shame, a maintaining factor of PTSD, as a potential moderator. MethodsThe present study examined the relationship between emotion dysregulation, shame, and PTSD severity among 78 male combat veterans (mean age = 42.19) upon their admission to a residential combat PTSD program. ResultsResults demonstrated that shame and all facets of emotion dysregulation (except lack of emotional awareness & clarity) were positively associated with PTSD severity. Shame moderated the relationship between lack of emotional awareness and strategies. Among those at or below the sample mean on shame, lack of access to strategies was a positive predictor of PTSD severity. Comparatively, among those with high levels of shame, emotional awareness predicted greater PTSD severity, while among those with low levels of shame, emotional awareness predicted lower PTSD severity. LimitationsLimitations included reliance on self-report questionnaires and an all-male sample. ConclusionsThus, emotion dysregulation may only predict PTSD severity among those reporting lower levels of shame, suggesting the importance of addressing shame as well as emotion dysregulation deficits among those with PTSD. Moreover, emotional awareness may be either a risk or protective factor depending on levels of shame.

Emotion regulation in undergraduate students with posttraumatic stress symptoms: A multimethod study.

Objective: Existing literature suggests strong positive associations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties; however, many of these findings are the result of monomethodological approaches (e.g., self-report questionnaires) versus multimethodological approaches. The current study utilized both self-report questionnaires and an emotion regulation choice paradigm (see Sheppes, Scheibe, Suri, & Gross, 2011) to assess various facets of emotion dysregulation in a sample of trauma-exposed undergraduate students with varying levels of self-reported PTSD symptoms (measured by the PTSD Checklist, fifth edition). Method: Data were collected from 83 students who underwent a laboratory paradigm, followed by completion of numerous self-report measures of emotion regulation (e.g., the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire). Results: Students with probable PTSD (n = 25) exhibited greater emotion dysregulation on self-report measures compared with students with nonprobable PTSD (n = 58; ηp² ranged from .06 to .42). Additionally, results from the emotion regulation choice paradigm suggested that students with probable PTSD were more likely to exhibit regulatory inflexibility compared with students with nonprobable PTSD (ηp² = .05). In other words, students with probable PTSD were less likely to use reappraisal (vs. distraction) to help regulate their emotions in response to low-intensity negative stimuli compared with students with nonprobable PTSD. Conclusions: Students with probable PTSD report greater perceived emotion regulation difficulties on self-report questionnaires as well as greater behavioral regulatory inflexibility during a laboratory paradigm. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

‘Big boys don’t cry’: Examining the indirect pathway of masculinity discrepancy stress and muscle dysmorphia symptomatology through dimensions of emotion dysregulation

Prevailing conceptualizations of muscle dysmorphia (MD) have highlighted the role of adherence to stereotypical ideals of masculinity. In addition, the endorsement of masculine norms has been associated with dysfunctional emotional regulation, itself a correlate of body image psychopathology. Building on this, the present study sought to investigate the indirect relationship between masculinity discrepancy stress (i.e., distress related to one’s perceived discrepancy in masculinity) and MD symptomatology via different facets of emotion dysregulation among adult men. A sample of 391 university and community men aged 18–50 years completed an online survey measuring the aforementioned constructs. A test of parallel indirect pathways revealed that emotion dysregulation, as a unitary construct, accounted for a substantial proportion (29.3 %) of the total association between masculinity discrepancy stress and MD symptomatology. Further, a significant unique indirect pathway was found through the specific emotion dysregulation facet of lack of access to adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Together, these findings suggest that emotion dysregulation is a particularly important construct to consider in understanding the relationship between perceived discrepancies in masculinity and MD symptomatology.

Impulsivity Mediates the Link between Childhood Sexual Abuse and Juvenile Incarceration among Low-Income African American Women

ABSTRACT A history of childhood trauma has been found to have a robust influence on juvenile delinquency, and evidence suggests that childhood sexual abuse is particularly common among female youth involved in the juvenile justice system. The current study sought to investigate impulsivity as a potential mediator of the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and juvenile incarceration amongst a community sample of low-income, urban, African American adult women. Although impulsivity has been studied among justice-involved youth, few studies have examined the influence of impulsivity within the relationship between CSA and juvenile incarceration and no known studies have explored their relationship in community populations of African American women with histories of juvenile incarceration. Results revealed that impulsivity mediated the relationship between CSA and previous juvenile incarceration. As an exploratory analysis, overall emotion dysregulation as well as other facets of emotion dysregulation did not serve as significant mediators in this relationship. These findings suggest that difficulties in impulse control may be one mechanism through which childhood sexual abuse increases risk for juvenile justice system involvement among African American women.

Emotion Regulation Difficulties During and After Partial Hospitalization Treatment Across Eating Disorders

Emotion regulation deficits are associated with eating disorder (ED) symptoms, regardless of eating disorder diagnosis. Thus, recent treatment approaches for EDs, such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), have focused on teaching patients skills to better regulate emotions. The present study examined changes in emotion regulation among adult patients with EDs during DBT-oriented partial hospital treatment, and at follow-up (M[SD] = 309.58[144.59] days from discharge). Exploratory analyses examined associations between changes in emotion regulation and ED symptoms. Patients with anorexia nervosa, restricting (AN-R, n = 77), and binge-eating/purging subtype (AN-BP, n = 46), or bulimia nervosa (BN, n = 118) completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) at admission, discharge, and follow-up. Patients with BN demonstrated significant improvements across all facets of emotion dysregulation from admission to discharge and maintained improvements at follow-up. Although patients with AN-BP demonstrated statistically significant improvements on overall emotion regulation, impulsivity, and acceptance, awareness, and clarity of emotions, from admission to discharge, these improvements were not significant at follow-up. Patients with AN-R demonstrated statistically significant improvements on overall emotion dysregulation from treatment admission to discharge. Changes in emotion regulation were moderately correlated with changes in ED symptoms over time. Results support different trajectories of emotion regulation symptom change in DBT-oriented partial hospital treatment across ED diagnoses, with patients with BN demonstrating the most consistent significant improvements.

Factor Structure and Incremental Validity of the Original and Modified Versions of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale

The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004) is a self-report measure that assesses six facets of emotion dysregulation. A modified version of the DERS (M–DERS) was developed to address psychometric limitations of the original measure (Bardeen, Fergus, Hannan, & Orcutt, 2016). Although the factor structure of the M–DERS (i.e., two models: correlated trait and second-order models) has been supported via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the tenability of a bifactor model of the M–DERS has yet to be examined. Preliminary research suggests that a bifactor model of the M–DERS is tenable. In this study (Ns of 993 and 578), results from a series of CFAs indicated adequate fit of the M–DERS and poor fit of the original DERS across several tested models (e.g., correlated trait, second-order, bifactor). Although a considerable amount of variance was accounted for by the general factor, statistical indexes from the bifactor model supported a multidimensional conceptualization of the M–DERS. The Nonacceptance and Goals subscales evidenced incremental utility, after accounting for the general factor, in predicting general distress (Nonacceptance only) and intolerance of uncertainty. Implications for future use of the DERS and M–DERS are discussed.

Social interaction anxiety and personality traits predicting engagement in health risk sexual behaviors

Individuals with social interaction anxiety, a facet of social anxiety disorder, withdraw from or avoid social encounters and generally avoid risks. However, a subset engages in health risk sexual behavior (HRSB). Because sensation seeking, emotion dysregulation, and impulsivity predict engagement in HRSB among adolescents and young adults, the present study hypothesized that latent classes of social interaction anxiety and these personality traits would differentially predict likelihood of engagement in HRSB. Finite mixture modeling was used to discern four classes: two low social interaction anxiety classes distinguished by facets of emotion dysregulation, positive urgency, and negative urgency (Low SIAS High Urgency and Low SIAS Low Urgency) and two high social interaction anxiety classes distinguished by positive urgency, negative urgency, risk seeking, and facets of emotion dysregulation (High SIAS High Urgency and High SIAS Low Urgency). HRSB were entered into the model as auxiliary distal outcomes. Of importance to this study were findings that the High SIAS High Urgency class was more likely to engage in most identified HRSB than the High SIAS Low Urgency class. This study extends previous findings on the heterogeneity of social interaction anxiety by identifying the effects of social interaction anxiety and personality on engagement in HRSB.

Emotion dysregulation and smoking among treatment-seeking smokers

IntroductionThere has been increased scholarly interest in advancing the study of emotion dysregulation and substance use. However, there is limited study of emotion dysregulation in the context of smoking. The current study examined the emotion dysregulation global construct and sub facets in relation to negative affect reduction expectancies, coping motives, perceived barriers for quitting, and the severity of problems experienced during quit attempts. MethodTreatment seeking smokers (n=469; 48.2% female, Mage=36.59, SD=13.58) enrolled in a smoking cessation trial and completed baseline measures of smoking cognitions and emotion dysregulation. ResultsResults indicated that the emotion dysregulation global score was significantly associated with each of the smoking dependent variables. Additionally, difficulty accessing emotion regulation strategies and difficulty engaging in goal-directed behavior were significantly associated with the dependent variables. ConclusionOverall, this is the first study to evaluate relations between multidimensional facets of emotion dysregulation and clinically relevant smoking variables. Emotion dysregulation may be an important treatment target for changing smoking.

Subjective Social Status and Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms and Disorders among Low Income Latinos in Primary Care: The Role of Emotion Dysregulation

Accumulating evidence suggests that Latinos experience greater anxiety- and depression-related health disparities compared to non-Latino Whites. Perceived social status may help to account for these mental health disparities among Latinos, but the specific mechanisms underlying these relations are still unknown. One possible explanation for this relation is emotion dysregulation. Therefore, the present study sought to test whether emotion dysregulation maintains an explanatory role in the relation between subjective social status and anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders among low income Latinos. Latino adults (N = 383; M age = 38.9 years, SD = 11.4; 86.2% female) were recruited for this study from a primary care health clinic. As hypothesized, there was a statistically significant indirect association of subjective social status via emotion dysregulation in relation to depressive (B = −0.42, Bootstrapped 95% CI [−0.81, −0.08], completely standardized estimate = −0.07), suicidal (B = −0.04, Bootstrapped 95% CI [−0.10, −0.01], completely standardized estimate = −0.04), social anxiety (B = −0.09, Bootstrapped 95% CI [−0.20, −0.02], completely standardized estimate = −0.05), and anxious arousal symptoms (B = −0.13, Bootstrapped 95% CI [−0.28, −0.02], completely standardized estimate = −0.05), as well as number of depressive and anxiety disorder diagnoses (B = −0.03, Bootstrapped 95% CI [−0.05, −0.004], completely standardized estimate = −0.06). Post-hoc tests evaluated indirect associations of subjective social status via specific facets of emotion dysregulation. Overall, the current study found novel empirical evidence for the explanatory role of emotion dysregulation in the associations between subjective social status and anxiety/depressive symptoms and disorders in a sample of economically disadvantaged Latinos. Future work is needed to develop and evaluate targeted interventions that can modify these constructs to offset anxiety/depressive symptoms and disorders among this population.

The Association between Self-Reported Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Heart Rate Variability: The Salient Role of Not Accepting Negative Emotions.

Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with development and maintenance of psychopathology. Typically, features of emotion regulation are assessed with self-report questionnaires. Heart rate variability (HRV) is an objective measure proposed as an index of emotional regulation capacity. A limited number of studies have shown that self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with HRV. However, results from prior studies are inconclusive, and an ecological validation of the association has not yet been tested. Therefore, further exploration of the relation between self-report questionnaires and psychophysiological measures of emotional regulation is needed. The present study investigated the contribution of self-reported emotion regulation difficulties on HRV in a student sample. We expected higher scores on emotion regulation difficulties to be associated with lower vagus-mediated HRV (vmHRV). Sixty-three participants filled out the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and their resting HRV was assessed. In addition, a subsample of participants provided ambulatory 24-h HRV data, in order to ecologically validate the resting data. Correlation analyses indicated that self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation was negatively associated with vmHRV in both resting HRV and 24-h HRV. Specifically, when exploring the contribution of the different facets of emotion dysregulation, the inability to accept negative emotions showed the strongest association with HRV. The results are discussed and need for future research is described.

Facets of emotion dysregulation as mediators of the association between trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms in justice-involved adolescents.

Facets of emotion dysregulation as mediators of the association between trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms in justice-involved adolescents.

Negative Affectivity and Problematic Alcohol Use Among Latinos in Primary Care: The Role of Emotion Dysregulation

Objective: Latinos are the largest and most rapidly growing racial/ethnic group in the United States. In Latino communities, alcohol is the most widely abused substance, yet there is little empirical understanding of the factors underlying problematic alcohol use among Latinos. The current study explored whether negative affectivity exerted an indirect effect via emotion dysregulation in relation to two alcohol-related outcomes. Methods: Participants were 316 Latinos attending a community-based primary care facility (Mage = 39.3, SD = 11.3; 85.4% female; 95.3% first language Spanish), who completed a variety of self-report and interview measures. Mediation analyses evaluated the indirect effect of negative affectivity via emotion dysregulation on problematic drinking and symptoms of alcohol dependence. Results: While there was no direct or total effect of negative affectivity on either alcohol-related outcome, negative affectivity was significantly associated with both problematic alcohol use and symptoms of dependence via emotion dysregulation. Effect sizes were in the medium range, K2 = .09 and .10, respectively. Post-hoc multiple mediation analyses evaluated subfactors of emotion dysregulation as mediators of the negative affectivity–alcohol associations. These results suggested that difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior might be particularly important in explaining the association between negative affectivity and problematic alcohol use/symptoms of dependence. Last, independent mediation analyses evaluated emotion dysregulation subfactors and found that limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies and difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior were, independently, significant mediators for both outcomes. Nonacceptance of emotional responses may also mediate negative affectivity and problematic drinking. Surprisingly, impulse control difficulties was not a significant mediator in any model. Conclusions: These data provide novel insight that among Latinos in primary care, emotion dysregulation is a possible mechanism underlying the indirect relationship between negative affectivity and problematic alcohol use and symptoms of dependence. Results also highlight specific facets of emotion dysregulation as potential targets of intervention. Future research should be longitudinal in nature, be conducted among more representative samples, and utilize measures that will better assess the potential variability in these associations. Results of such work may inform the development of alcohol treatment interventions incorporating the use of adaptive emotion regulation among Latinos in primary care.

Emotion dysregulation facets as mediators of the relationship between PTSD and alcohol misuse

IntroductionPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol misuse, which frequently co-occur among combat veterans, have been linked to emotion dysregulation. Emotion dysregulation may explain the link between PTSD and alcohol misuse, and this investigation tested emotion dysregulation as a mediator of that relationship. MethodCorrelations between PTSD symptoms and cluster symptoms, emotion dysregulation full and subscales, and alcohol misuse were examined in a sample of 139 combat Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn veterans (45% African American; 89% men). Emotion dysregulation full scale and subscales were examined as mediators of the relationship between PTSD symptoms and alcohol misuse for the full sample and men only. ResultsPTSD symptoms and symptom clusters, emotion dysregulation, and alcohol misuse showed positive correlations for the full sample and men only. Neither the full scale of emotion dysregulation nor the facets of emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between PTSD symptoms and alcohol misuse for the full sample; among men, the Impulse Control Difficulties when Upset and Lack of Emotional Clarity subscales were mediators of that relationship. ConclusionsImpulse control difficulties and lack of emotional clarity may play an important role in the link between PTSD and alcohol misuse for male veterans and should be an important target in treatment for individuals with both disorders. Addressing impulse control difficulties and lack of emotional clarity in those with PTSD and alcohol misuse may improve outcomes by helping individuals identify and describe upsetting emotions and develop healthy coping alternatives to alcohol misuse.