Maladaptive Emotion Research Articles

Tolerance of Uncontrollability and Psychopathology: The Role of Maladaptive Emotion Regulation

Tolerance of Uncontrollability and Psychopathology: The Role of Maladaptive Emotion Regulation

How to judge emotions? Measuring moral emotions of lawyers in a retrospective situation

This study examined legal practitioners' emotion regulation strategies and subjective moral emotions related to legal cases they handle. Forty-two participants recalled a civil law case and the emotions they experienced while handling the case. They completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire to identify emotion regulation strategies they usually use. Results showed that attorneys often experienced anger and empathy and used strategies that tend to be adaptive across a wide range of contexts. There was a moderate positive correlation between Anger and Positive Refocusing, Contempt and Other-Blame, Guilt and Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and the Difference between parties’ agreeableness (understood as how sympathetic they seemed) and Anger. As the experience of negative emotions paired with maladaptive emotion regulation techniques might be associated with negative consequences both for the self and for the relationship with clients, the present study suggests that adding emotion regulation into legal curricula is crucial.

Emotion regulation mediates the relation between intolerance of uncertainty and emotion difficulties: A longitudinal investigation.

Intolerance of uncertainty has been proposed as a transdiagnostic factor in emotional disorders. Despite comprehensive empirical evidence demonstrating the association between intolerance of uncertainty and emotional disorders, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Drawing on theoretical frameworks and empirical studies, the current study proposed that emotion regulation emerges as a potential mechanism. We explored the connections among intolerance of uncertainty, eight emotion regulation strategies (both adaptive and maladaptive), and emotional difficulties (specifically anxiety and depression) using a three-wave longitudinal approach (N = 341). Our findings revealed that heightened intolerance of uncertainty predicted increased anxiety but not depression over time. Greater intolerance of uncertainty significantly predicted elevated levels of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies including experiential avoidance, thought suppression, rumination, and reassurance-seeking. Adaptive strategies (i.e., mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, problem-solving) predicted lower anxiety and/or depression whereas maladaptive emotion regulation strategy rumination predicted greater levels of anxiety and depression. Surprisingly, thought suppression predicted lower levels of anxiety and depression. More importantly, our analysis showed that both rumination and thought suppression served as significant mediators in the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and both anxiety and depression. These results hold implications for future interventions, emphasising rumination and thought suppression as potential targets for interventions aimed at alleviating emotional difficulties in individuals with intolerance of uncertainty.

Sexual Victimization History and Emotion Regulation in Daily Life: A Role for Stress Sensitization.

Relative to other types of traumatic experiences, a lifetime history of sexual violence (SV) has been linked with more persistent and severe mental health outcomes, but the reasons for this discrepancy have not been clearly established. Stress sensitization, or the amplification of responses to daily stressors as a function of trauma history, offers one possible explanation. Using ecological momentary assessment, the current study tested stress sensitization effects in daily life for individuals with a history of SV, focusing on emotion regulation as an outcome. Smartphone surveys were delivered four times per day over a 2-week period to assess relationships between prior SV exposure, daily stressors, and emotion regulation in an undergraduate sample (N = 122). As expected, individuals with lifetime exposure to SV evidenced increased emotion dysregulation and maladaptive emotion regulation in response to daily stressors relative to nonexposed peers, even after accounting for cumulative trauma. However, the SV and non-SV groups did not differ significantly on state adaptive emotion regulation. Instead, experiencing daily stressors was associated with increased adaptive emotion regulation for individuals in both groups. Broadly, results suggest that SV is uniquely associated with increased sensitivity to daily stressors, manifested as emotion dysregulation and use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies to regulate emotions. These findings are consistent with emerging research on the neurobiology of trauma and with an emphasis on emotion regulation skills in leading interventions for SV-exposed individuals. Stress sensitization warrants additional attention as a factor linking SV and mental health problems.

Suicidal Ideation as a Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Strategy: Implications for Treatment in Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a leading psychotherapy for the reduction of suicidal and self-injurious behaviors (SIBs). However, evidence shows that DBT may be comparably less effective at reducing suicidal ideation (SI) than SIBs. Improving the effectiveness of DBT for SI is critical, given that SI poses risk for SIBs and presents a substantial clinical burden. In the following theoretical paper, we first review evidence surrounding the effectiveness of DBT for SI reduction and explore why DBT may be comparably less effective at reducing SI than SIBs. We argue that DBT’s effectiveness for treating SI may be enhanced by a functional understanding of SI as a maladaptive form of affect regulation, as put forth by recent empirical research. Finally, we discuss implications of this model for treatment in DBT and provide clinical recommendations for how to target SI more effectively using DBT’s existing repertoire for behavior change.

Verbal Weight-Related Abuse and Binge Eating Behavior: The Mediating Role of Attentional Bias to Threat Cues and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation.

Previous studies investigated the impact of weight-related abuse (WRA) on eating pathology. However, the circumstances of such an effect are still unclear. Our study aimed to examine the relationship between verbal WRA and binge eating (BE) behavior via attentional bias (AB) to threat cues and difficulties in emotion regulation. We conducted a parallel mediation model. On the basis of the purposive sampling method, 183 individuals with obesity and overweight (70.5% female and 28.4% male; Meanage=32.78), from February to June 2019, were recruited from a nutrition clinic in Tehran. The participants completed the BE scale (BES), the weight-related abuse questionnaire (WRAQ), the difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS), and the dot probe task (DPT). AB to threat cues had a significantly negative association with verbal WRA and BE. Difficulties in emotion regulation showed a significant positive association with verbal WRA and BE. The parallel mediation model showed a direct effect of verbal WRA on BE. Moreover, the bootstrap analysis revealed that difficulties in emotion regulation could mediate the association between verbal WRA and BE. Our findings suggest that experiences of verbal WRA can contribute to cognitive bias to negative emotion, maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and behavioral problems like BE.

The Impact of Maladaptive Emotion Regulation in Early Adolescence on the Quality of Peer Relationships: The Buffering Effect of Perceived Social Support

The Impact of Maladaptive Emotion Regulation in Early Adolescence on the Quality of Peer Relationships: The Buffering Effect of Perceived Social Support

Examining the association among adolescents' emotional clarity, emotion differentiation, and the regulation of negative and positive affect using a daily diary approach.

Emotional clarity and emotion differentiation (ED) are two core aspects of the application of emotional knowledge. During adolescence, novel emotional experiences result in temporary decreases of differentiation and clarity. These temporary difficulties might profoundly impact choices of regulatory strategies. And indeed, prior research has shown that lower emotional clarity and emotion differentiation are each associated with higher use of putatively maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in youth. The two constructs, however, are rarely examined together, and it remains unclear how they are associated in daily life, particularly in children and adolescents. In addition, previous studies have focused on the regulation of negative but not positive affect. To address these gaps, the present study used an intensive longitudinal design in youth. Between June 2021 and March 2022, 172 children and adolescents (M = 12.99 years) completed a 28-day diary (> 3,500 entries in total) reporting daily affect, emotional clarity, and the use of five emotion regulation strategies in response to negative and positive affect (i.e., rumination, dampening, behavioral avoidance, negative and positive suppression). As predicted, on both between- and within-person levels, higher emotional clarity was associated with decreased use of all maladaptive emotion regulation strategies after adjusting for mean affect intensity. Results for emotion differentiation were mostly nonsignificant. Only higher daily positive emotion differentiation was associated with decreased rumination. In sum, this innovative study explores multiple aspects of emotional knowledge usage and regulation during a critical developmental stage and emphasizes the role of emotional clarity in the regulation of negative and positive affect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The influence of an emotion regulation intervention on challenges in emotion regulation and cognitive strategies in patients with depression

BackgroundPatients with depression struggle with significant emotion regulation difficulties, which adversely affect their psychological well-being and hinder recovery. Traditional therapeutic approaches often fail to adequately address these challenges, leading to a persistent gap in effective mental health care. This research seeks to address this gap by investigating the impact of emotion regulation skills training on patients with depression.AimTo assess the difficulties in emotion regulation among patients with depression and evaluate the impact of an emotion regulation skills training intervention on those with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties, specifically focusing on increasing the use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies and reducing the use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies.MethodA quasi-experimental research design was utilized, using three tools: a socio-demographic and Clinical Data structured interview schedule, Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale, and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Eighty patients with depression were recruited to assess those with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties; out of those with greater difficulties, 30 patients were chosen to participate in the emotion regulation skills training intervention.ResultThe 80 studied subjects' emotion regulation difficulties scores ranged from 158 to 169 (164.5 ± 3.21), and they indicated less use of adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and more use of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (56.07 ± 2.67). Regarding the intervention group, the overall mean score of the 30 patients’ emotion regulation difficulties decreased from 167.35 ± 2.21 pre-intervention to 105.85 ± 3.33 post-intervention (p < 0.0001). Cognitive emotion regulation total scores improved markedly from 54.07 ± 1.66 to 35.2 ± 3.46 (p < 0.01).ImplicationHealthcare providers should routinely assess emotion regulation difficulties in patients with depression and integrate personalized treatment plans that target individual emotion regulation difficulties.ConclusionThe findings suggest that the emotion regulation intervention has the potential to improve emotion regulation difficulties and cognitive emotion regulation strategies among patients with depression.

The impact of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on math and science anxieties with or without controlling general anxiety

It is well-established that general anxiety associates with the lower use of adaptive emotion regulation and the higher use of maladaptive emotion regulation. However, no study has previously investigated the impact of cognitive emotion regulation on academic anxieties. Using a sample of secondary school students (N = 391), this study examined the impact of cognitive emotion regulation on math and science anxieties. Math anxiety showed stronger correlations with adaptive than maladaptive emotion regulation, whereas general anxiety showed stronger correlations with maladaptive than adaptive emotion regulation. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that math anxiety was associated with the high uses of acceptance, rumination and other-blame and the low uses of positive reappraisal and putting into perspective. However, with controlling science and general anxieties, math anxiety was associated with the high use of rumination and the low use of positive reappraisal. In contrast, science anxiety was associated with the high uses of acceptance and other-blame and the low use of positive reappraisal. Importantly, however, with controlling math and general anxieties, those science anxiety associations did not remain. Accordingly, these results might provide important insights for the specificity, etiology, and intervention of math anxiety.

The moderating role of catastrophizing in day-to-day dynamic stress and depressive symptoms.

The way individuals handle daily stressors can significantly influence their mental health. Those who struggle with emotion regulation are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of stress. This study explored the role of catastrophizing, a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy, in shaping the relationships between daily stress responses and depressive symptoms. A total of 75 healthy college students participated in the study. We adopted an Ecological Momentary Assessment protocol over 14 consecutive days to capture the day-to-day dynamics of stress reactivity and recovery. Our findings indicate that individuals with higher levels of catastrophizing exhibited increased daily stress reactivity and delayed daily stress recovery, consequently raising their likelihood of experiencing amplified depressive symptoms. In contrast, those with lower levels of catastrophizing did not experience the same negative effects of increased daily stress reactivity on their mental health. These results enhance understanding of how real-life stressors contribute to the development of mental health issues and underscore the importance of adaptive emotion regulation for improved overall health and well-being.

Explaining the negative effects of workplace incivility on family lives: a moderated mediation model of surface acting and resource-providing variables.

The effects of workplace incivility have been understudied in educational settings. To expand incivility research to educational professions, the present research investigates whether, how, and when workplace incivility deriving from different sources (coworkers, supervisors, and outsiders) is related to work-to-family interference (WFI) of preschool teachers. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the present study proposes that workplace incivility and subsequent maladaptive emotion labor strategies (i.e., surface acting) jointly create a resource-depletion mechanism contributing to elevated WFI and two resource-providing variables (supervisor work-family support and psychological detachment after hours) function as potential mitigating factors to break the resource-depletion mechanism. This study used a female-dominated sample (i.e., preschool teachers) found that workplace incivility from insiders (supervisors and coworkers respectively) and external stakeholders (child's family members) all positively linked to WFI, and surface acting mediated these relationships. Moreover, moderated mediation analyses indicated that psychological detachment buffered the mediated effect of surface acting on WFI, whereas supervisor work-family support did not. Findings deepen the understanding of why and when workplace incivility influences employees' family lives, as well as point to future intervention strategies.

Impact of Childhood Maltreatment on Cognitive Function and Its Relationship With Emotion Regulation in Young Adults.

Childhood maltreatment can negatively impact cognitive development, including executive function, working memory, and processing speed. This study investigated the impact of childhood maltreatment on cognitive function in young adults using various measurements, including computerized tests, and their relationship with emotional dysregulation. We recruited 149 healthy individuals with and without maltreatment experiences and used the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IV (WAIS-IV) and a computerized battery to analyze cognitive function. Both the WAIS-IV and computerized tests revealed that individuals with a history of childhood maltreatment had decreased cognitive function, especially in terms of working memory and processing speed. These individuals tended to employ maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Among cognitive functions, working memory is negatively related to maladaptive emotion regulation strategies such as catastrophizing. This study highlights the effects of childhood maltreatment on cognitive function in young adulthood. Moreover, the study suggests clinical implications of cognitive interventions for improving emotion regulation and cognitive function in individuals with a history of childhood maltreatment.

Emotion Regulation Mediates the Associations of Loneliness and Empathy with Death Anxiety in the Elderly

Introduction: In old age, diseases and frailty can be minimized through proper care and understanding, paving the way for healthy and normative aging. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between loneliness and empathy with death anxiety in the elderly. Methods: This study utilized structural equation modeling. The statistical population included all elderly residents of Ahvaz, Iran, in 2023. Convenient sampling was employed to select 108 elderly individuals. The research instruments included the Death Anxiety Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Pearson correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling were adopted for data analysis. Results: There was a direct relationship between loneliness and adaptive emotion regulation and maladaptive emotion regulation in the elderly. Additionally, there was a direct relationship between empathy and death anxiety, adaptive emotion regulation, and maladaptive emotion regulation. Moreover, a positive relationship was observed between maladaptive emotion regulation and death anxiety, while a negative relationship existed between adaptive emotion regulation and death anxiety in the elderly (p &lt; 0.001). The results revealed an indirect relationship between loneliness and death anxiety mediated by emotion regulation. There was also an indirect relationship between empathy and death anxiety mediated by emotion regulation (p &lt; 0.001). Conclusion: The proposed model exhibited a good fit. Therefore, raising awareness and implementing measures to empower the elderly in emotion regulation concerning the relationship between loneliness and empathy can play a key role in reducing their death anxiety.

The mutual influence of parent-child maladaptive emotion regulation on posttraumatic stress following flood exposure.

Decades of disaster research support the influence parents have on their children's adaptation. Recently, research has shifted to focus on disasters as a whole family experience. Using the actor-partner interdependence model, this study examines maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in parents and children and how these strategies influence their own and one another's posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The present study includes 485 parent-child dyads who experienced the 2015-2016 Texas floods. The majority of parents identified as mothers (66.3%), with a male child (52.8%) whose average age was 13.75 years. Mplus was used to identify the models and evaluate differences between each cognitive emotion regulation strategy across parent-child dyads in the high disaster exposure group compared to all other levels of exposure (other-exposure). Odds ratios examined differences not captured by the actor-partner interdependence model. Support for interdependence was found for the other-exposure group, suggesting parents and children mutually influence each other's PTSS by their own cognitive emotion regulation. No interdependence was found in the high-exposure group. However, high-exposure child actor effects were found for self-blame and other-blame, and child partner effects were only found for self-blame. Parent actor effects were only significant for catastrophizing and parent partner effects for catastrophizing and rumination. Odds ratios for the high-exposure group found that only child self-blame influenced parent PTSS, and only parent rumination and catastrophizing influenced child PTSS. Implications for supporting families after disasters are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

It's a balancing act: The ratio of maladaptive (vs. All) emotion regulation strategies is associated with depression

Research on emotion regulation (ER) has increasingly recognized that people use multiple strategies simultaneously, often referred to as ER repertoire. Prior research found that ER repertoire is associated with psychopathology, but results have been mixed. Indeed, research from recent years suggests that it is the quality of ERs, more than their quantity, that needs to be considered. Based on the combination of the literatures on ER repertoire, polyregulation, and ER flexibility, we propose a novel metric: the ratio of using putatively maladaptive (vs. all) ER strategies. Using this metric, we examine (1) maladaptive ER ratio changes during the transition to adolescence, a developmental period in which the prevalence of depression sharply increases, and (2) whether changes in maladaptive ER ratio are associated with depressive symptoms. One-hundred and thirty-nine youths (baseline age: 8–15) reported ER strategies and depression daily for 21 days. One year later, 115 completed another 28-day daily-diary (Nassessments = 5631). Our results show that almost all youth use at least some maladaptive ERs. Importantly, maladaptive ER ratio decreases over a year of adolescence for most youths. Conversely, an increased maladaptive ER ratio predicted depression increases on the daily and on the yearly level. These results shed light on typical and atypical development of ER flexibility and emphasize the need to consider the balance between ERs in relation to psychopathology.

Association between cognitive rumination and periodontal disease, tooth loss and oral health-related quality of life in a rural Southern Brazil population.

Rumination is a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy. It has been associated with several psychological disorders and physical problems. This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate whether cognitive rumination is associated with periodontal disease (PD), tooth loss (TL), and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). A population-based sample from a rural area in southern Brazil was evaluated. Calibrated examiners carried out a complete periodontal examination at six sites-per-tooth. Rumination and Reflection (RRQ) and Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaires were administered. Regression modeling was used to assess the prevalence ratio (PR) between rumination and PD and to estimate the rate ratio (RR) between rumination and TL and rumination and OHIP. Severe periodontitis prevalence of 33% was observed in the sample. In the Poisson-adjusted model (n = 587), individuals who ruminate more have 27% more periodontal disease (PR: 1.27, 95%CI:1.02 - 1.60). Regarding TL and OHIP, negative binomial regression (n = 672) showed an association with rumination, but it was not significant (RR 1.14, 95%CI 0.99 - 1.31) and (RR 1.20, 95%CI 0.98 - 1.48), respectively. Cognitive rumination was independently associated with periodontal disease in individuals living in a rural area. Borderline non-significant estimates were observed regarding TL and OHRQoL. More research using different populations and focusing on individual's responses to psychological stress may confirm these results. Emotional regulation is crucial to deal with stress, anxiety, and depression. Since psychopathologies are among the most prevalent diseases in the world, it is critical to understand the role of these issues in dental outcomes.

The indirect effects of perfectionism on athletes' self-views through maladaptive emotion regulation.

In general, increased levels of perfectionism have been associated with increased levels of burnout, heightened levels of depression and anxiety, lowered self-esteem, and poorer overall performance, yet perfectionistic strivings within athletes have also been associated with lower burnout and better performance in some contexts. The current study investigated whether emotion regulation strategies would indirectly link perfectionism with self-esteem in young adults who had participated in competitive athletics. Two hundred and fifty-three primarily white (60.0 %), female (83.0 %) undergraduate students who had participated in competitive athletics completed a series of questionnaires including: the Self-liking and Self-Competence Scale - Revised, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the short form of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. The PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to examine the indirect association between perfectionism and self-esteem through emotion regulation. Higher self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism were both indirectly associated with lower self-liking and self-competence through greater catastrophizing and self-blame. For individuals like athletes, who experience internal and external pressures, increased perfectionism may lead to negative self-views through maladaptive emotion regulation. However, longitudinal and experimental work is needed to establish this proposed pattern of relationships.

The structure of emotion regulation strategies among Korean adults

Emotion regulation is a fundamental process that involves monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional responses to achieve personal goals. Recently, a growing body of research has challenged the exclusive focus on individual emotion regulation strategies due to conceptual and empirical overlaps among them. This study explored the higher-order factor structure of emotion regulation strategies within the South Korean cultural context. Through a survey of 450 Korean adults and utilizing exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we examined the structure of emotion regulation strategies. Our results indicate that a four-factor model fit the data best. Regarding maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, our study identified two higher-order factors: disengagement and cognitive perseverance strategies. Notably, we also found two higher-order factors of adaptive strategies in the South Korean context: acceptance-based regulation and effortful cognitive regulation factors. Through the examination of the fitness of the structure of emotion regulation strategies from a Western sample to a South Korean sample, this study adds to the body of research on emotion regulation, highlighting the significance of targeting higher-order emotion regulation factors in cognitive behavioral therapy.

Emotion regulation styles and the tendency to learn from academic failures.

Research on learners' reactions to failure finds negative emotions may present an obstacle for learning; a painful experience of failure may result in disengagement and avoidance. However, research on styles of emotion regulation and learning from failure is scarce. Self-determination theory's (SDT) conception of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation differentiates among three styles of regulation: integrative emotion regulation (IER), suppressive emotion regulation (SER) and amotivated emotion regulation. Two studies were conducted, one cross-sectional and one longitudinal, to test the associations between IER and learning from failure among adolescents. Study 1 comprised 184 adolescents (mean age = 16.55; SD = 1.2). Study 2 comprised 565 adolescents (8-12 graders). The main analysis was based on 192 adolescents' perceptions of failing math grades. Study 1 surveyed adolescents on their emotion regulation styles, adaptive and maladaptive coping practices when dealing with failure and tendency to learn from failure. Study 2 was longitudinal and focused on failure in math. We approached participants twice, before and after the math test. In both studies, IER was related to adaptive coping practices and the tendency to learn from failure. In Study 2, adaptive coping practices mediated relations between IER and learning from failure in math and learning from failure mediated relations between IER and future engagement. These findings suggest that styles of emotion regulation play an important role in learning from failure.