Use Of Regulation Strategies Research Articles

Valuing emotional control in social anxiety disorder: A multimethod study of emotion beliefs and emotion regulation.

This study examines relationships between emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use among people with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and a psychologically healthy control group. Using experience-sampling methodology, we tested group differences in 2 types of emotion beliefs (emotion control values and emotion malleability beliefs) and whether emotion beliefs predicted trait and daily use of cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression. People with SAD endorsed higher emotion control values and lower emotion malleability beliefs than did healthy controls. Across groups, emotion control values were positively associated with suppression (but unrelated to reappraisal), and emotion malleability beliefs were negatively associated with suppression and positively associated with reappraisal. We also addressed 2 exploratory questions related to measurement. First, we examined whether trait and state measures of emotion regulation strategies were related to emotion control values in different ways and found similar associations across measures. Second, we examined whether explicit and implicit measures of emotion control values were related to daily emotion regulation strategy use in different ways-and found that an implicit measure was unrelated to strategy use. Results are discussed in the context of growing research on metaemotions and the measurement of complex features of emotion regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between affective flexibility, spontaneous emotion regulation and the response to induced stress

Effective emotion regulation contributes to adapting well to challenging situations. One of the proposed cognitive mechanisms underlying emotion regulation is cognitive flexibility in processing of affective material (i.e. affective flexibility). We investigated (n = 118) effects of affective flexibility on the response to a stressor and on spontaneous use of ‘adaptive’ and ‘maladaptive’ emotion regulation strategies. Additionally, we examined how emotion regulation influences stress reactivity and recovery. Affective flexibility was measured with a task-switching paradigm in which participants shift attention between affective and non-affective aspects of emotional material. We investigated changes in emotion and heart rate variability to a stress induction. Affective flexibility did not influence the response to stress, but less efficient shifting of attention towards affective aspects of negative information, and more efficient shifting of attention towards non-affective aspects of positive information were related to more use of maladaptive strategies. Emotion regulation strategy use had limited influence on the perceived and actual physiological response to a stress induction, but especially more use of adaptive regulation strategies reduced negative emotional reactivity. Our findings suggest that individual differences in affective flexibility have limited influence on the (acute) response to a stressful event and recovery afterwards, but do influence spontaneous use of emotion regulation strategies.

Reliability and validity of a temporal distancing emotion regulation task in adolescence.

Adopting a temporally distant perspective on stressors, also known as using a temporal distancing emotion regulation strategy, can alleviate distress. Young adults’ ability to adopt a temporal distancing strategy has previously been measured using an experimental temporal distancing task (Ahmed, Somerville, & Sebastian, 2018). In the current study, we evaluate the psychometric properties of this task in younger (N = 345, aged 10–11) and older (N = 99, aged 18–21) adolescents and explore developmental differences in the ability to use temporal distancing to alleviate distress. Participants listened to scenarios and rated negative affect when adopting a distant-future perspective, a near-future perspective, or when reacting naturally. We evaluated the test–retest reliability of the measure in older adolescents and its construct validity in both younger and older adolescents by assessing correlations with self-report measures of emotion regulation strategy use. Our findings broadly replicated those of Ahmed et al. (2018): Adopting distant- and near-future perspectives produced significantly lower self-reported distress relative to reacting naturally, with the distant-future strategy producing the least distress. Older adolescents alleviated their distress more effectively than younger adolescents and reported projecting further into the future. Regulation success scores on the temporal distancing task showed adequate test–retest reliability. However, these scores did not correlate with self-reported habitual use of temporal distancing or reappraisal strategies generally. These findings suggest that the ability to use a temporal distancing strategy for emotion regulation improves during adolescence, but that ability may not be related to habitual use of this strategy.

Expanding context in the role of emotion regulation in mental health: How socioeconomic status (SES) and developmental stage matter.

Reliance on disengagement strategies to manage emotional experiences is associated with higher levels of mental health symptomology. Nascent research suggests, however, that socioeconomic status (SES) may moderate the associations between emotion regulation (ER) strategy use and mental health problems. A handful of studies have been conducted assessing moderators of ER and mental health, but few have examined disengagement and all are cross-sectional. As such, little is known about whether SES influences the association between disengagement use and mental health or whether these associations vary across developmental period. The current study, therefore, examined whether the efficacy of ER during the transition from early adolescence to adulthood is moderated by SES. Participants (n = 341) who were part of a larger, longitudinal study were assessed during early adolescence (Mage = 13), late adolescence (Mage = 17), and adulthood (Mage = 24). SES moderated the association between disengagement use and internalizing symptoms during early adolescence and adulthood, but not late adolescence. SES also moderated the association between disengagement use and externalizing symptoms, but only during early adolescence. In each case the significant adverse association between disengagement and mental health was amplified among those from lower SES backgrounds. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Loneliness and emotion regulation

Loneliness is a risk factor for mental disorders and is a significant and growing public health issue, but to date, loneliness interventions have had limited success. We propose that an emotion regulation perspective might be useful for understanding loneliness and for suggesting new treatment targets. In this study, our aim was to test the basis for this proposal by examining whether individual differences in emotion regulation strategy use can explain significant variance in loneliness, and to establish what profile of strategy use might characterize loneliness. We administered a comprehensive battery of loneliness and emotion regulation questionnaires to 501 adults. In a regression model, emotion regulation strategy use accounted for over half (52.2%) the variance in loneliness. A latent profile analysis revealed four profiles, with the “high loneliness” profile characterized cognitively by greater use of rumination, catastrophising, blame-attribution, and lesser use of cognitive reappraisal type strategies. Behaviorally, loneliness was characterised by greater use of expressive suppression, and regulating emotions by actively rejecting or withdrawing from others. We conclude that individual differences in emotion regulation may play an important role in explaining loneliness, and could therefore represent a promising treatment target.

097 Subjective Sleep Quality is Associated with the Regulation of Positive Emotions

Abstract Introduction Sleep disturbances have been associated with emotion regulation difficulties, which in turn predicts the onset and maintenance of mental health disorders. However, research has primarily focused on the regulation of negative emotions. Associations between sleep and positive emotion regulation strategies are unknown. The current research examined relationships between subjective sleep disturbances (Study 1 and Study 2), objective sleep (Study 2), and positive emotion regulation strategies, including strategies that enhance or maintain positive emotions (i.e., savoring) and strategies that reduce positive emotion (i.e., dampening). Methods In Study 1, participants (N = 388, ages 18–64 years, 65% female) completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Responses to Positive Affect questionnaire to assess their positive emotion regulation strategy use, which consists of three subscales (emotion-focused savoring, self-focused savoring, and dampening). Participants in Study 2 (N = 59, ages 18–30 years, 84% female) completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Responses to Positive Affect questionnaire, and wore an actigraph for one week. Results In Study 1, greater subjective sleep disturbances were associated with increased dampening (β = .45, B = .45, SE = .05, 95% C.I. = .35, .55, p <.001), less emotion-focused savoring (β = -.16, B = -.10, SE = .03, 95% C.I. = -.16, -.04, p <.005) and less self-focused savoring (β = -.16, B = -.08, SE = .03, 95% C.I. = -.13, -.03, p < .05). In Study 2, subjective sleep disturbances were associated with greater dampening (β = .31, B = .70, SE = .32, 95% C.I. = .07, 1.34, p < .05), and marginally less self-focused savoring (β = -.28, B = -.82, SE = .42, 95% C.I. = -1.67, .02, p = .05). Actigraphy-measured sleep was unrelated to positive emotion regulation. All models adjusted for adjusted for age and gender. Conclusion Subjective sleep disturbances are associated with positive emotion regulation strategies, particularly strategies that dampen positive emotional experiences. These findings complement prior associations among sleep and the dysregulation of negative emotions, and suggest that sleep-related positive emotion dysregulation may be one mechanism by which sleep can lead to the development of emotional disorders. Support (if any):

The role of state and trait motivational regulation for procrastinatory behavior in academic contexts: Insights from two diary studies

Academic procrastination can theoretically be conceptualized as a failure in motivational self-regulation. It can be assumed that besides the mere use of motivational regulation strategies, fitting motivational regulation strategies with the current motivational problem can also have beneficial effects on academic procrastination. As both academic procrastination and motivational regulation can be conceptualized as over time fluctuating and situation-specific behaviors, not only trait, but also state fractions of these constructs have to be considered. To elucidate the interrelations between academic procrastinatory behavior and motivational regulation, we therefore examined trait use, state use, trait fit, and state fit of motivational regulation strategies. To test their relevance for academic procrastinatory behavior, we conducted two longitudinal and situation-specific diary studies with 128 and 218 university students. Results of growth curve modeling indicate that academic procrastinatory behavior varies between persons, declines during exam preparation, and can be reduced by using well-fitting motivational regulation strategies. Specifically, both trait and state strategy fit were negatively associated with academic procrastinatory behavior, while mere strategy use was not.

Age and emotion regulation in daily life: Frequency, strategies, tactics, and effectiveness.

Models of aging and emotion hypothesize age differences in emotion regulation-in frequency, use of strategies, and/or effectiveness-but research to date has been mixed. In the current experience sampling study, younger, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 149), were prompted 5 times a day for 10 days to report on both general strategies (e.g., situation selection, cognitive change) and specific tactics. For each of the 5 strategies proposed by Gross's process model, tactics included those that introduced/increased positive aspects, avoided/decreased negative, and engaged with negative. Consistent with socioemotional selectivity theory, older adults reported less contra-hedonic motivation than younger, but this did not necessarily translate into age differences in regulation frequency or strategy use. Across the sample, strong preferences emerged for strategies intervening early in the emotional process and for tactics that introduced/increased positive aspects; a pattern that was even stronger in older adults. Middle-aged people more often avoided and reduced negative situations, whereas younger adults more often (though rarely) sought out or exacerbated negative situations. Effectiveness varied across strategies and tactics, but age differences only emerged for situation selection and reducing negative aspects of the situation (both less effective for older than younger adults). This research highlights the importance of studying how emotion regulation strategies are implemented in real life situations and suggests that age differences in emotion regulation, when they do emerge, may be more a matter of degree than of type. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Age differences in emotion regulation during ongoing affective life: A naturalistic experience sampling study.

A well-documented finding in aging and emotion research is that older adults reliably report less negative and, often, more positive affect than younger adults. How older people accomplish this is, however, an open question. We propose that this age effect is the result of differential use of emotion regulation strategies, especially when affective states call for them. We assessed a wide range of emotion regulation strategies over 2 months of daily life (60 consecutive days, N = 9,089 observations). Sample was composed of N = 153 participants (52% female; 62.09% White, 19.61% Black or African American, 9.80% Asian,1.96% Hispanic or Latino, 1.31% Native American, and 5.23% were missing cases) ranging in age from 18 to 84 years, (M = 45, SD = 20.02). We compare three age groups: young (n = 50, college students, median age of 21 years), middle aged (n = 52, university graduates, median age 44 years), and older (n = 51, university graduates, median age of 68 years). Using mixed model analyses of mood regulation strategy use, we find a main effect for age, negative affect (NA), and an interaction between NA and age, meaning that, in general, older participants' use of emotion regulation strategy was higher with negative affect than for younger participants. In summary, older participants used a wider variety of emotion regulation strategies, and they used them most when their affective states called for them, compared to younger participants. Results are interpreted along the lines of an "older but wiser" perspective on emotional well-being and aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotion regulation and borderline personality features in daily life: The role of social context

BackgroundBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with emotional dysfunction and interpersonal sensitivity. Yet, little work has characterized how BPD features predicts emotional reactivity and emotion regulation behaviors in response to interpersonal stress relative to other forms of stress. MethodsParticipants were 152 university students who completed baseline measures of BPD features and complied with two-week daily diary procedures assessing daily emotion regulation strategy use in response to social and non-social stressors. ResultsGeneralized estimating equations revealed that BPD features predicted greater negative and positive emotions in response to daily stressors, and interacted with type of stressor in predicting urges and behaviors. Elevated BPD features was associated with greater urges for dysfunctional emotion regulatory behaviors and fewer functional emotion regulatory behaviors to a greater extent in response to social (versus non-social) stressors. LimitationsThis study was limited by its focus on past-day retrospective recall. Further, the student sample limits the generalizability of these findings. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that individuals with elevated BPD features may have less functional emotion regulation in social contexts.

Variability in emotion regulation strategy use is negatively associated with depressive symptoms

ABSTRACT Variability in the emotion regulation (ER) strategies one uses throughout daily life has been suggested to reflect adaptive ER ability and to act as a protective factor in mental health. Moreover, psychological inflexibility and persistent negative affect (or affective inertia) are key features of depression and other forms of mental illness and are often further exacerbated by rigid or overly passive regulatory behaviours. The current study investigated the hypothesis that ER variability might serve as a protective factor against depressive symptoms and affective inertia. Using experience-sampling (N = 213), we tested whether two indictors of ER variability (between- and within-strategy SDs) were related to depressive symptoms and affective inertia. We found that people with higher between-strategy variability and within-strategy variability (specifically for reappraisal and distraction) reported fewer depressive symptoms. Both within- and between-strategy variability were negatively related to negative affective inertia. Between-strategy variability and negative affective inertia had unique effects on depression, when used as simultaneous predictors. Altogether, this study provides further evidence for the utility of ER as a factor buffering against depressive symptoms and particularly for the use of variable ER strategies.

Are contextual rather than personal factors at the basis of an anti-school culture? A Bayesian analysis of differences in intelligence, overexcitability, and learning patterns between (former) lower and higher-track students

Research indicates that educational stratification may lead to a lower-track school culture of futility and a less academically-oriented culture among lower-track teachers, leading to both reduced study involvement and lower educational achievement among their students. This study investigated whether an anti-school culture in the lower tracks [in this study, in technical secondary education (TSE; N = 132) in comparison with general secondary education (GSE; N = 356)] has a solid basis that is supported by personal, ontological differences in intelligence and developmental potential [i.e., overexcitability, according to the theory of positive disintegration (TPD)]. In addition, this study examined the consistency of these results with differences in mathematical and verbal achievement, the use of cognitive processing and metacognitive regulation strategies, and study motivation, as well as differences in the influence of personal competence indicators on the learning approach, all suggesting contextual, educational influences. A Bayesian analysis was applied to address the problem of a frequentist approach in complex statistical models. This study does not primarily reveal competence differences between both tracks (as indicated by no substantive differences in overexcitability and intelligence between respectively former GSE and TSE students and GSE and TSE boys), but rather substantial differences in verbal and mathematical performance, as well as regulatory/motivational problems among former TSE students, corroborating to some extent the abovementioned consequences of academic differentiation. The results are further elucidated from the perspective of self-determination theory and the TPD.

The Association Between Vulnerable/Grandiose Narcissism and Emotion Regulation.

Narcissism has been widely discussed in the context of career success and leadership. Besides several adaptive traits, narcissism has been characterized by difficulties in emotion regulation. However, despite its essential role in mental health, there is little research on emotion regulation processes in narcissism. Specifically, the investigation of not only the habitual use of specific regulation strategies but also the actual ability to regulate is needed due to diverging implications for treatment approaches. Thereby it is important to differentiate between vulnerable and grandiose narcissism as these two phenotypes might be related differently to regulation deficits. The aim of this study was to examine the association between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and emotion regulation in healthy individuals (30f/30m) focusing on the strategy reappraisal. Additionally, potential sex effects have been explored. Narcissism was assessed using self-report measures and emotion regulation with self-report questionnaires as well as an experimental regulation task. During this task, participants were presented with pictures of sad/happy faces with the instruction to indicate their subjective emotions via button press. Depending on the condition, participants either indicated their natural response or applied cognitive control strategies to regulate their own subjective emotions. Results indicate no relationship between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and emotion regulation ability, irrespective of sex. Individuals high on vulnerable narcissism use the maladaptive regulation strategy suppression more frequently than individuals with low expressions. Individuals high on grandiose narcissism, in contrast, seem to avoid the suppression of positive emotions and do not express negative emotions in an uncontrolled manner. Interestingly, while grandiose narcissism was not associated with depressive symptoms, vulnerable narcissism correlated positively with depressive symptoms and anhedonia. Findings of this study underline the need to differentiate between grandiose and vulnerable manifestations of narcissism. Against our expectation, narcissism was not related to emotion regulation performance. In line with previous research, grandiose narcissism seems less harmful for mental health, while vulnerable narcissism is associated with psychological problems and the use of rather maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, i.e., suppression. Future research should investigate the relationship between pathological narcissism and emotion regulation also by extending the scope to other relevant regulation strategies.

It Matters! Emotion Regulation Strategy Use Moderates the Relationship Between Abusive Supervision and Supervisor-Directed Deviance

This study examined the moderating effects of cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression, two contrasting and representative emotion regulation strategies, on the abusive supervision - supervisor-directed deviance relationship. We tested the moderation hypotheses with two samples. Sample 1 consisted of a group of 499 English-speaking full-time workers recruited from TurkPrime. Sample 2 included a group of 318 Chinese full-time workers from various organizations. These two samples provided convergent evidence for the moderation effects of both cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression. Specifically, cognitive reappraisal weakened the relationship between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed deviance such that the relationship was weaker among employees with higher than lower cognitive reappraisal. Emotional suppression exaggerated the association between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed deviance such that this association was stronger for employees with higher than lower emotional suppression. Our findings highlight the differential effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression in coping with abusive supervision. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

A Lifespan Perspective on Emotion Regulation Repertoires at the Workplace

Emotion regulation at work has received considerable attention in recent years. According to lifespan-psychological theory and research, aging is associated with improvements in emotion regulation. Nevertheless, results regarding better emotion regulation strategy use with age in the organizational aging literature have been inconsistent. In the present study, we aim to reconcile some of these divergent results by studying emotion regulation strategies at the repertoire level as opposed to investigating the use of single strategies, and by investigating the role of work conditions as contextual affordances of these emotion regulation strategies. Using a sample of 980 participants, we first identified five work-related emotion regulation latent profiles and examined their associations with well-being outcomes. Second, using configural frequency analysis, we found that overall, emotion regulation profiles that were positively associated with well-being were more (less) likely to be afforded in favorable (unfavorable) working conditions, which calls into question the hypothesis of emotion regulation as a buffer to occupational demands. Third, older workers were more likely to be members of emotion regulation profiles that were positively associated with well-being, thereby replicating the older-age advantage in emotion regulation in the work context. Interestingly, older workers’ emotion regulation strategy use seemed more stable across all work contexts than younger workers’ strategy use, which points to the need for more research regarding younger workers’ responses to work conditions. Keywords: Emotion regulation; age; latent profile analysis; well-being; job design

Empathy and stress: the mediating impact of the emotional labor strategies on the example of surgical nurses

The nurse, when performing emotional labor at work, tunes her own emotions to the patient's expectations. The self-regulation strategies which are then used weaken her mental strength and contribute to various symptoms of occupational burnout syndrome (OBS). In addition, certain positive relationships have been found between selected emotional labor strategies and increased work engagement. The skills of empathizing with the patient are the nurse's protective resource. Empathy allows to share emotions with the patient while maintaining the attitude of a neutral observer. It also helps to take actions to reduce pain and suffering, and to build a relationship of mutual trust and cooperation. The purpose of the present study, conducted in a group of surgical nurses in January‒March 2019, was to analyze a theoretical model which assumed the mediating role of emotional labor strategies in the relationship between empathy and OBS. The sample consisted of 84 surgical nurses employed at the University Hospital in Kraków. A cross-sectional design was used with the application of a questionnaire method. In the study, the Polish version of the Link Burnout Questionnaire by Jaworowska was used, together with the Empathy Quotient - short by Jankowiak-Siuda and the Deep Acting and Surface Acting Scale by Finogenow. For the statistical analysis, the IMB SPSS Statistics 24 with Hayes PROCESS version 3.4 was employed. A negative correlation between the level of empathy and the severity of OBS symptoms was confirmed in the study. The use of the surface regulation strategies of emotional labor weakened the protective effect of empathy on burnout. The use of deep action processing strategies of emotional labor supported this relationship. The flexible use of emotional self-regulation strategies by the medical staff deepens their personal contact with the patient, and mediates in the level of empathy and the severity of OBS symptoms. Med Pr. 2020;71(4):461-71.

The interaction of emotion regulation and sleep quality: does social media usage duration play arole?

The bidirectional association of emotion regulation with sleep quality has received increased attentionin recent years. In this research, we investigated the correlation between the habitual use of differentemotion regulation strategies (i.e., Expressive Suppression and Cognitive Reappraisal) and differentcomponents of sleep quality. Considering that previous research revealed that using social mediacould influence emotion regulation and sleep quality in different ways, we controlled for the effectof social media usage duration on the interplay of emotion regulation strategies and sleep qualitycomponents. Our results showed that the habitual use of Cognitive Reappraisal was associated withimproved daytime functioning; while, the tendency to use Expressive Suppression in various situationswas associated with shorter sleep duration. Our findings supported the view that the habitual useof Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression have different well-being consequences. Wealso observed that using any of the strategies was negatively correlated with more frequent use ofsleeping medications. Additionally, we did not observe any correlation between social media usageduration and other variables. We proposed that understanding the role of social media usage onthe interplay between sleep quality and emotion regulation requires a comprehensive evaluation ofindividual differences in using social media as well as a careful analysis of the social media platforms’characteristics.

The influence of academic level and course delivery mode on the use of motivational regulation strategies and learning engagement

Motivational regulation strategies have been used as active forms of promoting motivation in online and classroom learning. Based on the motivational regulation model combining both contextual and individual factors, this study examined how students’ academic levels (undergraduate vs. graduate) and the type of course delivery mode (online vs. traditional face-to-face) influence their uses of eight motivational regulation strategies and three types of engagement. A total of 190 students consisting of 95 undergraduate students and 95 graduate students participated in this study. The results of two-way multivariate analysis of variance show that students use different sets of motivational regulation strategies depending upon their academic levels and course delivery modes. Also, graduate students showed significantly higher engagement in all three types than undergraduate students did. The findings provide practical implications for designing a customised motivational support system with specific sets of motivational regulation strategies for students in different academic levels and course delivery modes.

Exploring the role of EFL learners’ online self-regulation profiles in their social regulation of learning in wiki-supported collaborative reading activities

Previous research indicated that the individual skills that learners bring to the group is critical to the social regulation process in computer-supported collaborative learning activities. However, few studies have explored how students’ self-regulation capacity is related to the occurrence of the social regulation strategies in the learning group. Situated in a wiki-supported collaborative reading situation, this study explored the roles of English language learners’ online self-regulation profiles in their use of social regulation strategies in the collaboration process. The participants of this study were 95 Chinese college students who studied English as a foreign language. The Online Self-regulated English Learning Questionnaire was used to measure the students’ self-regulation strategies, based on which latent profile analysis was adopted to identify the students with similar patterns of self-regulation variables. Content analysis of students’ discussion messages was conducted to analyze their social regulation strategies in collaborative learning, focusing on regulation types (i.e., co-regulation and socially shared regulation) and regulation foci (i.e., task, emotion, and organization). This study identified two distinctive types of online self-regulation profiles, namely, reflection-oriented competent profile and average profile. The results show that, in terms of the types of social regulation, individual students belonging to the reflection-oriented competent profile tended to be more active in initiating and carrying out socially shared regulation strategies. Regarding the social regulation foci, it was found that the learners of reflection-oriented competent profile demonstrated significantly more positive social–emotional regulation strategies. The findings suggest that teachers need to consider students’ online self-regulation profiles when dividing them into small groups to carry out wiki-supported collaborative learning activities.

Sleep Through Toddlerhood: The Distinct Roles of Overall Media Use and Use of Media to Regulate Child Distress.

Excessive media exposure has been associated with various sleep disturbances in early childhood. However, previous research mostly addressed the overall amount of media use while neglecting the role of media use practices. The purpose of this study was to examine whether media use practices (specifically, maternal use of media to regulate child distress) and overall media use predict distinct aspects of children's sleep. We hypothesized that frequent maternal use of media to regulate child distress will predict difficulties in sleep regulation, whereas higher child screen time will predict lower sleep duration. One-hundred fifty-one mothers (predominantly from the United Kingdom) completed anonymous online questionnaires via the Prolific platform that assessed child sleep latency and duration, use of media to regulate child distress, overall child screen time, and demographic covariates at 2 time points: 22 months (T1) and 26 months (T2) of children's age. Maternal use of media to regulate child distress at T1 (but not screen time) predicted longer sleep latency at T2. Conversely, screen time (but not media to regulate distress) at T1 predicted shorter sleep duration at T2. These results were obtained while controlling for multiple covariates and sleep and media use at both time points. Findings suggest that media use practices and overall use have differential effects on sleep. Specifically, the use of media-based regulation strategies may interfere with the development of children's ability to self-soothe and regulate arousal in contexts that require the use of regulatory skills, such as transition to sleep.