Intrapersonal Emotion Regulation Difficulties and Maladaptive Interpersonal Behavior in Adolescence

Psychophysiological stress response, emotion dysregulation and sleep parameters as predictors of psychopathology in adolescents and young adults

BACKGROUND

Increased emotional reactivity to stress, emotional dysregulation and sleep disturbances are interdependent trans-diagnostic processes that are present in internalising disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders. This study investigated which objective and subjective parameters of stress reactivity, sleep and emotional processing would predict symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescents and young adults.

METHODS

Participants were adolescents and young adults between the ages of 14 to 21 (N = 106, 25[24 %] male, M age = 17.93). Heart rate, heart rate variability, and subjective stress levels were measured before, during and after a stress induction using the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Questionnaires on internalising symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and sleep quality were used. For seven consecutive nights, objective sleep parameters were measured with a wearable device.

RESULTS

Heart rate and heart rate variability after (but not during) the stress induction and emotion dysregulation predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms. Lower subjective sleep quality (but not the objective sleep parameters) was associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between sleep quality and depressive symptoms.

LIMITATIONS

A cross-sectional design, no measurement of daily activity or naps, and only self-report measures of depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as emotion dysregulation.

CONCLUSION

The findings of elevated cardiovascular activation after - but not during - the stress induction and emotion dysregulation underlines problems in regulating and recovering from stress as predictors of youth internalising psychopathology. Differences between subjective and objective measures of sleep and stress reactivity suggests a role of cognitive biases in these domains.

Examining Preschoolers' Emotion Regulation Strategies: Psychometric Properties of the Translated Dutch Early Emotion Regulation Behavior Questionnaire (EERBQ-Dutch)

OBJECTIVES

Early difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with psychopathological, broader social, and developmental outcomes, underscoring the need for robust assessment tools at a young age. However, most of the existing instruments for preschoolers measure emotion regulation in general, without focusing on specific emotion regulation strategies. This study addresses a critical gap by validating a Dutch version of the Early Emotion Regulation Behavior Questionnaire (EERBQ), enabling researchers and practitioners to assess preschoolers' emotion regulation strategies in both positive- as well as negative-emotion-eliciting situations outside of laboratory settings.

METHODS

Through a rigorous back-translation process, the parental questionnaire was adapted into Dutch (EERBQ-Dutch) and subsequently validated with a sample of 299 Dutch-speaking caregivers of typically developing 2-7-year-old children. The test underwent psychometric analysis including inter-item correlations, item-total correlations, test-retest reliability, and confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, potential sociodemographic predictors (i.e., age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES)) of specific emotion regulation strategies were investigated.

RESULTS

Psychometric analyses demonstrated strong reliability and validity, and a factor structure consistent with the original English questionnaire. Age and sex were found to be significant predictors of certain emotion regulation strategies, with more proficient use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies over time and girls employing more Verbal Help-Seeking and less Physical Venting and Reactivity compared to boys. SES only contributed to Emotional Reactivity with a higher SES predicting more Reactivity.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings support the EERBQ-Dutch as a reliable and culturally appropriate instrument for assessing early emotion regulation and provide insight into key predictors of emotion regulation strategies.

Regulation Strategies, Contextual Problems, Addictive and Suicidal Behaviors: A Network Perspective with Adolescents

Adolescence is a period marked by challenges, including problems that appear in the adolescent's context. To manage these, adolescents use a series of emotional regulation skills that can be more or less adaptive. Less adaptive regulation is related to problem behaviors such as alcohol abuse, substance addiction, problematic internet use, and/or suicidal behavior. This study employs psychometric networks to analyze the association between these problem behaviors, the existence of contextual problems, and the use of cognitive emotional regulation strategies. We performed this analysis for the total sample: the male sample and the female sample. The total sample consists of 758 participants; 424 females (55.4%) and 341 males (44.6%) between the ages of 12 and 21 years (M age = 15.85; SD = 2311). The results show that less adaptive regulation strategies are the most central node, exhibiting a positive relationship with problem behaviors and contextual problems. In contrast, adaptive regulation strategies are a less influential node. Finally, problem behaviors are related to each other. Differences emerged between the male sample and the female sample. These findings contribute to improving our understanding of the phenomenon as well as to the construction of preventive interventions.

Influence of Childhood Psychological Maltreatment on Peer Attachment Among Chinese Adolescents: The Mediation Effects of Emotion Regulation Strategies

The formation of peer attachment is vitally important for the mental health of adolescents. Additionally, converging evidences show that childhood emotional trauma leads to poor peer attachment during adolescence. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism accounting for the link between early emotional trauma and adolescent peer attachment. Therefore, the present study is intended to examine the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment (CPM) and peer attachment among Chinese adolescents and reveal its underlying mechanism. In total, we collected data from 670 adolescents (36.5% males and 63.5% females, Mage = 16.44 years, SD = 0.78) attending two Chinese high schools. These participants completed measurement scales for CPM (emotional abuse and neglect), peer attachment, and emotion regulation strategies, including cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES). The multiple mediation models showed that emotional neglect negatively predicted adolescent peer attachment but that emotional abuse did not. Furthermore, the two emotion regulation strategies, CR and ES, completely mediated the relationship between emotional abuse and peer attachment and partially mediated the relationship between emotional neglect and peer attachment. These findings extend the existing studies on adolescent peer attachment and elucidate how childhood emotional trauma negatively influences adolescent peer attachment. In addition, the present results provide implications for improving the peer attachment of adolescents. On one hand, appropriate family intervention should be implemented to reduce CPM. On the other hand, schools can focus on improving the peer attachment of adolescents by enhancing their emotion regulation. Specifically, adolescents should be taught how to use adaptive strategies, such as CR, to regulate negative emotions.

Are PID-5 personality traits and self-harm attitudes related? A study on a young adult sample pre-post COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction

Different studies confirm a stronger link between maladaptive personality traits and Non-suicidal Self-injury (NSSI). Additionally, the interest in the relationship between the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and NSSI is growing. The present study aims (a) to investigate differences in personality traits between individuals with NSSI, suicidal ideation, NSSI and suicidal ideation co-occurrence and none; (b) to observe which personality traits predominantly influence the occurrence of self-harm acts; (c) to evaluate the difference in self-harm attitudes pre and post COVID-19 pandemic.

Method

270 (108 males and 162 females) participants aged between 18 and 25 were included in the study. Everyone participated in a clinical interview and completed an assessment consisting of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) and the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), a multiple hierarchical regression analysis, controlling for age and gender and a T-test for independent samples were conducted.

Results

The individuals with the highest levels of negative affectivity, detachment, antagonism, and psychoticism are those who simultaneously present suicidal ideation and NSSI. Moreover, age and detachment predicted higher scores in self-harm attitudes. Our results unexpectedly do not confirm an upward trend of NSSI and suicidal ideation during the pandemic period.

Limitations

The study is cross-sectional, and no causal links can be assumed; the groups involved were not homogeneous for numerosity.

Conclusions

The results testify that the study of maladaptive traits is fundamental to a greater understanding of NSSIs. Working clinically on those could potentially reduce.

Difficulties in interpersonal regulation of emotions (DIRE) questionnaire: Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version and Associations with psychopathological symptoms

The goal of this research was to validate an Italian adaptation of the questionnaire Difficulties in Interpersonal Regulation of Emotions (DIRE) and to investigate its associations with psychopathology. An Italian sample (N = 630) completed the DIRE and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). We tested the factorial structure of the DIRE using explorative and confirmatory factorial analyses; we analysed the convergent validity in terms of zero-order correlations with SCL-90 dimensions; and, we conducted multiple regressions to test the predictivity of DIRE factors on specific SCL-90 dimensions. The Italian DIRE replicated the four-factor structure of the original measure, with two interpersonal (Vent and Reassurance-seek) and two intrapersonal (Accept and Avoid) factors. Interpersonal factors resulted correlated with SCL-90 global indexes of psychopathology. Moreover, specific association between DIRE factors and SCL-90 dimensions were found. The Italian DIRE is a reliable and valid measure to evaluate clinically-relevant forms of emotion dysregulation.

Emotion regulation deficits and depression-related maladaptive interpersonal behaviours

ABSTRACTCoyne's interpersonal theory of depression posits that those with depressive symptoms engage in maladaptive interpersonal behaviours that, although intended to assuage distress, push away social supports and increase depressive symptoms (Coyne, 1976). Excessive reassurance seeking, negative feedback seeking, and conversational self-focus are three behaviours implicated in Coyne's theory, yet their correlates- apart from depressive symptoms- are poorly understood. The current study considered the potential role of intrapersonal emotion regulation deficits as an additional vulnerability factor for these behaviours. Mediation models further tested whether linkages between emotion regulation deficits and maladaptive interpersonal behaviours helped to explain short-term increases in depressive symptoms, as further suggested by theory. Older adolescents (N = 291, M age = 18.9) completed self-report measures of emotion regulation deficits, depressive symptoms, and the three maladaptive interpersonal behaviours during an initial lab visit and again four weeks later. A series of multiple regression models suggested that emotion regulation difficulties are uniquely associated with each of the behaviours over and above the impact of depressive symptoms. Mediation analyses suggested that only excessive reassurance seeking mediated the association between initial emotion regulation deficits and increased depressive symptoms over time. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.