Trait self-control: A Process Model perspective

What do self-controlled individuals do that distinguishes them from those who are more impulsive? That is, why are some people better able to align their behavior with personal long-term goals despite alternatives that would be more immediately gratifying? To address this question, we use the Process Model of Self-Control [1], which posits that all impulses are generated via a four-stage, recursive process and can be regulated by intentionally intervening at any of these stages. We suggest that this framework illuminates not only individual states of self-control, but also the diverse ways that stable individual differences in self-control can come about.

Metacognitive knowledge about self-control

Good self-control is highly valuable, but the processes that promote it are not fully understood. This review emphasizes that self-control is "inherently metacognitive" (p. 204, Duckworth et al., 2014) and describes the potential benefits of metacognitive knowledge for self-control. In line with research on metacognition in academic goal pursuit, we elaborate how three distinct types of metacognitive knowledge may aid self-control: strategy knowledge (for example, a repertoire of self-regulatory strategies), task knowledge (for example, understanding self-control demands), and person knowledge (for example, awareness of one's self-control strengths and weaknesses). Additionally, we identify research gaps and suggest that future studies should investigate the development and updating of metacognitive knowledge about self-control and how metacognitive knowledge can prevent individuals from justifying indulgence.

Motivational dynamics of self-control

How people respond to desires varies substantially across time and situations. Building on recent theoretical developments, we propose that motivation plays a central role in the dynamics of self-control as it unfolds across time. We illustrate the role of motivation in self-control by highlighting evidence that pursuing goals for intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) reasons plays a key role in shaping when and how people engage in self-control in service to their goals. We then expand this framework by outlining several promising directions for future research, specifically emphasizing the dynamic interplay between motivation and self-control at various stages in the regulation process. Ultimately, we posit that motivation is a key factor in helping people flexibly regulate desires in accordance with situational demands.

Emotion regulation profiles in Syrian refugees and migrants in Germany: self-efficacy, resilience and well-being comparisons

BACKGROUND

Emotion regulation (ER) plays a central role in psychopathology. Understanding person-centred patterns of ER strategies is crucial for prevention and intervention strategies. However, there is a paucity of research on ER profiles and their psychological correlates in forcibly displaced people (FDP).

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to identify habitual ER profiles and to examine the predictive role of different psychological variables on these profiles in Syrian FDP in Germany.

METHOD

In a sample of 991 individuals, we conducted a latent profile analysis (LPA) to assess habitual reappraisal and suppression of emotion as ER strategies, as well as self-efficacy, resilience, well-being comparisons, trauma exposure and International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms as potential predictors of ER profile membership.

RESULTS

LPA identified four distinct ER profiles: high regulators (12.8%), low regulators (20.6%), reappraisal regulators (25.1%) and suppressive regulators (41.5%). In multinomial regression analysis, self-efficacy, resilience, appetitive well-being comparisons and trauma exposure were significantly associated with profile membership, while PTSD and aversive well-being comparisons showed no significant association. High regulators exhibited the highest levels of self-efficacy, resilience and appetitive well-being comparisons, followed by reappraisal, suppressive and low regulators. Additionally, high regulators reported the highest number of traumatic events, followed by suppressive and low regulators.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate a higher adaptiveness in high regulation ER profiles as opposed to low regulation ER profiles.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Given that most FDP in our sample relied predominantly on one ER strategy, developing interventions that focus on cultivating a broad repertoire of ER strategies may be beneficial.

Practicing mindfulness can foster monitoring and acceptance after experiencing negative affect

Although being mindful, that is, monitoring and accepting one's present feelings, has been shown to be associated with less current negative affect than distraction, acceptance is less endorsed after experiencing negative affect. Thus, acceptance, although effective, may not be endorsed when it is most needed, leading people to endorse other strategies such as distraction instead. In the present study, we examined whether a monitoring and acceptance induction in a laboratory setting (N = 258) and a monitoring and acceptance training in daily life (N = 125) increased acceptance (Study 1) and monitoring (Study 2) after experiencing negative affect. We found this to be the case: While participants in the control condition showed a significant negative association between prior negative affect and subsequent monitoring and acceptance, participants in the monitor and acceptance condition did not. Thus, even brief monitor and acceptance training is well suited to increasing the likelihood that individuals can monitor and accept their thoughts and feelings when confronted with strong emotions.

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.

Emotion Regulation in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Emotion dysregulation is a central process implicated in the genesis and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, past research on OCD has examined emotion regulation with a trait-level approach, thereby neglecting important situational and temporal dynamics. The present study is the first one to examine moment-to-moment emotion regulation in individuals with OCD. A 6-day ecological momentary assessment was used to assess affect, emotion regulation strategies, perceived effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies, and acceptance of emotional experiences in n = 72 individuals with OCD and n = 54 psychologically healthy controls. As expected, individuals with OCD reported more negative and less positive affect. Group differences in positive (but not negative) affect did remain significant when controlling for baseline depression. Furthermore, the OCD group reported to use a higher momentary number of avoidance-oriented regulation strategies and less perceived effectiveness of emotion regulation, even when controlling for current symptoms and negative affect or baseline depression scores. Further, irrespective of group, more momentary negative affect amplified use of avoidance-oriented strategies and diminished perceived effectiveness and emotional acceptance. Contrary to expectations, these effects were not more pronounced in the OCD group. Possible explanations for unexpected findings and implications for future research, particularly regarding more holistic emotion regulation treatments, are discussed.

Coping with emotional dysregulation among young adults with ADHD: A mixed-method study of self-awareness and strategies in daily life

BACKGROUND

Emotional dysregulation (ED) impacts functional outcomes among individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Self-awareness and strategies may enhance coping with ED yet are rarely studied in ADHD.

OBJECTIVES

To explore ED-related self-awareness and strategies in daily life of adults with ADHD, and to examine the interrelations between them and their association with symptoms.

METHODS

Sixty young adults with ADHD participated in a mixed-method study. At baseline, self-awareness and strategies were assessed using the Self-Regulation Skills Interview (SRSI); ADHD symptoms were self-rated using the ASRS symptom checklist. Then, symptoms were rated over 5-days using ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

RESULTS

Significant challenges in self-awareness and strategies were demonstrated quantitatively and qualitatively. Awareness of ED was associated with variability of ADHD symptoms on EMA yet not with symptom severity. Qualitative content analysis revealed a range of self-awareness levels, which were related to noticing ED-related cues and understanding contextual factors predictive of ED. Self-awareness and strategies were significantly associated. Strategies varied regarding effort, individual preference and temporality.

CONCLUSIONS

Variability of ADHD symptoms was negatively associated with self-awareness of ED. Strategy selection in daily-life among adults with ADHD may be affected by self-awareness and by a possible trade-off between short-term effort and long-term effectiveness.

Associations of nature contact with emotional ill-being and well-being: the role of emotion regulation

Nature contact has associations with emotional ill-being and well-being. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not fully understood. We hypothesised that increased adaptive and decreased maladaptive emotion regulation strategies would be a pathway linking nature contact to ill-being and well-being. Using data from a survey of 600 U.S.-based adults administered online in 2022, we conducted structural equation modelling to test our hypotheses. We found that (1) frequency of nature contact was significantly associated with lesser emotional ill-being and greater emotional well-being, (2) effective emotion regulation was significantly associated with lesser emotional ill-being and greater emotional well-being, and (3) the associations of higher frequency of nature contact with these benefits were partly explained via emotion regulation. Moreover, we found a nonlinear relationship for the associations of duration of nature contact with some outcomes, with a rise in benefits up to certain amounts of time, and a levelling off after these points. These findings support and extend previous work that demonstrates that the associations of nature contact with emotional ill-being and well-being may be partly explained by changes in emotion regulation.

The association between negative emotion differentiation and emotion regulation flexibility in daily life

Emotion differentiation emphasises labelling emotional experiences in a precise and context-sensitive way. Negative emotion differentiation (NED) has been found to be associated with mental health, where emotion regulation (ER) may act as a pathway. The current study aims to explore the association between NED and flexible ER implementation in daily life. Specifically, we examined how NED was associated with two aspects of ER flexibility: contextual synchrony and temporal ER variability. 101 college students (54% female; Mage = 20.24 years) reported their momentary emotions via a 7-day experience sampling protocol, and the intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated to reflect NED. In 10-day daily diaries, they also reported information about the most negative event during the day (i.e. event type, event intensity and ER goal) and how they regulated their emotions. The results revealed that individuals with high NED showed higher levels of synchrony between change in ER use and change in event type and ER goal. In addition, NED was positively associated with both within- and between-strategy variability in ER use. The results demonstrated that the ability to differentiate between negative emotions was related to higher ER flexibility, which shed new light on understanding the role of emotion differentiation in well-being.

Studies of Social Anxiety Using Ambulatory Assessment: Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

There has been an increased interest in understanding social anxiety (SA) and SA disorder (SAD) antecedents and consequences as they occur in real time, resulting in a proliferation of studies using ambulatory assessment (AA). Despite the exponential growth of research in this area, these studies have not been synthesized yet.

OBJECTIVE

This review aimed to identify and describe the latest advances in the understanding of SA and SAD through the use of AA.

METHODS

Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science.

RESULTS

A total of 70 articles met the inclusion criteria. The qualitative synthesis of these studies showed that AA permitted the exploration of the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral dynamics associated with the experience of SA and SAD. In line with the available models of SA and SAD, emotion regulation, perseverative cognition, cognitive factors, substance use, and interactional patterns were the principal topics of the included studies. In addition, the incorporation of AA to study psychological interventions, multimodal assessment using sensors and biosensors, and transcultural differences were some of the identified emerging topics.

CONCLUSIONS

AA constitutes a very powerful methodology to grasp SA from a complementary perspective to laboratory experiments and usual self-report measures, shedding light on the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral antecedents and consequences of SA and the development and maintenance of SAD as a mental disorder.

Metacognition and polyregulation in daily self-control conflicts

Metacognition is important for self-regulated learning, and it has recently been argued that it may play an important role in self-control more generally. We studied multiple aspects of metacognition in self-control, namely metacognitive knowledge including a person's repertoire ("toolbox") of different self-regulatory strategies, metacognitive regulation (planning, monitoring, and evaluation), and polyregulation (using more self-regulatory strategies in a single self-control conflict) as predictors of people's self-control success in daily life. In a preregistered experience sampling study, N = 503 participants reported their self-control conflicts up to eight times per day for 10 days, yielding 9,639 reports of daily self-control conflicts. Analyses showed that higher levels of metacognitive knowledge, planning, monitoring, evaluation, and polyregulation as well as a larger strategy repertoire were associated with higher levels of success in resolving daily self-control conflicts. Additionally, higher levels of trait self-control were associated with higher levels of metacognitive knowledge, planning, and monitoring. These findings highlight the importance of metacognition and polyregulation for successful self-control.

Some habits are more work than others: Deliberate self-regulation strategy use increases with behavioral complexity, even for established habits

OBJECTIVE

We tested the hypothesis that complex behaviors are commonly supported by self-regulation strategies, even when those behaviors are supported by strong instigation habits.

BACKGROUND

Goal-directed and habit-mediated processes arise from separable systems that have been suggested to seldomly interact.

RESULTS

Self-regulation strategy use was lower for habitually instigated simple behaviors compared to nonhabitually instigated simple behaviors. However, participants' use of self-regulation strategies increased with the increasing complexity of behaviors, even when complex behaviors were habitually instigated. The difference in the extent of strategy use between habitually and nonhabitually instigated actions was absent when behavioral complexity was particularly high.

CONCLUSION

These results point to a qualitative distinction-while simple behaviors may progress in a relatively automatic and unthinking manner, complex behaviors receive frequent support from self-regulation strategies, even if they are instigated habitually.

The Future of Emotion Regulation Research: Broadening Our Field of View

Over the past few decades, emotion regulation research has matured into a vibrant and rapidly growing field (in 2022 alone, more than 30 thousand papers were published on emotion regulation). Taking stock of our progress, we ask "What does the future hold?" In this manuscript, we offer a roadmap for the next generation of research on emotion regulation. We begin by painting a picture of the field's journey so far. We then outline a forward-looking agenda for broadening our field of view along three key dimensions: (1) increasing our resolution to see how regulatory strategies are flexibly and dynamically translated into tactics; (2) widening our viewing angle to embrace interpersonal emotion regulation; and (3) extending the timescale of emotion regulation research to examine how regulatory efforts are fine-tuned across the regulatory cycle and in the context of a broader range of affective experiences. In doing so, we highlight empirical studies that exemplify these three areas of focus and discuss the opportunities that lie before us. We close by offering a set of concrete practical and methodological recommendations for how the field can accomplish the goals we have outlined.

Quantitative versus qualitative emotion regulation goals: Differential effects on emotional responses

Emotion regulation (ER) involves both a goal (e.g., to feel less emotion) and a strategy (e.g., reappraisal). To clarify the impact of ER goals on emotional responding, we conducted a within-participant study (N = 156) in which we held the strategy constant (reappraisal) to isolate the impact of regulation goals. We compared the impact of a quantitative goal (changing emotion quantity/intensity) with that of a qualitative goal (changing emotion quality/type) on emotional responses to negative and positive pictures. We manipulated ER goals by cuing participants to continue viewing the picture (unregulated/no ER goal) or to reappraise it to decrease its predominant affective impact (quantitative goal) or increase its opposite-valence impact (qualitative goal). We assessed emotional responses through self-reported feelings and facial expressions (corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major electromyography). Our findings suggest that the type of regulation goal has a differential effect on emotional responses, with qualitative goals being more effective in modulating both negative and positive emotions. For negative stimuli, attempts to use a quantitative goal decreased negative but not positive emotional responses (uncoupled negative deactivation). Conversely, attempts to use a qualitative goal decreased negative and increased positive emotional responses (reciprocal positive activation). For positive stimuli, the quantitative goal generated uncoupled positive deactivation, while the qualitative goal produced reciprocal negative activation. Results highlight the importance of considering specific regulation goals in shaping emotional responses. Future research in the field of ER may benefit from identifying and manipulating different goals and strategies to understand how to effectively regulate emotions.

Emotion regulation tendencies and cardiovascular responses to repeated acute psychological stress

Poor emotion regulation has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) through maladaptive cardiovascular responses to psychological stress. However, there has been scant research examining the relationship between emotion regulation and habituation of cardiovascular responses to recurrent stress, which may be more directly applicable to the experience of stress in everyday life. The aims of the current study were to examine the associations between emotion regulation tendencies and cardiovascular stress reactivity, as well as habituation of cardiovascular reactivity across repeated stressors. A sample of 453 participants (mean (SD) age = 19.5 (1.3) years; 62 % women) completed a repeated stress paradigm, which consisted of two 10-minute baselines and two identical 4-minute stress tasks, separated by a 10-minute recovery period. Heart rate (HR) was measured continuously; systolic/diastolic blood pressures (SBP/DBP) were measured every 2 min. At the end of the visit, participants completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Results indicate that impulse control difficulties when distressed (a DERS subscale) were significantly associated with blunted SBP, DBP, and HR reactivity to both stressors, as well as impaired HR habituation across the stressors. None of the ERQ subscales (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) were found to be associated with cardiovascular stress reactivity or habituation. The outcomes of this study demonstrate a potential underlying physiological pathway through which impulse control difficulties when distressed may contribute to CVD risk. This study also reveals the importance of extending traditional cardiovascular stress reactivity protocols to include multiple exposures of the same stress task.

Knowledge About the Source of Emotion Predicts Emotion-Regulation Attempts, Strategies, and Perceived Emotion-Regulation Success

People's ability to regulate emotions is crucial to healthy emotional functioning. One overlooked aspect in emotion-regulation research is that knowledge about the source of emotions can vary across situations and individuals, which could impact people's ability to regulate emotion. Using ecological momentary assessments (N = 396; 7 days; 5,466 observations), we measured adults' degree of knowledge about the source of their negative emotions. We used language processing to show that higher reported knowledge led to more concrete written descriptions of the source. We found that higher knowledge of the source predicted more emotion-regulation attempts; increased the use of emotion-regulation strategies that target the source (cognitive reappraisal, situation modification) versus strategies that do not (distraction, emotional eating); predicted greater perceived success in regulating emotions; and greater well-being. These patterns were evident both within and between persons. Our findings suggest that pinpointing the source of emotions might play an important role in emotion regulation.

Unpacking reappraisal: a systematic review of fMRI studies of distancing and reinterpretation

In recent decades, a substantial volume of work has examined the neural mechanisms of cognitive reappraisal. Distancing and reinterpretation are two frequently used tactics through which reappraisal can be implemented. Theoretical frameworks and prior evidence have suggested that the specific tactic through which one employs reappraisal entails differential neural and psychological mechanisms. Thus, we were motivated to assess the neural mechanisms of this distinction by examining the overlap and differentiation exhibited by the neural correlates of distancing (specifically via objective appraisal) and reinterpretation. We analyzed 32 published functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in healthy adults using multilevel kernel density analysis. Results showed that distancing relative to reinterpretation uniquely recruited right bilateral dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and left posterior parietal cortex, previously associated with mentalizing, selective attention and working memory. Reinterpretation relative to distancing uniquely recruited left bilateral ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC), previously associated with response selection and inhibition. Further, distancing relative to reinterpretation was associated with greater prevalence of bilateral amygdala attenuation during reappraisal. Finally, a behavioral meta-analysis showed efficacy for both reappraisal tactics. These results are consistent with prior theoretical models for the functional neural architecture of reappraisal via distancing and reinterpretation and suggest potential future applications in region-of-interest specification and neural network analysis in studies focusing on specific reappraisal tactics.

The Contextualized Emotion Regulation Survey for Adolescents (CERSA): How does emotion regulation vary according to context?

Recent models of emotion regulation (ER) highlight the need to construct tools that assess ER in different contexts. This paper describes the development and validation of the Contextualized Emotion Regulation Survey for Adolescents (CERSA). This questionnaire assesses ER strategies and abilities in three situations that elicit specific emotions (i.e. sadness, fear and anger). Data were collected from a sample of 840 adolescents who completed the CERSA (M age  = 14.75; SD age  = 1.61) and another of 314 adolescents who completed the CERSA, the CERQ and the SLWS (M age  = 13.63; SD age  = 0.85). Results confirmed the expected structure in all situations as well as construct and external validity. Furthermore, correlations between latent factors and gender differences in ER strategies and abilities were often situation dependant. Mean levels of ER strategies and abilities varied according to the situation. These results provide empirical support for ER flexibility and polyregulation in adolescence.

Framing Subjective Emotion Reports as Dynamic Affective Decisions

Self-reports remain affective science's only direct measure of subjective affective experiences. Yet, little research has sought to understand the psychological process that transforms subjective experience into self-reports. Here, we propose that by framing these self-reports as dynamic affective decisions, affective scientists may leverage the computational tools of decision-making research, sequential sampling models specifically, to better disentangle affective experience from the noisy decision processes that constitute self-report. We further outline how such an approach could help affective scientists better probe the specific mechanisms that underlie important moderators of affective experience (e.g., contextual differences, individual differences, and emotion regulation) and discuss how adopting this decision-making framework could generate insight into affective processes more broadly and facilitate reciprocal collaborations between affective and decision scientists towards a more comprehensive and integrative psychological science.

Stability and spread: A novel method for quantifying transitions within multivariate binary time series data

We present a novel method for quantifying transitions within multivariate binary time series data, using a sliding series of transition matrices, to derive metrics of stability and spread. We define stability as the trace of a transition matrix divided by the sum of all observed elements within that matrix. We define spread as the number of all non-zero cells in a transition matrix divided by the number of all possible cells in that matrix. We developed this method to allow investigation into high-dimensional, sparse data matrices for which existing binary time series methods are not designed. Results from 1728 simulations varying six parameters suggest that unique information is captured by both metrics, and that stability and spread values have a moderate inverse association. Further, simulations suggest that this method can be reliably applied to time series with as few as nine observations per person, where at least five consecutive observations construct each overlapping transition matrix, and at least four time series variables compose each transition matrix. A pre-registered application of this method using 4 weeks of ecological momentary assessment data (N = 110) showed that stability and spread in the use of 20 emotion regulation strategies predict next timepoint affect after accounting for affect and anxiety's auto-regressive and cross-lagged effects. Stability, but not spread, also predicted next timepoint anxiety. This method shows promise for meaningfully quantifying two unique aspects of switching behavior in multivariate binary time series data.

Using Reappraisal to Improve Outcomes for STEM Teachers and Students

The many stressors associated with teaching can take a toll, resulting in high levels of burnout among teachers and reduced motivation and academic performance among students. This is especially true in the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Despite the efficacy of emotion regulation interventions in pedagogical settings in general and in STEM teaching in particular, there is a lack of suitable interventions. We applied the process model of emotion regulation to STEM teaching and proposed a framework, STEM-Model of EmotioN regulation: Teachers' Opportunities and Responsibilities (STEM-MENTOR), to elucidate how the high demands of STEM teaching and contextual factors (e.g., culture, reforms, teacher-student interactions) may lead to intensified negative emotions and deficits in executive functioning and emotion regulation implementation. Teacher emotions, in turn, shape students' STEM-related achievements and epistemic emotions. Thus, teachers' emotion regulation skills have pervasive effects on teaching outcomes for both teachers and students. We illustrate how at each level of our framework, steps could be taken to improve teachers' emotional trajectory. Our proposed STEM-MENTOR framework has implications for theoretical understanding and may help to shape future interventions that focus on cognitive-emotional processes in STEM education.

Assessing Emotion Polyregulation in Daily Life: Who Uses It, When Is It Used, and How Effective Is It?

Most research on emotion regulation has focused on understanding individual emotion regulation strategies. Preliminary research, however, suggests that people often use several strategies to regulate their emotions in a given emotional scenario (polyregulation). The present research examined who uses polyregulation, when polyregulation is used, and how effective polyregulation is when it is used. College students (N = 128; 65.6% female; 54.7% White) completed an in-person lab visit followed by a 2-week ecological momentary assessment protocol with six randomly timed survey prompts per day for up 2 weeks. At baseline, participants completed measures assessing past-week depression symptoms, social anxiety-related traits, and trait emotion dysregulation. During each randomly timed prompt, participants reported up to eight strategies used to change their thoughts or feelings, negative and positive affect, motivation to change emotions, their social context, and how well they felt they were managing their emotions. In pre-registered analyses examining the 1,423 survey responses collected, polyregulation was more likely when participants were feeling more intensely negative and when their motivation to change their emotions was stronger. Neither sex, psychopathology-related symptoms and traits, social context, nor subjective effectiveness was associated with polyregulation, and state affect did not moderate these associations. This study helps address a key gap in the literature by assessing emotion polyregulation in daily life.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00166-x.

Age and Cognitive Ability Predict Emotion Regulation Strategy Use

OBJECTIVES

This study examines how age and cognitive ability predict use of different emotion regulation strategies in a laboratory task eliciting emotions varying in valence and arousal.

METHODS

Participants (N = 287) aged 25-85 completed the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery and an emotion regulation task in a laboratory setting. They watched a series of emotional clips (disgust, sadness, amusement, and contentment) under instructions to increase positive emotions or decrease negative emotions. After each clip, they rated the extent to which they used emotion regulation strategies that involve different types of engagement with emotional stimuli and disengagement from emotional stimuli.

RESULTS

Older age was predictive of greater use of immersive-engagement strategies (e.g., perspective taking) and less use of disengagement strategies (e.g., distraction). Fluid cognitive ability was positively associated with immersive-engagement strategy use, particularly for high-arousal clips. For older adults, fluid cognitive ability was also associated with using positive-engagement strategies (e.g., positive reappraisal) to a greater extent to regulate negative emotions.

DISCUSSION

Patterns of emotion regulation strategy use varied by age, even when accounting for differences in reactivity. Findings suggest that older adults may not necessarily prefer strategies that are lower in cognitive demands or that focus on enhancing positivity. Results support the idea that strategy preferences are driven by a combination of characteristics of the regulator and the regulation context. The relevance of cognitive resources likely varies across situations, perhaps being most consequential for deeper processing of high-arousal stimuli and for older adults' engagement with positive aspects of an otherwise negative situation.

The Association of Emotion Regulation with Distress Tolerance Depends on a Neural Correlate of Cognitive Control

BACKGROUND

Distress tolerance is associated with transdiagnostic mental health problems. Theory and research implicate emotion regulation and cognitive control as factors in distress tolerance. But their unique contributions and interdependency have been unclear. This study tested how emotion regulation and the N2, a neural index of cognitive control, uniquely and interactively predicted distress tolerance.

METHODS

Undergraduate psychology students (N = 57) completed self-report measures and a Go-NoGo task, from which the N2 was extracted using PCA. The Go-NoGo task was counter-balanced to avoid confounding stimulus characteristics and frequency of stimulus presentation.

RESULTS

Emotion regulation predicted distress tolerance, but the N2 did not. The association of emotion regulation with distress tolerance was moderated by the N2, such that the association was larger at higher N2 amplitudes.

LIMITATIONS

The use of a non-clinical student sample limits the generalizability of the results. The data are cross-sectional and correlational, preventing conclusions about causality.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that emotion regulation is associated with better distress tolerance at higher levels of N2 amplitude, a neural correlate of cognitive control. Emotion regulation may be more effective at enabling distress tolerance in individuals with better cognitive control. This supports past work indicating that distress tolerance interventions may benefit by developing emotion regulation skills. Additional research is needed to test if such an approach is more effective in individuals with better cognitive control.

Life stressors and immune aging: Protective effects of cognitive reappraisal

Stressful life events may accelerate aspects of immune aging, but habitual use of an adaptive emotion regulation strategy, cognitive reappraisal, may attenuate these effects. This study examined whether cognitive reappraisal moderates the associations between life stressor frequency and stressor desirability on aspects of immune aging, including late-differentiated CD8+ T and natural killer (NK) cells and inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNF-α, and CRP), both between and within people in a longitudinal sample of 149 older adults (mean age = 77.8, range: 64-92 years). Participants reported stressful life events, use of cognitive reappraisal, and provided blood semiannually for up to 5 years to assess aspects of immune aging. Multilevel models, adjusted for demographic and health covariates, tested the between-person (stable, trait-like differences) and within-person associations (dynamic fluctuations) among life stressors and reappraisal on immune aging. Experiencing more frequent life stressors than usual was associated with higher levels of late-differentiated NK cells within person, but this effect was accounted for by experiencing health-related stressors. Unexpectedly, experiencing more frequent and less desirable stressors were associated with lower average levels of TNF-α. As expected, reappraisal moderated the associations between life stressors and late-differentiated NK cells between people and IL-6 within people. Specifically, older adults who experienced less desirable stressors but also used more reappraisal had significantly lower proportions of late-differentiated NK cells on average and lower levels of IL-6 within-person. These results suggest cognitive reappraisal may play a protective role in attenuating the effects of stressful life events on aspects of innate immune aging in older adults.

Starting school with purpose: Self-regulatory strategies of first-semester university students

Purposefulness may facilitate self-regulation; however, little is known about the self-regulatory strategies that are implemented by purposeful individuals. Given the multiple regulatory challenges students face in their social and academic lives, a central aim of the current work was to consider how purposefulness and self-regulation are linked during the first semester of university. This 13-week-long study was conducted with first-semester college students (N = 256) in the United States of America to examine whether weekly fluctuations in purposefulness may be connected to the use of traditionally adaptive (problem-solving) and maladaptive (rumination and experiential avoidance) self-regulation strategies. Consistent with our hypothesis, at the within- and between-person level, higher purposefulness was associated with greater use of problem-solving, lower rumination, and lower experiential avoidance at the weekly level. The findings imply purposefulness is an important individual difference that may explain better or worse self-regulatory abilities.

The rise and fall of job insecurity during a pandemic: The role of habitual coping

Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic can trigger concerns about loss of employment and changes in work conditions, and thereby increase job insecurity. Yet, little is known about how perceived job insecurity subsequently unfolds over time and how individual differences in habitual coping moderate such a trajectory. Using longitudinal data from 899 US-based participants across 5 waves (March to June 2020), we investigated the trajectory of job insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this trajectory depended on habitual coping strategies such as planning, reappraisal, and distraction. Results from latent growth curve analysis indicated that, on average, job insecurity initially increased and then decreased after signing of the coronavirus stimulus bill, suggesting a pattern of shock followed by adjustment. During the shock phase, habitual use of distraction was related to less increases in job insecurity. Later during the adjustment phase, decreases in job insecurity were more pronounced for individuals with higher habitual use of planning, but were not affected by reappraisal or distraction. Hence, different coping strategies appear beneficial in different phases of adjustment, and the beneficial effect of planning may take time to manifest. Altogether, our study highlights how in the context of extraordinary and uncontrollable events, coping strategies can impact the trajectory of a stressor.

Self-control and SAT outcomes: Evidence from two national field studies

Self-control is often thought to be synonymous with willpower, defined as the direct modulation of impulses in order to do what is best in the long-run. However, research has also identified more strategic approaches to self-control that require less effort than willpower. To date, field research is lacking that compares the efficacy of willpower to strategic self-control for consequential and objectively measured real-world outcomes. In collaboration with the College Board, we surveyed two national samples of high school students about how they motivated themselves to study for the SAT college admission exam. In Study 1 (N = 5,563), compared to willpower, strategic self-control predicted more hours of SAT practice and higher SAT scores, even when controlling for prior PSAT scores. Additionally, the more self-control strategies students deployed, the higher their SAT scores. Consistent with dose-response curves in other domains, there were positive albeit diminishing marginal returns to additional strategies. Mediation analyses suggest that the benefits of self-control strategies to SAT scores was fully explained by increased practice time. These results were confirmed in Study 2, a preregistered replication with N = 14,259 high school students. Compared to willpower, strategic self-control may be especially beneficial in facilitating the pursuit of goals in high-stakes, real-world situations.

Coping profiles and differences in well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A latent profile analysis

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, people need to cope with multiple stressors which may affect their well-being. This study aimed (1) to identify latent coping profiles in the German general population, and (2) to investigate differences between these profiles in well-being. In total, N = 2326 German participants were recruited as part of the European Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS) ADJUST study from June to September 2020 using an online survey. Coping strategies were assessed using the Brief-COPE and the Pandemic Coping Scale; well-being was assessed using the WHO-5 Well-Being Index. Coping profiles were identified using latent profile analysis; differences between profiles were examined using the automatic BCH method and multiple group analyses. Five coping profiles were identified that included different types and numbers of coping strategies: (1) High functional coping (17.84%), (2) Moderate functional coping (40.63%), (3) High functional and religious coping (9.07%), (4) Low functional coping (22.06%), (5) Moderate functional and dysfunctional coping (10.40%). The identified profiles significantly differed in well-being (χ²  = 503.68, p <0.001). Coping profiles indicating high functional coping were associated with greater well-being compared to coping profiles indicating low (χ²  = 82.21, p <0.001) or primarily dysfunctional (χ²  = 354.33, p <0.001) coping. These results provide insight into how people differ in their coping strategies when dealing with stressors in an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study indicates higher levels of well-being in coping profiles with more frequent use of functional strategies. To promote well-being in the general population, it might be beneficial to train functional coping strategies in appropriate interventions that are associated with increased well-being.

What Parts of Reappraisal Make Us Feel Better? Dissociating the Generation of Reappraisals from Their Implementation

Although reappraisal has been shown to be a highly successfully emotion regulation strategy, it requires several sequential steps, and it is still unclear when in the reappraisal process emotion changes. We experimentally dissociated the generation of reappraisals from their implementation and hypothesized that the biggest emotional effects would occur during implementation. In Study 1, participants (N = 106) saw a negative image and generated either just positive reappraisals (GEN ++) or positive and negative reappraisals (GEN +-). They then saw the image again and implemented either their positive reappraisals (for the GEN ++ and half of the GEN +- trials) or negative reappraisals (for the other half of GEN +- trials). Although there were small and significant changes in emotion when generating reappraisals, the robust changes in emotion that are typically observed during reappraisal occurred during implementation. In Study 2 (N = 130), we directly replicated the findings from Study 1 and demonstrated that this small emotional effect from just generating reappraisals was not due to discounting the forthcoming implementation goal. In summary, for the first time, we successfully dissociated reappraisal generation from implementation and show that the biggest emotional effects occur during implementation. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding emotion regulation, the neural underpinnings of reappraisal, and the conditions for reappraisal success in clinical contexts.

Reappraisal, social support, and parental burnout

OBJECTIVES

Parental burnout is a prevalent condition that affects parents' functioning and health. While various protective factors have been examined, little is known about their interplay. In the current study, we examined the joint effect of two protective factors against parental burnout (one external-social support and one internal-cognitive reappraisal). We were specifically interested in whether the presence of one factor could compensate for the lack of the other.

METHODS

To address this question, 1835 participants were drawn from five countries: United States, Poland, Peru, Turkey and Belgium.

RESULTS

Results suggested that both social support and cognitive reappraisal were associated with lower parental burnout. An interaction was also found between the resource factors, such that the presence of cognitive reappraisal compensated for the absence of social support.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings point to ways in which parental burnout could be reduced, especially in situations where social support is not easily available.

Relations between emotion regulation strategies and affect in daily life: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies using ecological momentary assessments

Emotion regulation (ER) is a central target in the study of psychological and neurobiological processes of emotions for numerous psychological disorders. Ecological momentary assessments, overcoming retrospective self-reports, allow a better understanding of the relation between the use of ER strategies and daily life affective experiences. A systematic review and meta-analyses of studies testing these relations through experience sampling methods (ESM) and daily diaries were conducted. ESM studies showed significant large effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between negative affect (NA) and rumination, suppression, and worry, and in both contemporaneous and prospective relations between positive affect (PA) and reappraisal; medium effect sizes in prospective relations between NA and rumination, and PA and distraction; and a small effect size in the prospective relation between NA and suppression. Daily diary studies showed significant large effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between NA and rumination and suppression, and in both contemporaneous and prospective relations between PA and reappraisal; medium effect sizes in contemporaneous relations between PA and acceptance, and problem-solving; and a small effect size in the prospective relation between NA and reappraisal. These findings shed light on the temporal relations between the use of ER strategies and affective experiences and highlight conceptual and methodological limitations in the field.

Momentary Emotion Goals and Spontaneous Emotion Regulation in Daily Life: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Desire for High Versus Low Arousal Positive Emotion

Recent research has highlighted that emotion regulation strategy use varies both between and within people, and specific individual and contextual differences shape strategy use. Further, use of specific emotion regulation strategies relates to a wide array of differential outcomes, including mental health and behavior. Emotion goals (desire for a given emotion state) are thought to play a particularly important role in shaping people’s use of emotion regulation strategies; yet, surprisingly little is known about whether and how momentary emotion goals predict spontaneous strategy use in daily life. In the present investigation, we examined whether ideal desire for high versus low arousal positive affect was associated with subsequent use of specific emotion regulation strategies. Undergraduate participants (final N = 101) completed ecological momentary assessments (final ks = 1,932 for contemporaneous analyses, 1,386 for time-lagged analyses) of their momentary experienced affect, momentary desire for high versus low arousal positive affect, and emotion regulation. Desire for higher arousal predicted greater use of three disengagement strategies: distraction, expressive suppression, and experiential suppression. None of these strategies, though, were associated with sustained enhancement of high arousal (or low arousal) positive affect. These findings point to a possible disconnect between the strategies that people tend to use when they want to feel more arousal and the affective outcomes associated with use of those strategies.

Experiential, expressive, and physiological effects of positive and negative emotion regulation goals while reappraising amusing stimuli

We examined whether positive and negative emotion regulation (ER) goals while cognitively reappraising amusing stimuli differentially engage positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) systems. Forty-eight women watched 20-30s amusing film clips. They were instructed to either respond naturally (no ER goal) or emphasize the film clips' positive (positive ER goal) or negative (negative ER goal) aspects in their interpretation. We measured PA and NA system activity on experiential, expressive, and physiological response channels through self-reported amusement and disgust, electromyography of zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii, and autonomic nervous system reactivity from respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period (PEP). Natural viewing (no ER goal) of amusing clips increased self-reported amusement (and to a lesser degree disgust), zygomaticus reactivity, and RSA. Compared to no and negative ER goals, reappraising the amusing clips with a positive ER goal decreased corrugator reactivity, decreasing negative emotional expression. Compared to no and positive ER goals, reappraising the amusing clips with a negative ER goal decreased self-reported amusement and zygomaticus reactivity and increased self-reported disgust and corrugator reactivity, decreasing positive and increasing negative emotional experience and expression. We conclude that positive and negative ER goals while reappraising amusing stimuli differentially engaged PA and NA systems: The positive ER goal engaged withdrawal of the expressive NA system, whereas the negative ER goal engaged reciprocal NA-PA system activation on experiential and expressive response channels.

A Novel Experience Sampling Method Tool Integrating Momentary Assessments of Cognitive Biases: Two Compliance, Usability, and Measurement Reactivity Studies

BACKGROUND

Experience sampling methods (ESMs) are increasingly being used to study ecological emotion dynamics in daily functioning through repeated assessments taken over several days. However, most of these ESM approaches are only based on self-report assessments, and therefore, studies on the ecological trajectories of their underlying mechanisms are scarce (ie, cognitive biases) and require evaluation through experimental tasks. We developed a novel ESM tool that integrates self-report measures of emotion and emotion regulation with a previously validated app-based cognitive task that allows for the assessment of underlying mechanisms during daily functioning.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study is to test this new tool and study its usability and the possible factors related to compliance with it in terms of latency and missing responses. Among the compliance predictors, we considered psychological and time-related variables, as well as usability, measurement reactivity, and participants' satisfaction with the tool.

METHODS

We conducted 2 extensive ESM studies-study 1 (N=84; a total of 3 assessments per day for 5 days) and study 2 (N=135; a total of 3 assessments per day for 10 days).

RESULTS

In both studies, participants found the tool highly usable (average usability score >81). By using mixed regression models, we found both common and specific results for the compliance predictors. In both study 1 and study 2, latency was significantly predicted by the day (P<.001 and P=.003, respectively). Participants showed slower responses to the notification as the days of the study progressed. In study 2 but not in study 1, latency was further predicted by individual differences in overload with the use of the app, and missing responses were accounted for by individual differences in stress reactivity to notifications (P=.04). Thus, by using a more extensive design, participants who experienced higher overload during the study were characterized by slower responses to notifications (P=.01), whereas those who experienced higher stress reactivity to the notification system were characterized by higher missing responses.

CONCLUSIONS

The new tool had high levels of usability. Furthermore, the study of compliance is of enormous importance when implementing novel ESM methods, including app-based cognitive tasks. The main predictors of latency and missing responses found across studies, specifically when using extensive ESM protocols (study 2), are methodology-related variables. Future research that integrates cognitive tasks in ESM designs should take these results into consideration by performing accurate estimations of participants' response rates to facilitate the optimal quality of novel eHealth approaches, as in this study.

Emotion regulation patterns: Capturing variability and flexibility in emotion regulation in an experience sampling study

Variability and flexibility in emotion regulation (ER) are considered important ingredients in adaptive ER. Few attempts at operationalizing variability and flexibility in ER have been made. In two 10‐day experience sampling studies (N = 51 and 39), healthy participants rated their momentary emotions and their ER efforts in response to those emotions. We evaluated the association between ER (i.e., between and within ER strategy variability and ER flexibility, operationalized as putatively adaptive, putatively maladaptive and total strategies) and measures of well‐being (psychological distress, satisfaction with life) in general (person‐level) and in everyday life (day‐level). Higher within‐variability indicated that a strategy was used more at some occasions and less at others. Higher between‐variability indicated variation in the extent to which different strategies were engaged at the same time point. Overall, results were mixed, but in some instances, indicators of ER variability and ER flexibility were related to each other and measures of well‐being differently. Total within ER variability was negatively associated with well‐being at the person and day level. Putatively adaptive between and within ER variability were associated with less well‐being at the person level. At the day level, putatively adaptive and maladaptive between ER variability and maladaptive within ER variability were negatively associated with well‐being. Putatively adaptive ER flexibility was negatively associated with satisfaction with life. This study adds to the literature on indicators of variability and flexibility in ER and their potential adaptiveness. The results indicate that variability in ER could be a maladaptive property, but more research is needed to understand this in terms of putatively adaptive and maladaptive strategies. Future studies on the adaptiveness of these indicators should obtain more contextual information.

When and How to Regulate: Everyday Emotion-Regulation Strategy Use and Stressor Intensity

Contextual factors shape emotion regulation (ER). The intensity of emotional stimuli may be such a contextual factor that influences the selection and moderates the effectiveness of ER strategies in reducing negative affect (NA). Prior research has shown that, on average, when emotional stimuli were more intense, distraction was selected over reappraisal (and vice versa). This pattern was previously shown to be adaptive as the preferred strategies were more efficient in the respective contexts. Here, we investigated whether stressor intensity predicted strategy use and effectiveness in similar ways in daily life. We examined five ER strategies (reappraisal, reflection, acceptance, distraction, and rumination) in relation to the intensity of everyday stressors, using two waves of experience-sampling data (N = 156). In accordance with our hypotheses, reappraisal, reflection, and acceptance were used less, and rumination was used more, when stressors were more intense. Moreover, results suggested that distraction was more effective, and rumination more detrimental the higher the stressor intensity. Against our hypotheses, distraction did not covary with stressor intensity, and there was no evidence that reappraisal, reflection, and acceptance were more effective at lower levels of stressor intensity. Instead, when examined individually, reflection and reappraisal (like distraction) were more effective at higher levels of stressor intensity. In sum, stressor intensity predicted ER selection and moderated strategy effectiveness, but the results also point to a more complex ER strategy use in daily life than in the laboratory.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00087-1.

Emotion Regulation as a Pathway Connecting Early Life Adversity and Inflammation in Adulthood: a Conceptual Framework

Chronic inflammation is implicated in a variety of diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease and cancer). Much evidence suggests that early life adversity (ELA), such as maltreatment or neglect, can increase risk for inflammation in adulthood. ELA may program proinflammatory activity via its effects on brain areas involved in emotion regulation. Of multiple emotion regulation strategies, some are considered maladaptive (e.g., expressive suppression), while others are generally adaptive (e.g., cognitive reappraisal). We propose a conceptual framework for how emotion regulation tendencies may affect vulnerability or resilience to inflammation in adults who experienced adversity in childhood and/or adolescence. In support of this framework, we summarize evidence for the relationships between emotion dysregulation and higher inflammation (i.e., vulnerability), as well as between cognitive reappraisal and lower inflammation (i.e., resilience), in healthy adults with a history of ELA. Plausible neurobiological, physiological, psychosocial, and ELA-specific factors, as well as interventions, contributing to these associations are discussed. Strengths and limitations of the extant research, in addition to ideas for future directions, are presented.

Emotion regulation in times of COVID-19: A person-centered approach based on self-determination theory

Although the COVID-19 crisis is a worldwide threat to individuals' physical health and psychological well-being, not all people are equally susceptible to increased ill-being. One potentially important factor in individuals' vulnerability (versus resilience) to ill-being in the face of stress is emotion regulation. On the basis of Self-Determination Theory, this study examined the role of three emotion regulation styles in individuals' mental health during the COVID-19 crisis, that is, integration, suppression, and dysregulation. Participants were 6584 adults (77% female, M age  = 45.16 years) who filled out well-validated measures of emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and sleep quality. To examine naturally occurring combinations of emotion regulation strategies, hierarchical k-means clustering was performed, yielding 3 profiles: (a) low scores on all strategies (indicating rather low overall levels of worry; 27%), (b) high scores on integration only (41%), and (c) high scores on suppression and dysregulation (32%). Participants in the profiles scoring high on suppression and dysregulation displayed a less favorable pattern of outcomes (high ill-being, low life satisfaction, and poorer sleep quality) compared to the other two groups. Between-cluster differences remained significant even when taking into account the corona-related worries experienced by people. Overall, the findings underscore the important role of emotion regulation in individuals' mental health during mentally challenging periods such as the COVID-19 crisis. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Coping under a COVID-19 lockdown: patterns of daily coping and individual differences in coping repertoires

BACKGROUND

Polyregulation-the concurrent or sequential use of multiple strategies to regulate affect or cope with stressors-is a frequent but understudied phenomenon.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to identify patterns of daily coping and individuals' coping repertoires (i.e., range of coping patterns employed across situations) during a COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. We investigated day-level covariates (appraisals, worrying, mood) of daily coping patterns and person-level covariates (psychopathology, average mood) of coping repertoires. Design: A non-representative community sample (n = 322, 15-82 years old) participated in a 21-day ambulatory assessment study.

METHODS

We applied multilevel latent class analysis..

RESULTS

We identified seven daily coping patterns and ten classes of individuals differing in the size of their coping repertoire and their propensity for polyregulation. Daily coping patterns differed in daily perceived controllability and mood (but not in daily worrying or stress). At the person level, individuals with a higher level of average coronavirus-related worrying more frequently engaged in a high degree of polyregulation. The size of individuals' coping repertoire was unrelated to psychopathology and average mood.

CONCLUSION

The findings provide insights into the composition of daily coping patterns and individuals' coping repertoires during crisis periods and contribute to a new polyregulation perspective on coping.

Comparing the affective and social effects of positive reappraisal and minimising reappraisal

Negative interpersonal events, such as close relationship conflicts, can threaten one's affective and social well-being. To improve affect and to maintain valuable relationships, individuals could select different reappraisal tactics. One could use positive reappraisal to find potential benefits of the event (e.g. "This conflict helps our relationship grow."), or use minimising reappraisal to decrease the perceived impact of event (e.g. "This is no big deal."). These two tactics target distinct appraisal dimensions: valence versus significance. We investigated whether these two reappraisals would show similar or different profiles of affective and social effects in the context of close relationship conflicts. Study 1 was based on a sample of 90 Chinese younger adults. Study 2 was based on a sample of 237 American adults (156 MTurk workers and 81 undergraduates combined). Across two studies, both reappraisals effectively improved affect in response to a recalled conflict. Minimising reappraisal group showed significantly increased affect and relationship satisfaction (Study 1&2), but decreased conflict resolution motivation (Study 2) across time. Positive reappraisal group, on the other hand, showed less pronounced increases in positive affect but increased conflict resolution self-efficacy across time (Study 1&2). We discuss these findings by highlighting within-reappraisal variation and potential trade-offs in pursuing affective and social regulation goals.