An examination of the roles of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder on emotion regulation strategies of Operation Iraqi Freedom,Operation Enduring Freedom,and Operation New Dawn veterans

Theories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) implicate emotional processes, including difficulties utilizing adaptive emotion regulation strategies, as critical to the etiology and maintenance of PTSD. Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn (OIF/OEF/OND) veterans report high levels of combat exposure and PTSD. We aimed to extend findings suggesting that emotion regulation difficulties are a function of PTSD, rather than combat trauma exposure or common comorbidities, to OIF/OEF/OND veterans, in order to inform models of PTSD risk and recovery that can be applied to returning veterans. We tested differences in emotion regulation, measured with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, among trauma-exposed veterans with (n = 24) or without PTSD (n = 22) and healthy civilian comparison participants (n = 27) using multivariate analyses of covariance, adjusting for major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, and demographic variables (age, sex, and ethnicity). Veterans with PTSD reported more use of expressive suppression and more difficulties with emotion regulation than veterans without PTSD and healthy comparison participants. Groups did not differ on cognitive reappraisal. Findings suggest the key role of PTSD above and beyond trauma exposure, depression, and anxiety in specific aspects of emotion dysregulation among OIF/OEF/OND veterans. Interventions that help veterans expand and diversify their emotion regulation skills may serve as helpful adjunctive treatments for PTSD among OIF/OEF/OND veterans.     

社交焦虑大学生情绪调节灵活性：情绪内容对策略选择和使用的影响

尽管社交焦虑个体被认为存在情绪调节灵活性的不足,但至今尚不清楚这种不足究竟在于难以灵活选择策略,还是难以灵活使用策略,抑或二者兼有？对此,本研究采用情绪调节策略选择任务考察了37名高社交焦虑大学生和29名低社交焦虑大学生在面对社交-非社交情绪图片时对认知重评-回避策略的选择模式和使用效果。结果发现：在面对社交情绪图片时,高社交焦虑被试比低社交焦虑被试更少选择认知重评,而更多选择回避;在面对非社交情绪图片时,两组被试对两种策略的选择模式无显著差异。同时,无论面对社交还是非社交情绪图片,两组被试对两种策略的使用效果也无显著差异。以上结果表明,相比低社交焦虑个体,高社交焦虑个体只有在面对社交情绪刺激时才存在情绪调节灵活性的不足,且这种不足主要在于难以灵活选择策略,而非难以灵活使用策略。     

Fragile self-esteem and affective instability in posttraumatic stress disorder

Temporal fluctuations in self-esteem and affect are prominent features of several clinical conditions (e.g., depression), but there is an absence of empirical work examining their role in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Individuals who experience large fluctuations in self-evaluations and affect are considered more vulnerable to psychopathology than individuals able to adequately modulate their self-image and emotional responses. We examined the relevance of self-esteem and affective instability to PTSD. Veterans with and without PTSD completed 14 daily ratings of self-esteem, positive affect, negative affect, and gratitude. Compared to veterans without PTSD, veterans with PTSD exhibited more temporal fluctuations in self-esteem, negative affect, and gratitude, with a smaller effect for positive affect. For all veterans, self-esteem and negative affective instability was associated with diminished well-being. Except for self-esteem instability, most findings were substantially reduced after accounting for variance attributable to PTSD diagnoses and mean intensity levels over the 14-day monitoring period. These data suggest self-esteem instability is important in understanding the lives of veterans with and without PTSD.     

Attitudes toward emotions

The present work outlines a theory of attitudes toward emotions, provides a measure of attitudes toward emotions, and then tests several predictions concerning relationships between attitudes toward specific emotions and emotional situation selection, emotional traits, emotional reactivity, and emotion regulation. The present conceptualization of individual differences in attitudes toward emotions focuses on specific emotions and presents data indicating that 5 emotions (anger, sadness, joy, fear, and disgust) load on 5 separate attitude factors (Study 1). Attitudes toward emotions predicted emotional situation selection (Study 2). Moreover, attitudes toward approach emotions (e.g., anger, joy) correlated directly with the associated trait emotions, whereas attitudes toward withdrawal emotions (fear, disgust) correlated inversely with associated trait emotions (Study 3). Similar results occurred when attitudes toward emotions were used to predict state emotional reactivity (Study 4). Finally, attitudes toward emotions predicted specific forms of emotion regulation (Study 5).     

Gratitude and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in Vietnam war veterans

Little information exists on the contribution of psychological strengths to well-being in persons with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Data from other populations suggest that gratitude, defined as the positive experience of thankfulness for being the recipient of personal benefits, may have salutary effects on everyday functioning. We investigated whether dispositional gratitude predicted daily hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in combat veterans with and without PTSD. We also examined associations between daily gratitude and daily well-being across time. Veterans with PTSD, compared to those without PTSD, exhibited significantly lower dispositional gratitude; no differences were found on daily gratitude. Dispositional gratitude predicted greater daily positive affect, percentage of pleasant days over the assessment period, daily intrinsically motivating activity, and daily self-esteem over and above effects attributable to PTSD severity and dispositional negative and positive affect in the PTSD group but not the non-PTSD group. Daily gratitude was uniquely associated with each dimension of daily well-being in both groups. Although preliminary, these results provide support for the further investigation of gratitude in trauma survivors.     

The role of emotional inexpressivity and experiential avoidance in the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity and aggressive behavior among men exposed to interpersonal violence

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been found to be associated with aggressive behavior. Recent evidence suggests that the ways in which individuals respond to their emotions may account for this relationship. In particular, to the extent that aggressive behaviors serve an emotion regulatory function, responding to emotions with avoidance (i.e., experiential avoidance) or the active suppression of emotional expression may heighten emotion dysregulation, increasing the risk for aggressive behavior as individuals attempt to regulate that dysregulated state. This study examined whether these two ways of responding to emotions account for the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and self-reported engagement in aggressive behavior among a diverse sample of 113 men with past exposure to interpersonal violence. Experiential avoidance and emotional inexpressivity each accounted for a significant amount of unique variance in aggressive behavior, above and beyond PTSD symptom severity and trait anger. Clinical and research implications of findings are discussed.     

Comparing the Effects of Three Online Cognitive Reappraisal Trainings on Well-Being

This experimental training study examined which of three brief online cognitive reappraisal training protocols best enhances well-being and emotion regulation in response to stressful events. Participants were randomly assigned to learn positive reframing, self-distancing, or temporal distancing, and were asked to practice these techniques in their daily lives as interpersonal stressors arose naturally. The control group was instructed to continue regulating their emotions as they naturally would. Compared to the control, all training groups showed decreased negative emotional reactivity to the visualization of a recent stressful event 2 weeks post-training. They also showed a significant increase in general well-being from baseline to post-training. Participants’ change in reappraisal accounted for the training groups’ increased well-being.     

“I control my own emotions for the sake of the team”: Emotional self-regulation and interpersonal emotion regulation among female high-performance curlers

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine emotional self-regulation and interpersonal emotion regulation within a team of competitive athletes.DesignInstrumental case study approach (Stake, 1995).MethodData collection involved multiple semi-structured interviews with all four members of a female high-performance curling team, as well as observation of team meetings, practices, and games over the entire season.ResultsAnalyses produced the main themes of emotional self regulation (body language and self-censorship) and interpersonal emotional regulation (providing positive and/or technical feedback, humour, cueing teammates about their emotions, prosocial actions and indirect actions). We also identified factors influencing emotional regulation (length of time together, team dynamics/cohesion, context, social norms and team roles, and seeking support outside the team).ConclusionsAthletes were aware of and took into account social and contextual factors (e.g., social norms and role on team) when regulating emotions in a team context, and they also identified challenges associated with emotional regulation within the team. Findings highlight the complex interplay between athletes' emotions, emotional expression, and self-regulation to achieve multiple goals (e.g., positive performances, positive social relationships), as well as the importance of examining interpersonal processes related to emotion and emotion regulation within team sports.     

PTSD Symptom Cluster Severity Predicts Momentary Emotion Dynamics During Couple Conversations

This study investigated the associations between momentary emotion dynamics and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Using a sample of 61 couples (N = 122 individuals) in which all individuals were trauma exposed and at least one partner screened positive for PTSD, we examined the intra- and interpersonal regulation of vocally encoded emotional arousal (fundamental frequency [f₀]) and how these momentary emotion regulatory patterns relate to specific PTSD symptoms during two couple conversations: one designed to elicit conflict and one to elicit intimacy. PTSD symptoms were assessed using a gold standard clinical interview. In both conversations, higher reexperiencing symptoms were associated with greater emotional inertia (i.e., more resistance to change in emotional state following deviation from one’s emotional equilibrium), and higher avoidance symptoms were associated with less emotional inertia (i.e., quicker return to emotional equilibrium). In the intimacy conversations, individuals also responded to their partners’ arousal. Furthermore, individuals whose partners exhibited higher emotional numbing symptoms exhibited more emotional inertia, suggesting that emotion regulation may be a function of both one’s own and one’s partner’s PTSD symptoms. Attending to the interpersonal context of emotion dynamics during PTSD treatment may enhance outcomes.     

Anticipatory Anxiety in the Treatment of Combat Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Combat veterans have experienced a transformational process during war zone deployment, including emotional, cognitive, and sensory processing changes. They also return entrenched in military expectations of conduct and behavior. These changes result in anticipatory anxiety that makes it difficult to reintegrate into the civilian world, and are related to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The PTSD Recovery Program at the McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) is a manualized treatment that focuses on the personal and daily experiences of combat veterans rather than exposure to traumatic memories. Program evaluation data demonstrated significant reduction in PTSD symptoms and improvements in general self-efficacy and adaptive behaviors. Results support the PTSD Recovery Program as an effective treatment that enhances readjustment to civilian life.     

Yes I can: Expected success promotes actual success in emotion regulation

People who expect to be successful in regulating their emotions tend to experience less frequent negative emotions and are less likely to suffer from depression. It is not clear, however, whether beliefs about the likelihood of success in emotion regulation can shape actual emotion regulation success. To test this possibility, we manipulated participants' beliefs about the likelihood of success in emotion regulation and assessed their subsequent ability to regulate their emotions during a negative emotion induction. We found that participants who were led to expect emotion regulation to be more successful were subsequently more successful in regulating their emotional responses, compared to participants in the control condition. Our findings demonstrate that expected success can contribute to actual success in emotion regulation.     

Eating Disorders—The Regulation of Positive as well as Negative Emotion Experience

Disordered eating behaviors are often conceptualized as maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. The present study investigated links between emotional experience, schematic belief systems, and psychological themes associated with eating disorders. In contrast to the majority of studies, which focus on just one or two emotions and use nonclinical samples, this study compared the full range of emotional experience in women with eating disorders to a control group. Measures used include the Differential Emotional Scale-IV, Youngs Early Maladaptive Schema Questionnaire, and Eating Disorder Inventory-2. The study provides the first empirical evidence that women diagnosed with eating disorders report experiencing pleasant as well as unpleasant emotions more frequently than do controls. A surprising finding was that pleasant emotions (joy, interest, surprise) correlated with eating disorder themes (EDI-2 subscales) more consistently than unpleasant emotions in the eating disorder group, while the reverse was true of the control group. Also of note, eating-disordered women reported significantly less anger and similar levels of fear vs. controls. While eating-disordered women scored more highly than do controls on all maladaptive schema (suggesting high levels of distress in women with eating disorders), the pattern of correlations between schema and emotion experience was distinctly different for each group and counterintuitive for the eating disorder group. In particular, pleasant emotion was highly correlated with maladaptive schema in the eating-disordered group but not in the control group. These marked group differences in the pattern of relationships between emotion experience, eating disorder themes, and belief systems suggest that it is not valid to draw conclusions about eating disorders from research that employs only nonclinical samples. The authors discuss these findings, and suggest that women with eating disorders are proficient at using disordered eating behaviors to manipulate their experience of both positive and negative emotional states, and that this dynamic should be recognized as an important maintenance factor.     

Emotion Beliefs,Emotion Regulation,and Emotional Experiences in Daily Life

One potential factor that could influence how individuals with at least moderate symptoms of depression cope with upsetting events in their daily lives is the beliefs that these individuals hold about whether emotions are malleable or fixed. The current study adopted an experience sampling approach to examine how the beliefs about emotion’s malleability related to daily positive and negative affect and daily emotion regulation efforts among individuals with at least moderate symptoms of depression (N = 84). Results demonstrated that individuals having at least moderate symptoms of depression who held more malleable beliefs about emotions reported decreased negative affect both overall during the day and specifically in response to daily upsetting events. Additionally, these individuals who held more malleable beliefs about their emotions also reported more daily use of cognitive reappraisal to regulate their emotions in response to upsetting daily events. Results from the current study extend previous work examining the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs, emotional experiences, and emotion regulation to examine these relationships in people who are moderately depressed as they navigate the emotional landscape of their daily lives.     

Positive reappraisals after an offense: Event-related potentials and emotional effects of benefit-finding and compassion*

Using a within-subjects design, three emotion regulation strategies (compassion-focused reappraisal, benefit-focused reappraisal, and offense rumination) were tested for their effects on forgiveness, well-being, and event-related potentials. Participants (N = 37) recalled a recent interpersonal offense as the context for each emotion regulation strategy. Both decisional and emotional forgiveness increased significantly for the two reappraisal strategies compared to offense rumination. Compassion-focused reappraisal prompted the greatest increase in both decisional and emotional forgiveness. Furthermore, both reappraisal strategies increased positively oriented well-being measures (e.g. joy, gratitude) compared to offense rumination, with compassion-focused reappraisal demonstrating the largest effect on empathy. Late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes in response to unpleasant affect words were larger following the benefit-focused reappraisal strategy, indicating frontal LPP augmentation due to affective incongruence of the unpleasant stimuli with the positive, silver-lining orientation of the benefit-focused reappraisal emotion regulation strategy.     

中学生的道德情绪内隐观研究

以974名14-18岁的中学生为被试,通过道德情绪的词汇评定和情境评定,考察中学生对典型道德情绪种类和道德情绪典型属性的认识。结果表明,中学生对典型道德情绪的认识涉及情境性、导向性、批评性、赞誉性等多种情绪类别,并在总体上更容易把正性情绪词汇认同为道德情绪。在判断与评价具体情境中的道德情绪过程中,中学生更倾向把无私和有私因素诱发的情绪显著地聚类区分,从而将无私诱因视为其认同道德情绪的典型标准,这种内隐观不受其学段、性别的影响和情绪效价效应的干扰。     

Situation selection is a particularly effective emotion regulation strategy for people who need help regulating their emotions

Situation selection involves choosing situations based on their likely emotional impact and may be less cognitively taxing or challenging to implement compared to other strategies for regulating emotion, which require people to regulate their emotions “in the moment”; we thus predicted that individuals who chronically experience intense emotions or who are not particularly competent at employing other emotion regulation strategies would be especially likely to benefit from situation selection. Consistent with this idea, we found that the use of situation selection interacted with individual differences in emotional reactivity and competence at emotion regulation to predict emotional outcomes in both a correlational (Study 1; N?=?301) and an experimental field study (Study 2; N?=?125). Taken together, the findings suggest that situation selection is an effective strategy for regulating emotions, especially for individuals who otherwise struggle to do so.     

情绪加工的性别差异及神经机制

已有研究表明, 情绪加工存在显著性别差异。这主要表现为女性人群具有情绪识别优势, 更好的情绪记忆能力与更强的负性情绪易感性。此外, 情绪加工的性别差异也表现为情绪调节过程的不同：相比男性, 女性更善于抑制情绪行为, 却较难通过认知策略调节负性情绪。情绪加工的性别差异有重要生理基础, 与情绪脑结构, 荷尔蒙水平的男女差异有关。同时, 情绪加工的性别差异同女性更高的情绪障碍易感性有着密切联系：不善于调节负性情绪, 及更强的消极情绪易感性可能是女性更易患情绪障碍的重要原因。从情绪加工角度探讨情绪障碍的性别差异及其原因, 对于情绪障碍的预防和治疗具有重要意义。     

Reliving,emotions, and fragmentation in the autobiographical memories of veterans diagnosed with PTSD

Fifty veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) each recalled four autobiographical memories: one from the 2 years before service, one non‐combat memory from the time in service, one from combat, and one from service that had often come as an intrusive memory. For each memory, they provided 21 ratings about reliving, belief, sensory properties, reexperiencing emotions, visceral emotional responses, fragmentation, and narrative coherence. We used these ratings to examine three claims about traumatic memories: a separation of cognitive and visceral aspects of emotion, an increased sense of reliving, and increased fragmentation. There was evidence for a partial separation of cognitive judgments of reexperiencing an emotion and reports of visceral symptoms of the emotion, with visceral symptoms correlating more consistently with scores on PTSD tests. Reliving, but not fragmentation of the memories, increased with increases in the trauma relatedness of the event and with increases in scores on standardized tests of PTSD severity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suppression sours sacrifice: emotional and relational costs of suppressing emotions in romantic relationships

What happens when people suppress their emotions when they sacrifice for a romantic partner? This multimethod study investigates how suppressing emotions during sacrifice shapes affective and relationship outcomes. In Part 1, dating couples came into the laboratory to discuss important romantic relationship sacrifices. Suppressing emotions was associated with emotional costs for the partner discussing his or her sacrifice. In Part 2, couples participated in a 14-day daily experience study. Within-person increases in emotional suppression during daily sacrifice were associated with decreases in emotional well-being and relationship quality as reported by both members of romantic dyads. In Part 3, suppression predicted decreases in relationship satisfaction and increases in thoughts about breaking up with a romantic partner 3 months later. In the first two parts of the study, authenticity mediated the costly effects of suppression. Implications for research on close relationships and emotion regulation are discussed.     

Knife-like mouth and tofu-like heart: emotion regulation by Chinese teachers in classroom teaching

This study attempts to bring together two lines of enquiry into teacher emotion, emotional labor and emotion regulation, arguing that the process of teachers’ emotional labor is their regulation of feelings and expressions to achieve professional goals. Through the analysis of qualitative data collected from two projects concerning teacher emotion in China, the study summarizes three categories and seven strategies adopted by Chinese teachers to regulate their emotions in the classroom. Teachers regulate their emotions by genuinely expressing their feelings in teaching, along with surface acting and deep acting. These emotion regulation strategies help teachers fulfill their professional goals, and may therefore influence their well-being. The influence of Chinese culture on the emotion regulation of teachers, and the teacher–student relationship in China, are also discussed.