Advances,Problems, and Challenges in the Study of Emotion Regulation: A Commentary

As observed by Zinbarg and Mineka (American Psychologist 62:259–261, 2007), the study of emotion regulation faces significant challenges that need to be addressed. In reviewing the articles in the present issue, we comment upon how researchers have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to meet these challenges. We suggest that the articles in the present volume demonstrate important conceptual and methodological advances in emotion regulation research, but that the most central problems noted by Zinbarg and Mineka have yet to be fully remedied. In highlighting both the progress made and problems faced by the field of emotion regulation, we suggest new directions for future research in this area.