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Contextualising emotion regulation: A mixed-methods approach to understanding the mechanisms through which emotion controllability beliefs influence adolescent anxiety
Abstract
Given the developmental challenges and opportunities encountered during adolescence and the current COVID-19 context, it seems particularly important to consider protective factors for adolescent mental health, especially anxiety. One such factor relates to the beliefs adolescents hold about whether they can control their emotions. One mechanism for explaining the link between emotion controllability beliefs and anxiety may be emotion regulation. Believing that emotions can be controlled may encourage the use of ‘healthy’ (over ‘unhealthy’) emotion regulation strategies, which can, in turn, lead to better mental health outcomes. Recent revisions to the most widely used process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 2015) suggest that emotion controllability beliefs influence not only emotion regulation choice but the whole emotion-generative-and-regulation process. Research has, however, rarely examined what happens in the different stages of the emotion regulation process (other than the stage of strategy selection), or why certain strategies are preferred over others. Further, theory and research have mainly focused on intra-personal emotion regulation processes, despite emotion regulation often occurring in a social context and likely being influenced by it. The present study aimed to examine the relationships between adolescent emotion controllability beliefs, emotion regulation, and anxiety; explore the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of emotion regulation processes, and investigate aspects of the interpersonal context perceived as helpful/hindering in the regulation of anxiety. Year 9 - 11 students recruited from 10 English secondary schools completed questionnaires (n=81) examining the relationships between emotion controllability beliefs, emotion regulation, and anxiety, and semi-structured interviews (n=10) exploring intra- and inter-personal emotion regulation processes. Quantitative findings demonstrated an indirect effect of emotion controllability beliefs on anxiety via ‘healthy’ emotion regulation. Thematic analysis elicited six themes: manifestations of anxiety; negative views around anxiety; individual, contextual, and interpersonal factors (affecting emotion regulation choices); and emotionally-containing environments. Implications for emotion regulation theory, Educational Psychology (EP) practice, mental health assessment and intervention, and educational practices are presented and discussed.
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Using a process model of emotion, a distinction between antecedent-focused and response-focused emotion regulation is proposed. To test this distinction, 120 participants were shown a disgusting film while their experiential, behavioral, and physiological responses were recorded. Participants were told to either (a) think about the film in such a way that they would feel nothing (reappraisal, a form of antecedent-focused emotion regulation), (b) behave in such a way that someone watching them would not know they were feeling anything (suppression, a form of response-focused emotion regulation), or (c) watch the film (a control condition). Compared with the control condition, both reappraisal and suppression were effective in reducing emotion-expressive behavior. However, reappraisal decreased disgust experience, whereas suppression increased sympathetic activation. These results suggest that these 2 emotion regulatory processes may have different adaptive consequences.
This handbook provides a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the science of stress and mental health. Topics covered include assessment issues, the role of stress in various mental disorders, developmental influences and individual difference factors that predict reactivity to stress, and treatment of stress-related mental health problems. Decades of research have unequivocally shown that life stress is a central factor in the onset and course of almost every psychiatric disorder. However, the processes by which stress influences mental health are complex, and integration of the diverse biological and psychological systems involved necessitates a multidisciplinary perspective. Fortunately, scientists working from diverse vantage points have made huge advances in unpacking the complexities of stress-disorder relations. Thus, the time is ripe for this handbook. Internationally recognized scholars in the field of stress and stress-related disorders have contributed their diverse expertise, providing the reader with both depth and breadth in terms of understanding stress and mental health. In Part 1, a critical discussion of assessment issues in the domains of stress exposure and stress response is provided. Part 2 is comprised of chapters reviewing the relation of stress exposures to a broad range of mental health outcomes across the lifespan. Parts 3 and 4 are concerned with understanding how the stress response unfolds at both psychological and neurobiological levels, and Part 5 addresses stress adaptation and resilience, as well as evidence-based treatments for stress and stress-related disorder. This volume will constitute an invaluable resource for students, established scientists, and clinicians looking for a comprehensive treatment of the topic of stress and mental health.
Initial research into the use of Emotion Coaching (EC) in educational settings has suggested that it can support social and emotional development, and promote positive relationships and behaviour. This research used a sequential mixed-methods design to examine the factors which impact on the implementation of EC. The views of 40 staff across six mainstream primary schools in the UK who had undertaken whole-school training in EC were examined via an online questionnaire. Follow-up semi-structured interviews with 13 staff from two of those schools were analysed using thematic analysis. Key facilitators to implementation included quality training, a school ethos where wellbeing was central, and an actively engaged senior leadership team. Key barriers to implementation were the pressure faced by school staff due to time constraints and curriculum demands. Implications for senior leaders in schools, educational psychologists (EPs), and policymakers are discussed.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health is a widespread concern. However, to date, there is limited empirical evidence which can causally attribute changes to the pandemic. With the aim of overcoming some of the existing methodological limitations, the current study utilised a naturally occurring experiment within two ongoing school-based trials. Depressive symptoms, externalising difficulties (e.g., behaviour problems such as losing your temper or hitting out), and life satisfaction were assessed at baseline and 1-year follow-up across two groups. One group entered the study in phase 1 (2018; pre-COVID-19 group; N = 6,419) and were controls as they did not experience the COVID-19 pandemic between baseline and follow-up. The second group entered the study in phase 2 (2019; COVID-19 group; N = 5,031) and were exposed to the pandemic between baseline and follow-up, therefore providing a natural experiment. Key Findings • The COVID-19 pandemic led to increased adolescent depressive symptoms and decreased life satisfaction • If the COVID-19 pandemic had not occurred, estimates suggest that we would observe 6% fewer adolescents with high depressive symptoms which is a difference of 1.6% in prevalence (27.1% to 25.4%) • There was no overall effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent externalising difficulties • Girls’ mental health may have been more negatively impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic than boys
The growing shift to online research provides numerous potential opportunities, including greater sample diversity and more efficient data collection. While online methods and recruitment platforms have gained popularity in research with adults, there is relatively little guidance on best practices for how to conduct remote research with children. The current review discusses how to conduct remote behavioral research with children and adolescents using moderated (i.e., real-time interactions between the experimenter and child) and unmoderated (i.e., independent completion of study without experimenter interaction) methods. We examine considerations regarding sample diversity and provide recommendations on implementing remote research with children, including discussions about remote software, study design, and data quality. These recommendations can promote the use of remote research amongst developmental psychologists by contributing to our knowledge of effective online research practices and helping to build standardized guidelines when working with children.
The present study examined the relationship between developmental patterns of loneliness and psychosocial functioning among adolescents (9–21 years; N = 110, 52% male). Four-wave longitudinal data were obtained from the Nijmegen Longitudinal Study (NLS) on Infant and Child Development. Loneliness was measured at 9, 13, 16, and 21 years of age and anxiety, depression and self-esteem at 9 and 21 years of age. Using k-means cluster analysis, three trajectories of loneliness were identified as “stable low” (56% of the subjects), “high decreasing” (22% of the subjects), and “low increasing” (22% of the subjects). Importantly, trajectories of loneliness across adolescence significantly predicted psychosocial functioning in young adulthood. Both the “high-decreasing” and “low-increasing” loneliness clusters were associated with higher risk of depression and lower self-esteem compared to the “stable low” loneliness cluster. The “low-increasing” loneliness cluster was associated with higher risk of anxiety compared to the “stable low” loneliness cluster. These results indicate that loneliness in adolescence is a vulnerability that manifests itself in higher levels of anxiety and depression and lower self-esteem in young adulthood.
Objective
Research suggests that beliefs about emotional controllability influence the use of emotion regulation strategies, which in turn impact psychological health and illness. However, no research has yet investigated whether emotional controllability is linked to eating psychopathology. The current study investigates whether these concepts are related, as individuals with eating disorders have problems with emotion regulation.
Method
We collected self-report data from 718 participants from a community sample using validated questionnaires, and ran mediational analyses to assess the relationship between emotional controllability and eating psychopathology, via reappraisal and suppression, two emotion regulation strategies.
Results
Our mediational analyses suggest that believing emotions to be uncontrollable relates to high levels of suppression ( β = −.08), low levels of reappraisal ( β = .19) and poorer eating disorder psychopathology ( β = −.11). Reappraisal and suppression were found to partially mediate the relationship between emotional controllability and eating psychopathology.
Discussion
The current study has demonstrated relationships that support investigations relating emotional controllability, emotion regulation and psychological health. This research has potential implications for developing interventions to target beliefs about emotions in order to help improve emotion regulation skills and eating psychopathology.
Recent theories posit that emotion mindsets (i.e., the extent to which individuals believe emotions are malleable or fixed) play a crucial role in experiences of emotion and influence emotion regulation (ER) processes. Drawing from mindset theory, this study examined the hypothesis that fixed emotion mindsets (FEMs) would predict depressive symptoms via compromised ER competence in adolescence, a period when many first episodes of depression occur. Results supported these hypotheses across two studies assessing participants in midadolescence (ages 14–18; M age = 16.17) and late adolescence (ages 18–21; M age = 18.52). Using a comprehensive approach to assessing ER, results demonstrated that FEMs were associated with less voluntary engagement and more disengagement and emotion dysregulation. In turn, higher voluntary engagement was associated with lower depressive symptoms, whereas higher disengagement and emotion dysregulation were associated with higher depressive symptoms. These findings highlight that one understudied pathway from FEMs to depressive symptoms may be the manner in which individuals respond to their emotions, implicating emotion mindsets as one target for efforts to improve clinical outcomes during adolescence.
The relations between self and others are fluid and constantly changing but exert a profound influence on our identity and emotional experiences. Indeed, human emotions are frequently and intensely social, and the people with whom we interact can alter our momentary mood. But does emotional “contagion” extend over prolonged periods of hours to days, and, if so, how does it propagate through interconnected groups? Answering this question is empirically challenging, because mood similarity in connected individuals can arise through multiple mechanisms (social influence, social selection, and shared external causation), making causal inferences hard to draw. We address this challenge using temporally high-resolution, longitudinal data from 2 independent, bounded social networks during periods of high communal activity and low external contact. Adolescent study participants (N = 79) completed daily mood (n = 4,724) and social interaction (n = 1,775) ratings during residential performance tours of classical music lasting 5 to 7 days. Analyses using statistical network models show that in both networks, adolescent musicians became reciprocally more similar in mood to their interaction partners. The observed contagion effect was greater for negative than for positive mood. That is, although one may catch a friend’s bad mood, the friend may feel less negative in the process. These results suggest a mechanism for emotional buffering and the cost of social support. We found no evidence for social selection based on mood. Indeed, participants were remarkably tolerant of their peers’ mood fluctuations and showed no evidence of altering their patterns of social interaction accordingly.
Loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms are internalizing problems that are highly intertwined and often co-occur during adolescence. This overlap and co-occurrence raises the question whether three different labels are used for the same underlying phenomenon. The present study adopts a comprehensive approach to this issue by investigating the development of the three phenomena simultaneously. Specifically, this study aimed to investigate (1) the developmental trend for all three internalizing problems separately, (2) whether they are best described by a single developmental trend, (3) how they co-develop across adolescence, and (4) gender differences in this co-development. The analyses were run in three three-wave longitudinal samples of adolescents with one-year intervals in order to verify the robustness of the findings. Sample 1 (roughly ages 15, 16, and 17) comprised 549 adolescents (63% girls), and Samples 2 and 3 (roughly ages 13, 14, and 15) comprised 811 adolescents (46% girls) and 1101 adolescents (52% girls), respectively. Latent growth curve modeling for the three phenomena separately showed either small increases or stable patterns. A comparison of a Multiple Indicator Latent Growth Model (MILGM) with a Parallel Process Latent Growth Curve Modeling (PPLGCM) showed that the three internalizing problems followed unique, but related, developmental trends across adolescence. The intercepts of the three phenomena were positively correlated with one another in all samples and increases in loneliness were associated consistently with increases in social anxiety symptoms. Only in Sample 3 evidence was found for a similar association between loneliness and depressive symptoms and between social anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. Except for differences in initial levels, gender differences in the development of the three problems were limited. Overall, the results of the present study clearly indicate that the three internalizing problems are longitudinally distinct from one another, but co-develop across adolescence.
This article introduces an accessible approach to implementing unmoderated remote research in developmental science – research in which children and families participate in studies remotely and independently, without directly interacting with researchers. Unmoderated remote research has the potential to strengthen developmental science by: (1) facilitating the implementation of studies that are easily replicable, (2) allowing for new approaches to longitudinal studies and studies of parent-child interaction, and (3) including families from more diverse backgrounds and children growing up in more diverse environments in research. We describe an approach we have used to design and implement unmoderated remote research that is accessible to researchers with limited programming expertise, and we describe the resources we have made available on a new website (discoveriesonline.org) to help researchers get started with implementing this approach. We discuss the potential of this method for developmental science and highlight some challenges still to be overcome to harness the power of unmoderated remote research for advancing the field.
Why do some people routinely respond to emotional difficulty in ways that foster resilience, while others habitually engage in responses associated with deleterious consequences over time? This study examined relations between emotion controllability beliefs and goals for emotion regulation (ER) with peoples’ multivariate profile of cognitive ER strategy use. Cluster analysis classified 481 university students (81% female) as adaptive, maladaptive, or low regulators based on their multivariate profile of engagement in five adaptive and four maladaptive cognitive ER strategies. A discriminant function analysis predicting the multivariate profiles supported that lower emotion controllability beliefs and lower performance-avoidance goals for ER significantly distinguished maladaptive regulators from adaptive regulators. Moreover, lower learning, performance-avoidance, and performance-approach goals for ER significantly distinguished low regulators from maladaptive and low regulators. Taken together, findings support that emotion-related beliefs and goals may help to clarify why some people habitually engage in more adaptive patterns of cognitive ER in response to negative life events than others.
Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) frequently report interpersonal and affective dysfunction. A useful lens for uniting these ideas is through the framework of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER), which consists of the ways others assist a distressed individual and how this shapes his or her subsequent emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses. In this theoretical review, we provide an overview of the rationale for exploring IER and review IER processes in this population using the framework of the Process Model of Emotion Regulation. Finally, we offer suggestions for next steps in conducting research. IER offers a parsimonious way to explore social and emotional constructs related to ED pathology and may provide potential targets for prevention and intervention in these difficult-to-treat disorders.
People’s beliefs about emotions may be grouped into two main categories: beliefs about the controllability of emotions and beliefs about the usefulness of emotions. These beliefs influence emotion regulation efforts and mental health, so the assessment of these beliefs is important. However, few psychometric measures are available, particularly for assessing the usefulness dimension. In this study (N = 161), we address this issue by developing and conducting an initial validation of a 16-item self-report measure called the Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ). Confirmatory factor analyses found its structure to consist of three first-order factors: a controllability factor spanning both negatively and positively valenced emotions (General-Controllability), and two valence-specific usefulness factors (Negative-Usefulness, Positive-Usefulness). All first-order factors also loaded together on a higher-order factor, representing an overall maladaptive beliefs about emotions construct. All subscale and composite scores had good levels of internal consistency. Correlational and regression analyses found that EBQ scores related in expected ways with other measures, and were significant predictors of emotion regulation abilities and psychopathology. We conclude that the beliefs about emotions construct is multidimensional, and the EBQ appears to be a promising new tool to assess it.
This study addresses three questions: How often and how consistently do predictors for emotion regulation choice occur in daily life? What predicts emotion regulation choice in daily life? How do predictors for emotion regulation choice interact in daily life? We examined emotion regulation goals (i.e., prohedonic and social goals), situational factors (i.e., perceived control, expected reoccurrence, and emotional intensity), and emotion regulation strategies (i.e., active coping, distraction, rumination, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression) in negative emotion events. A total of 110 individuals (65% female) participated in an experience sampling study and received beeps, five times a day over the course of 9 days. We used a random intercept model to estimate our results. Emotion regulation goals and situational factors vary strongly in different events within the same person. Emotion regulation strategies, effective in changing the emotional experience, are crucial for prohedonic goals, whereas expressive suppression is important for social goals. Perceived control was positively associated with putatively adaptive strategies. Emotional intensity and expected reoccurrence were negatively associated with putatively adaptive strategies. Emotional intensity was positively associated with putatively maladaptive strategies. Emotion regulation strategies were not associated with the interaction of emotion regulation goals and situational factors. We conclude that emotion regulation goals and situational factors are extremely context-dependent, suggesting that they should be treated as states. Emotion regulation goals appear to have a functional association with strategies for prohedonic and social goals. The associations between situational factors and strategies in daily life appear to be largely different from the results found in the laboratory, emphasizing the importance of experience sampling studies.
Although there is potential to use instant messaging interviews in youth research, it is important to understand how this method shapes the research encounter and the data produced. This article describes a researcher's use of WhatsApp to conduct digital interviews with young people about their social media practices. Young people's familiarity with this technology empowers them through easier access to the research interview, greater freedom to talk about sensitive issues, the ability to express themselves via text and the possibility of exercising greater control over the interview. This may result in a corresponding lack of power for the researcher. This inversion of the traditional power relation between researchers and participants might facilitate young people's voices being heard more clearly in youth research. This medium also provides rich, multi-media insights into the world of young people, not readily accessed through other methods.
This study examines relationships between emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use among people with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and a psychologically healthy control group. Using experience-sampling methodology, we tested group differences in 2 types of emotion beliefs (emotion control values and emotion malleability beliefs) and whether emotion beliefs predicted trait and daily use of cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression. People with SAD endorsed higher emotion control values and lower emotion malleability beliefs than did healthy controls. Across groups, emotion control values were positively associated with suppression (but unrelated to reappraisal), and emotion malleability beliefs were negatively associated with suppression and positively associated with reappraisal. We also addressed 2 exploratory questions related to measurement. First, we examined whether trait and state measures of emotion regulation strategies were related to emotion control values in different ways and found similar associations across measures. Second, we examined whether explicit and implicit measures of emotion control values were related to daily emotion regulation strategy use in different ways-and found that an implicit measure was unrelated to strategy use. Results are discussed in the context of growing research on metaemotions and the measurement of complex features of emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Moving from the lab to an online environment opens up enormous potential to collect behavioural data from thousands of participants with the click of a button. However, getting the first online experiment running requires familiarisation with a number of new tools and terminologies. There exist a number of tutorials and hands-on guides that can facilitate this process, but these are often tailored to one specific online platform. The aim of this paper is to give a broad introduction to the world of online testing. This will provide a high-level understanding of the infrastructure before diving into specific details with more in-depth tutorials. Becoming familiar with these tools allows moving from hypothesis to experimental data within hours.
Background
Research investigating the role of emotion regulation (ER) in the development and treatment of psychopathology has increased in recent years. Evidence suggests that an increased focus on ER in treatment can improve existing interventions. Most ER research has neglected young people, therefore the present meta-analysis summarizes the evidence for existing psychosocial intervention and their effectiveness to improve ER in youth. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. Twenty-one randomized-control-trials (RCTs) assessed changes in ER following a psychological intervention in youth exhibiting various psychopathological symptoms. We found moderate effect sizes for current interventions to decrease emotion dysregulation in youth (g = − 0.46) and small effect sizes to improve emotion regulation (g = 0.36). Significant differences between studies including intervention components, ER measures and populations studied resulted in large heterogeneity. This is the first meta-analysis that summarizes the effectiveness for existing interventions to improve ER in youth. The results suggest that interventions can enhance ER in youth, and that these improvements correlate with improvements in psychopathology. More RCTs including larger sample sizes, different age groups and psychopathologies are needed to increase our understanding of what works for who and when.
p>There are many free instant messengers available now which allow to communicate with friends with text, phone call, video, sharing of files, in group or not and keep contact with them even internationally. But only very few of the instant messengers have gained a popularity and attention. Recent studies have shown that the most popular instant messengers are WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram. Even, Facebook acquired WhatsApp due to have huge users. Viber is another messenger with many integrated features that allows the phone calls and sends the text messages for free and there is no subscription like WhatsApp. While Telegram offers the users an open-source platform with no ads, a clean fast interface, asks for no payments whatsoever and the biggest selling point is security. WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram which instant messenger is best? The popularity of Telegram has reached at the top of Google play store and become the most downloaded messaging app in the world today. But at the moment WhatsApp is still the winner!</p
Interpersonal emotion regulation entails a wide array of strategies aimed at influencing others' emotions. Despite its importance for successful social interactions, only a few studies have evaluated interpersonal emotion regulation in children. In detail, the study of developmental changes in the use of emotion regulation strategies overlooked age, gender and cultural differences across different emotions. To address this gap, the present study used the serious game Emodiscovery, a simulation game targeted at 8-10-year-olds, which measures the strategies selected by children to improve the emotions of anger, sadness, and fear displayed by 3D virtual characters. One-hundred British (M = 9.10 years; 39% girls) and 108 Spanish (M = 9.04, 44% girls) 8-10-year-olds played 3 different levels or scenarios of the game. In each level, the character displayed a negative emotion (i.e., sadness, anger, and fear, respectively) and children were first asked to indicate what emotion the character was feeling and afterward to interact three times with the character to improve his or her mood. In each interaction, 4 possible regulation strategies (2 adaptive and 2 maladaptive) were displayed for children to select. Results showed that in the scenario where the character was displaying sadness, 8-year-olds chose significantly less adaptive strategies than 10-years-olds. In the scenario where the character was angry, boys who accurately recognized the emotion of anger chose more adaptive strategies than those who did not recognize the emotion. For the scenario depicting fear, boys chose less adaptive strategies than girls. The obtained results highlight the importance of looking at specific emotions when researching interpersonal emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Emotion regulation skills develop substantially across adolescence, a period characterized by emotional challenges and developing regulatory neural circuitry. Adolescence is also a risk period for the new onset of anxiety and depressive disorders, psychopathologies which have long been associated with disruptions in regulation of positive and negative emotions. This paper reviews the current understanding of the role of disrupted emotion regulation in adolescent anxiety and depression, describing findings from self-report, behavioral, peripheral psychophysiological, and neural measures. Self-report studies robustly identified associations between emotion dysregulation and adolescent anxiety and depression. Findings from behavioral and psychophysiological studies are mixed, with some suggestion of specific impairments in reappraisal in anxiety. Results from neuroimaging studies broadly implicate altered functioning of amygdala-prefrontal cortical circuitries, although again, findings are mixed regarding specific patterns of altered neural functioning. Future work may benefit from focusing on designs that contrast effects of specific regulatory strategies, and isolate changes in emotional regulation from emotional reactivity. Approaches to improve treatments based on empirical evidence of disrupted emotion regulation in adolescents are also discussed. Future intervention studies might consider training and measurement of specific strategies in adolescents to better understand the role of emotion regulation as a treatment mechanism.
Abstract The present study examined the impact that the environment has on the ability to remain attentive and retain information. Participants listened to an audiobook in either a controlled lab setting or in an uncontrolled natural setting. While listening to the audiobook, participants were randomly prompted to report their current attentional status (focused, mind wandering, or distracted). Participants performed a memory test on audiobook content at the end. Inattention (mind wandering and distraction) did not differ between the two settings. However, there was a setting by attentional state interaction: distraction rates were higher than mind wandering rates outside the lab, while inattention rates did not differ inside the lab. Memory test performance was poorer outside the lab, suggesting that increased distraction may compromise memory more than mind wandering. Collectively, the data suggest that mind wandering and distraction are distinct types of attentional failures and that past controlled lab investigations may have overestimated the role of mind wandering and underestimated the role of distraction in everyday cognition.
Background
There is a growing concern about the mental health of children and young people (CYP) in the UK, with increasing demand for counselling services, admissions for self-harm and referrals to mental health services. We investigated whether there have been similar recent trends in selected mental health outcomes among CYP in national health surveys from England, Scotland and Wales.
Methods
Data were analysed from 140 830 participants (4–24 years, stratified into 4–12, 13–15, 16–24 years) in 36 national surveys in England, Scotland and Wales, 1995–2014. Regression models were used to examine time trends in seven parent/self-reported variables: general health, any long-standing health condition, long-standing mental health condition; Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Score (WEMWBS), above-threshold Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Total (SDQT) score, SDQ Emotion (SDQE) score, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score.
Results
Across all participants aged 4–24, long-standing mental health conditions increased in England (0.8–4.8% over 19 years), Scotland (2.3–6.0%, 11 years) and Wales (2.6–4.1%, 7 years) (all p < 0.001). Among young children (4–12 years), the proportion reporting high SDQT and SDQE scores decreased significantly among both boys and girls in England [SDQE: odds ratio (OR) 0.97 (0.96–0.98), p < 0.001] and girls in Scotland [SDQE: OR 0.96 (0.93–0.99), p = 0.005]. The proportion with high SDQE scores (13–15 years) decreased in England [OR 0.98 (0.96–0.99), p = 0.006] but increased in Wales [OR 1.07 (1.03–1.10), p < 0.001]. The proportion with high GHQ scores decreased among English women (16–24 years) [OR 0.98 (0.98–0.99), p = 0.002].
Conclusions
Despite a striking increase in the reported prevalence of long-standing mental health conditions among UK CYP, there was relatively little change in questionnaire scores reflecting psychological distress and emotional well-being.
Physicians experience many emotionally challenging situations in their professional lives, influencing their emotional state through emotion contagion or social appraisal processes. Successful emotion regulation is crucial to sustain health, enable well-being, foster resilience, and prevent burnout or compassion fatigue. Despite the alarmingly high rate of stress-related disorders in physicians, affecting not only physician well-being, but also outcomes such as physician performance, quality of care, or patient satisfaction, research on how to deal with emotionally challenging situations in physicians is lacking. Based on extant literature, the present article proposes a theoretical model depicting emotions, emotion regulation, and empathy-related processes and their relation to well-being in provider-client interactions. This model serves as a basis for future research and interventions aiming at improving physician well-being and professional functioning. As a first step, interviews with 21 psychiatrists were conducted. Results of qualitative and initial quantitative analyses provided detailed descriptions of the model's components confirming its usefulness for detecting mechanisms linking emotion regulation and well-being in psychiatrist-patient interactions. Additionally, results lend preliminary support for the validity of the model, suggesting that successful regulation of emotions (i.e., achieving a desired emotional state) elicited by cyclical transfer processes in provider-client interactions is associated with both short- and long-term well-being and resilience. Furthermore, empathy-related emotions and their regulation seem to be linked to well-being. Based on the results of the present study, a prospective longitudinal study is under preparation, which is intended to inform effective interventions targeting emotion transfer, empathy-related processes, and emotion regulation in physicians' professional lives. The model and results are also potentially applicable to other health care and social services providers.
Research shows that cognitive reappraisal is an effective emotion regulation (ER) strategy that often has clear benefits. Yet, surprisingly, recent findings demonstrate that people use cognitive reappraisal less frequently than might be expected (Suri, Whittaker & Gross, 2015). We employ cognitive energetics theory (CET) to explain this puzzling behavior. CET posits that the likelihood of launching any cognitive process is a function of two opposing forces: the driving force (i.e., the motivation to launch the process) and the restraining force (i.e., task difficulty). We thus hypothesized that people choose to use cognitive reappraisal relatively rarely because of the difficulty of implementing it. We also postulated that the decision to reappraise (or not) does not simply depend on stimuli emotional intensity because the latter is associated with both the driving and the restraining forces. In support of our hypotheses, we found that when the images’ emotional intensity posed difficulty for reappraisal (i.e. highly intense images) reducing this difficulty by asking participants to merely predict others’ (Study 1) or their own choices (Study 2), increased reappraisal choice. Finally, in Study 3, we showed that a relatively easy to implement reappraisal strategy was chosen more often than the more difficult one for high (but not low) intensity images. These findings illustrate the relevance of a CET-based motivational analysis to emotion regulation choice.
Lack of knowledge regarding, and the stigma associated with, mental disorders have been identified as major obstacles for the promotion of mental health and early intervention. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based intervention program focused on the promotion of mental health literacy (MHL) in young people (“Finding Space for Mental Health”). A sample of 543 students (22 classes), aged between 12 and 14 years old, participated in the study. Each class of students was randomly assigned to the control group (CG; n = 284; 11 classes) or the experimental group (EG; n = 259; 11 classes). MHL was assessed using the Mental Health Literacy questionnaire (MHLq), which is comprised of three dimensions—Knowledge/Stereotypes, First Aid Skills and Help Seeking, and Self-Help Strategies. The scores on these dimensions can also be combined to give an overall or total score. Participants from the EG attended the MHL promotion program (two sessions, 90 min each) delivered at one-week intervals. Sessions followed an interactive methodology, using group dynamics, music, and videos adapted to the target group. All participants responded to the MHLq at three points in time: pre-intervention assessment (one week prior to the intervention), post-intervention assessment (one week after the intervention) and follow-up assessment (six months after the intervention). The intervention effectiveness and the differential impact of sociodemographic variables on the effectiveness of the program were studied using a Generalized Estimation Equation (GEE). Results revealed that participants from the EG demonstrated, on average, significantly higher improvement in MHL from pre-intervention to follow-up when compared to participants from the CG. Different sociodemographic variables affected the effectiveness of the program on distinct dimensions of the MHLq. Overall, “Finding Space for Mental Health” showed efficacy as a short-term promotion program for improving MHL in schools.
t is very important to determine the proper or accurate sample size in any field of research. Sometimes researchers cannot take the decision that how many number of individuals or objects will they select for their study purpose. Also, a set of survey data is used to verify that central limit theorem (CLT) for different sample sizes. From the data of 1348 students we got the average weight for our population of BRAC University students is 62.62 kg with standard deviation 11.79 kg. We observed that our sample means became better estimators of true population mean. In addition, the shape of the distribution became more Normal as the sample size increased. So it is concluded that our simulation results were consistent with central limit theorem
People often recruit social resources to manage their emotions, a phenomenon known as interpersonal emotion regulation (IER). Despite its importance, IER’s psychological structure remains poorly understood. We propose that two key dimensions describe IER: (1) individuals’ tendency to pursue IER in response to emotional events, and (2) the efficacy with which they perceive IER improves their emotional lives. To probe these dimensions, we developed the Interpersonal Regulation Questionnaire (IRQ), a valid and reliable measure of individual differences in IER. Factor analyses of participants’ responses confirmed tendency and efficacy as independent dimensions of IER (Study 1; N = 285), and demonstrated independence between how individuals engage with IER in response to negative, versus positive, emotion. In Study 2 (N = 347), we found that individuals high in IER tendency and efficacy are more emotionally expressive, empathetic, and socially connected. Two subsequent studies highlighted behavioral consequences of IER dimensions: people high in IER tendency sought out others more often following experimentally-induced emotion (Study 3; N = 400), and individuals high in IER efficacy benefitted more from social support after real-world emotional events (Study 4; N = 787). Finally, a field study of social networks in freshman dormitories revealed that individuals high in IER tendency and efficacy developed more supportive relationships during the first year of college (Study 5; N = 193). These data (i) identify distinct dimensions underlying IER, (ii) demonstrate that these dimensions can be stably measured and separated from related constructs, and (iii) reveal their implications for relationships and well-being.
In regression analysis it is obvious to have a correlation between the response and predictor(s), but having correlation among predictors is something undesired. The number of predictors included in the regression model depends on many factors among which, historical data, experience, etc. At the end selection of most important predictors is something objective due to the researcher. Multicollinearity is a phenomena when two or more predictors are correlated, if this happens, the standard error of the coefficients will increase [8]. Increased standard errors means that the coefficients for some or all independent variables may be found to be significantly different from In other words, by overinflating the standard errors, multicollinearity makes some variables statistically insignificant when they should be significant. In this paper we focus on the multicollinearity, reasons and consequences on the reliability of the regression model.
Individuals’ theories about emotions—the beliefs about the nature of emotions and the ability to influence them—have been linked to well-being. However, their causal role is not clear. To address this issue, we delivered a randomized controlled intervention to 1,645 middle school students that targeted their theories of emotion through interactive online modules. Students were taught that they could modify their emotions, get better at modifying their emotions with practice, and use strategies to improve their well-being. One month later, we found that students assigned to the intervention condition (compared to an active control condition) reported more adaptive theories of emotion and greater emotional well-being in school, although well-being outside of school was unchanged. Secondary analyses showed that these effects were present regardless of students’ race, gender, or grade level. These findings suggest that theories of emotion may be a promising target for improving adolescent well-being.
We draw upon the Associative Network model of memory, as well as the principles of encoding-retrieval specificity, and cue distinctiveness, to argue that self-generated cue mnemonics offer an intuitive means of facilitating reliable recall of personally experienced events. The use of a self-generated cue mnemonic allows for the spreading activation nature of memory, whilst also presenting an opportunity to capitalize upon cue distinctiveness. Here, we present the theoretical rationale behind the use of this technique, and highlight the distinction between a self-generated cue and a self-referent cue in autobiographical memory research. We contrast this mnemonic with a similar retrieval technique, Mental Reinstatement of Context, which is recognized as the most effective mnemonic component of the Cognitive Interview. Mental Reinstatement of Context is based upon the principle of encoding-retrieval specificity, whereby the overlap between encoded information and retrieval cue predicts the likelihood of accurate recall. However, it does not incorporate the potential additional benefit of self-generated retrieval cues.
Rebecca M. Warner’s bestselling Applied Statistics: From Bivariate Through Multivariate Techniques has been split into two volumes for ease of use over a two-course sequence. Applied Statistics II: Multivariable and Multivariate Techniques, Third Edition is a core multivariate statistics text based on chapters from the second half of the original book.
The text begins with two new chapters: an introduction to the new statistics, and a chapter on handling outliers and missing values. All chapters on statistical control and multivariable or multivariate analyses from the previous edition are retained (with the moderation chapter heavily revised) and new chapters have been added on structural equation modeling, repeated measures, and on additional statistical techniques. Each chapter includes a complete example, and begins by considering the types of research questions that chapter’s technique can answer, progresses to data screening, and provides screen shots of SPSS menu selections and output, and concludes with sample results sections. By-hand computation is used, where possible, to show how elements of the output are related to each other, and to obtain confidence interval and effect size information when SPSS does not provide this. Datasets are available on the accompanying website.
Most developmental event‐related potential (ERP) research uses experimental paradigms modified from research with adults. One major challenge is identifying how to adapt these paradigms effectively for use with younger individuals. This paper provides guidance for developmental adaptations by considering research on the development of recognition memory. We provide a brief overview of recognition memory tasks and ERP components associated with recognition memory in children and adults. Then, we provide some general recommendations, discuss common differences between ERP studies of recognition memory in adults and children (e.g., the type of stimuli presented, response modalities), and provide suggestions for assessing the effect of task modifications on ERP components of interest. Specifically, we recommend (a) testing both children and adults on the modified paradigm to allow for a continuity of findings across development, (b) comparing children of different ages on the modified paradigm based on expectations regarding when developmental change occurs for the cognitive process of interest, and (c) empirically assessing the effect of methodological differences between paradigms. To illustrate the latter, we analyzed data from our lab comparing memory‐related ERP components when children experienced a 1‐day, 2‐day, or 1‐week delay between encoding and retrieval.
Background:
The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is posing many challenges to global health. Efforts from the whole scientific community have shed light on the pathogenetic mechanisms and the clinical features of SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as on potential therapeutic strategies.
Summary:
The consequences of stress related to social isolation and anxiety generated by the pandemic on mental and physical health are collateral effects that are yet poorly investigated.
The ability to regulate emotions is key to goal attainment and well-being. Although much has been discovered about neurodevelopment and the acquisition of emotion regulation, very little of this work has leveraged information encoded in whole-brain networks. Here we employed a network neuroscience framework to parse the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation skill acquisition, while accounting for age, in a sample of children and adolescents (N = 70, 34 female, aged 8-17 years). Focusing on three key network metrics-network differentiation, modularity, and community number differences between active regulation and a passive emotional baseline-we found that the control network, the default mode network, and limbic network were each related to emotion regulation ability while controlling for age. Greater network differentiation in the control and limbic networks was related to better emotion regulation ability. With regards to network community structure (modularity and community number), more communities and more crosstalk between modules (i.e., less modularity) in the control network were associated with better regulatory ability. By contrast, less crosstalk (i.e., greater modularity) between modules in the default mode network was associated with better regulatory ability. Together, these findings highlight whole-brain connectome features that support the acquisition of emotion regulation in youth.
Objectives
While significantly elevated distress is repeatedly found amongst young people with cystic fibrosis, their determinants remain largely unknown. This study explored whether metacognitive beliefs and self-efficacy for emotion regulation were associated with anxiety and depression after control for physical functioning, age and gender.
Design
Cross-sectional study using a 110-item online questionnaire.
Methods
An online survey was undertaken by 147 young people with CF aged 10–18 from five countries. Associations of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores with gender, age, physical functioning, Metacognitive Beliefs Questionnaire for Children (MCQ-C) subscales and Self-Efficacy for Emotion Regulation (SE-ER) were examined using hierarchical multiple linear regressions.
Results
Physical functioning, gender and age accounted for 31% of the variance in anxiety and 39% in depression. The MCQ-C and SE-ER added another 45% to the variance of anxiety and 32% to depression. At the final step of both analyses, physical functioning, SE-ER, MCQ-C Negative Meta-Worry and Superstition, Punishment & Responsibility contributed significantly. Older age was also significantly associated with depression.
Conclusions
Self-efficacy for emotion regulation, concern about worrying and shame may be particularly important foci for interventions aimed at ameliorating anxiety and depression in young people with CF.
This article introduces an accessible approach to implementing unmoderated remote research in developmental science—research in which children and families participate in studies remotely and on their own, without directly interacting with researchers. Unmoderated remote research has the potential to strengthen developmental science by: (1) facilitating the implementation of studies that are easily replicable, (2) allowing for new approaches to longitudinal studies and studies of parent-child interaction, and (3) including families from more diverse backgrounds and children growing up in more diverse environments in research. We describe an approach we have used to design and implement unmoderated remote research that is accessible to researchers with limited programming expertise, and describe resources available on a new website to help researchers get started with this approach, http://discoveriesonline.org. We discuss the potential of this method for developmental science and highlight some challenges still to be overcome to harness the power of unmoderated remote research for advancing the field.
Educational psychologists (EPs) in England are identified as key to specialist mental health provision in schools yet are underrepresented in policy development. This study examined EPs’ mental health casework in schools as one aspect of the professional contribution in this area. Data gathered from interviews with EPs were analysed though constructivist grounded theory (GT) methods. The resulting GT drew from psychotherapeutic attachment theories, person-centred counselling, self-determination theory, solution-focused thinking, and from ecological and consultation theories. EPs used two distinct but interacting processes in mental health casework. One involved facilitating a secure base offering emotional containment for overwhelmed adults (staff, parents). The other engaged adults in cognitively demanding problem-solving activities, challenging perceptions, leading to cognitive and behavioural change, and in turn to systemic adaptations. Limitations and implications are discussed.
Emotion regulation is a key developmental skill, but very few studies have investigated developmental differences in how children and adolescents regulate the emotions of others (interpersonal emotion regulation). This study examined developmental differences in interpersonal emotion regulation in the context of social exclusion. Ninety-one 5- and 9-year-old children and 13-year-old adolescents were presented with two straightforward social exclusion scenarios, where a victim was excluded because of an irrelevant characteristic, and one multi-faceted scenario, where exclusion can be justified by social-conventional reasons. Participants judged social exclusion as more acceptable in the multifaceted scenario based on social-conventional and personal-choice reasons. Nine- and 13-year-olds were more likely to change the emotions of victims and excluders and most commonly used behavioural interpersonal emotion regulation strategies. Overall, children and adolescents engage in efforts to improve victims’ and worsen excluders’ emotions in social exclusion situations.
When individuals experience empathy , they often seek to bolster others’ well-being. But what do empathizers want others to feel? Though psychologists have studied empathy and prosociality for decades, this question has yet to be clearly addressed. This is because virtually all existing research focuses on a model under which improving others’ well-being also comprises heightening their positive affect or decreasing their negative affect and helping them reach their own emotional goals. In this review, I argue that real-life empathic goals encompass a broader range—including sometimes worsening targets’ affect or contravening their wishes in order to improve their well-being—that can be productively integrated into the framework of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER). I review the empathic IER spectrum in a number of contexts, including close relationships, professional caregiving, and group-based emotions. Integrating empathy and IER provides a synthetic and generative way to ask new questions about how social emotions produce prosocial actions.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 71 is January 4, 2020. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Supporting the mental health of children and young people is a global priority. The issue is not specific to England. However, evidence suggests that one in ten children and young people in England has a mental health need. This represents approximately three students in every classroom. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of schools in supporting children and young people’s mental health. Whilst the paper acknowledges that teachers are not trained health professionals, it is argued that a whole-school approach to mental health can support individuals in schools to remain mentally healthy. The elements of a whole-school approach are identified and discussed and some of the challenges in relation to implementation are considered. Critical to the development of a whole-school approach is the commitment from the school leadership team to promoting student and staff wellbeing.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a policy paper not an empirical study.
Findings
This paper has outlined the policy context in the UK in relation to children and young people’s mental health. It has addressed the risk and protective factors which can cause or mitigate against mental ill health and it has outlined the elements of a whole-school approach to mental health.
Originality/value
This paper explores the contribution that schools can make to supporting students’ mental health. There is limited research which addresses mental health in young people from a non-therapeutic angle.
Given recent attention to emotion regulation as a potentially unifying function of diverse symptom presentations, there is a need for comprehensive measures that adequately assess difficulties in emotion regulation among adults. This paper (a) proposes an integrative conceptualization of emotion regulation as involving not just the modulation of emotional arousal, but also the awareness, understanding, and acceptance of emotions, and the ability to act in desired ways regardless of emotional state; and (b) begins to explore the factor structure and psychometric properties of a new measure, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Two samples of undergraduate students completed questionnaire packets. Preliminary findings suggest that the DERS has high internal consistency, good test–retest reliability, and adequate construct and predictive validity.
Mental health difficulties amongst children and young people increasingly dominate the British government agenda. Despite the 2014 Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice extending statutory provision up to the age of 25, the mental health needs of older young people are often overlooked in educational guidance. For many young people, the impact of depression has wide ranging social and economic implications; therefore it is important to enable early identification and intervention. Understanding self-report processes may be one way of enabling this. From this perspective, the present review aimed to investigate what narratives young people use to communicate depression. Eight studies were identified and assessed using qualitative and quantitative frameworks, and reported using PRISMA guidelines. Findings provide useful information about issues, methods and processes in communicating depression as well as perceptions about effective support. Implications for future research and practice are considered in light of these findings.
