Bullying victimization is a common experience for many students (Hoover, Oliver, & Hazler, 1992; Lund & Ross, 2017; Modecki, Minchin, Harbaugh, Guerra, & Runions, 2014). The vast majority of studies on the subject have focused on children and adolescents, but research shows that bullying victimization may continue into adulthood for some (Chapell, Casey, & De la Cruz, 2004; Finn, 2004). This suggests that certain students are at risk throughout their lifetime likely due to stable or innate risk factors. Researchers have proposed that personality traits, specifically neuroticism, and emotion regulation deficits are risk factors for bullying victimization (Hemphill, Tollit, Kotevski, & Heerde, 2015; Mynard & Joseph, 1997; Nielsen & Knardahl, 2014). The current study assessed bullying victimization for students attending a public Midwestern university. The rates for college students, influence of prior bullying victimization, and common associated difficulties were assessed. In addition, the current study measured difficulties in emotion regulation and changes in affect in response to bullying victimization vignettes. The results from the current study indicated that bullying continues into college for some students and is best predicted by bullying victimization in primary and secondary school. Results from this study supported the use of a vignette as a mood induction procedure for both victimized and non-victimized students. When taken together, these findings have implications for future research and intervention efforts, which are discussed.

Studies exploring the neural correlates of the emotion regulation strategy called cognitive change (reappraisal) have been thoroughly discussed and synthesized. This is not the case for another emotion regulation strategy called response modulation. The aim of this thesis was to conduct a systematic review on the neural correlates of one specific emotion regulation technique in response modulation, called expressive suppression. Expressive suppression is the inhibition of emotion expressive behavior. Using a systematic search, screening, and selection process, out of the initial 557 articles eight studies were included for data extraction and discussion. The studies exposed participants to negative emotion-inducing stimuli and instructed participants to either suppress their emotional behavior or to watch the stimuli without regulating the emotion. All studies used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Expressive suppression yielded increased activation in frontal and parietal regions, especially in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and bilateral inferior parietal cortex, compared to a non-regulation condition. Results of amygdala activation were inconsistent with different studies showing an increase, decrease, or no difference in activation during expressive suppression versus the non-regulation contrast condition. The thesis ends with a discussion of methodological issues and future directions.

The relationship between female undergraduate students’ (n = 151) reports of parental emotion coaching in childhood and their reports of emotion regulation, romantic attachment, and romantic intimacy in young adulthood was investigated. The female undergraduate students completed additional questionnaires about their mood, personality characteristics, and relationship satisfaction in young adulthood, and parental warmth in childhood. Remembered supportive emotion coaching (comprised of Emotion-Focused Reactions, Problem-Focused Reactions and Expressive Encouragement) was significantly and positively correlated with healthier emotion regulation (reappraisal), and was significantly and negatively correlated with less healthy emotion regulation (suppression). Remembered unsupportive emotion coaching (comprised of Minimizing Reactions, Punitive Reactions, and Distress Reactions) was significantly and positively correlated with romantic avoidant and anxious attachment. Romantic intimacy was not significantly correlated with remembered supportive or unsupportive emotion coaching. Emotion regulation mediated the relationship between remembered emotion coaching and avoidant and anxious attachment, but not romantic intimacy. Emotion regulation continued to mediate the relationship between remembered emotion coaching and avoidant attachment after mood, personality characteristics, relationship satisfaction, and parental warmth were entered into the model as covariates, but emotion regulation did not continue to mediate the relationship after covariates were entered into the model when anxious attachment was the predicted variable.

Objectives Self-esteem may affect the processing and regulation of emotion. However, it is unclear whether differences in self-esteem are associated with changes in initial emotional appraisal or engagement of emotion regulation. I investigated whether individual differences in self-esteem predicted brain responses to negative emotional stimuli: 1) when they were viewed without intentional regulation; and 2) during downregulation using cognitive reappraisal. Thirdly, I investigated whether self-esteem predicted reappraisal success. Method Twenty-nine healthy adults (age M=47, SD=15; 16 female) performed a cognitive reappraisal emotion regulation task during fMRI scanning. Participants viewed and subsequently reappraised or attended to negative and neutral images. Trait self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) was included as a predictor in a whole-brain multiple regression analysis. Analyses were thresholded at p<.005, k>p20, p<.05 family-wise error (FWE)-corrected at cluster-level. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; BA32) and the dorsal prefrontal cortex (PFC; BA6) were a priori regions of interest (ROI), since both have previously been reported in fMRI studies of self-esteem and cognitive reappraisal. A post-hoc ROI analysis tested the correspondence of self-esteem-related ACC activation with findings from a meta-analysis of emotion regulation. Ratings of negative emotional intensity following reappraisal trials were subtracted from ratings following attend-negative trials to index reappraisal success. Results Self-esteem was associated with potentiated ACC ROI activation during viewing of negative, compared to neutral, images (MNI x, y, z = -6, 17, 38, k=43, punc=.001 at peak, pFWE=.368 at cluster-level). For reappraisal compared to attended negative images, self-esteem was positively associated with activation in the left posterior insula (MNI x, y, z = -30, -10, 17, k=30, punc<.001 at peak, pFWE=.959 at cluster-level) and negatively associated with activation in the mid cingulate cortex (MNI x, y, z = 3, -34, 35, k=50, punc=.001 at peak, pFWE=.805 at clusterlevel). However, only the post-hoc ACC ROI analysis was significant after multiple comparison correction (MNI x, y, z = -6, 23, 38, k=22, punc=.001 at peak, pFWE=.021 at clusterlevel). For reappraisal, self-esteem was not related to activation in the ACC or dorsal PFC ROIs. Trait self-esteem did not correlate with reappraisal success, r =.16, p =.208. Conclusion Trait self-esteem may affect recruitment of the ACC during initial emotional appraisal. This may reflect successful automatic emotion regulation for high self-esteem, consistent with the demonstrated spatial overlap with a meta-analytic emotion regulation cluster. While selfesteem may affect brain responsivity during cognitive reappraisal, the observed trends must be interpreted carefully, since the findings do not survive correction for multiple comparisons, and emotional outcomes of applying reappraisal do not differ as a function of self-esteem. Taken together, these findings suggest that high trait self-esteem may be advantageous for rapid automatic emotion regulation, but not deliberate cognitive reappraisal.

Research has shown that positive emotions are important to optimal health, functioning, and well-being, and contribute to resilience against psychological dysfunction. However, many clinical disorders, particularly anxiety and mood disorders, are associated with deficits in positive emotion that may contribute to symptoms and inhibit full recovery. Despite accumulating data identifying disturbances in positive emotion and positive emotion regulation in anxiety and depressive disorders, these deficits have received insufficient attention in treatment. The present study represents a preliminary evaluation of the feasibility and utility of a novel augmentation intervention for enhancing positive emotion in anxiety and depressive disorders. Nine patients with a range of principal anxiety disorders who had previously completed an initial course of cognitive-behavioral treatment at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University (CARD) completed the study. The study utilized a single case experimental design, specifically a multiple baseline across participants design, with participants randomized to 2-, 4-, or 6-week baseline periods to control for the effect of time on outcome variables. Primary outcome variables were assessed weekly during the baseline and intervention phases to permit analysis of functional relationships between individual factors, specific treatment components, and therapeutic outcomes. Major assessments were conducted at baseline, pre-, post-treatment, and a 3-month follow-up. These included both self-report and independent evaluator-rated components. Results indicated that the intervention was effective in improving positive emotion regulation skills for 5 of the 9 of participants. The intervention was associated with significant improvements in anxiety and depressive symptoms, and preliminary effects sizes for pre- to follow-up changes in positive emotion regulation, symptoms, positive and negative emotion, functioning, quality of life, and well-being were moderate to large. Participants reported high acceptability and satisfaction with the study intervention. Qualitative feedback from participants highlighted several areas for improvement in the format and delivery of the intervention, such as increasing the number of sessions and providing a patient workbook, and these changes may increase the effectiveness of the intervention. Future research is needed to confirm the validity of these findings and evaluate the generalizability of these effects across patients and settings.

Much research testing positive psychological interventions (PPIs) has focused on the outcome of emotion regulation (e.g., increased positive or decreased negative emotions and affect). On the other hand, most research testing the effects of attention bias modification (ABM) has focused on the process of emotion regulation (e.g., reducing biased attention towards threatening faces in those with social anxiety disorder). Evidence is sparse and inconsistent on the process of emotion regulation in PPIs and the outcome of emotion regulation in ABM programs. Furthermore, few studies have examined the combined effects of a positive ABM (PABM) with PPIs, which is the focus of the current investigation. The aim of the study is to examine two relationships: 1) the effects of the gratitude letter PPI on the process of emotion regulation and 2) the combined effects of the PABM program and the gratitude letter PPI on the process and outcome of emotion regulation. The researchers used a dot-probe task to bias attention. The dot-probe task presented positive-neutral stimuli pairs (e.g., babies; geometric pattern). In the train-positive group, the probe appeared behind the positive images 90% of the time, compared to 50% in the control group. The researchers used a gratitude letter PPI, where participants wrote a letter for 15 minutes to someone they have never thanked, compared to the control condition who wrote a letter about their morning routine. The results suggest that the gratitude letter PPI does not affect the process of emotion regulation via attentional biases but does increase positive affect in the short term. Further, the PABM program may not affect the outcome of emotion regulation but did demonstrate a biasing of reaction time to positive pictures. This biasing of reaction times in the dot-probe was not consistent with eye-gaze patterns to positive images, suggesting that the dot-probe task does not measure or manipulate attentional biases. Finally, combining the dot-probe task and gratitude letter PPI did not produce a stronger effect on the process and outcome of emotion regulation than the gratitude letter alone. The findings of the current study suggest that the gratitude letter may be an effective and quick intervention to increase positive affect, but that the intervention is not suitable for long-term changes after a single administration. Further, individuals should not expect the dot-probe task to bias attention and should not except the task to influence the outcome of emotion regulation. Instead, researchers could use the task to measure and manipulate one’s decision-making processing speed.

A growing body of research has documented associations between personality disorders (PDs) and attachment disturbance, and yet, attachment disturbance does not necessarily guarantee the development of PD pathology. Thus, understanding the mechanisms mediating the relationship between attachment disturbance and PD pathology remains an open area of research. One area with sound theoretical and empirical evidence has shown that attachment disturbances are associated with emotion regulation difficulties, as well as maladaptive interpersonal patterns of behavior. However, the research conducted thus far has predominately focused on borderline personality disorder, at the exclusion of other PD domains, and also has not broadened the scope of research to include other relevant psychological processes that may clarify how personality pathology and attachment disturbance are interrelated. Using a large independent sample of college (n = 946) and community-based individuals (n = 271), the current study aimed to (1) examine how the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) PD trait domains would be differentially associated with maladaptive attachment processes and emotion regulation problems, and (2) explore whether deficits in mindfulness and emotion regulation mediated the relationship between disturbed attachment and PD trait domains. Findings suggested that the PID-5 PD trait domains have general and specific relations to attachment insecurity, impairments in emotion regulation, and decreased mindfulness. Overall, the current study suggests that improving emotion regulation skills and increasing dispositional mindfulness may limit the expression of pathological personality traits. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

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In the past decade, educational researchers have engaged in research on teacher emotion regulation. However, there has never been an in-depth look at teacher emotion regulation studied from the first person perspective of the teacher. This study seeks to offer just such a perspective. The self-study explored how, across time, I as the teacher participant, teaching in a mid-socioeconomic suburb of Utah, responded emotionally in terms of classroom interactions. Over a 4-month period, I made daily "in the moment" recordings of emotional classrooms situations and at the end of each week, the collection of recordings was reviewed and coded, creating analytic memos that identified patterns of responses. A critical friend then interrogated my analysis to provide me with critique, analysis, and response concerning the patterns and progression she and I identified. This process reveals a pattern of emotional experience (that of a triggering episode eliciting an emotional response, followed by negative or positive reaction) and the subsequent less or more effective coping strategies. As the study progressed, the coping strategies I utilized as emotion regulation in my classroom shifted from less to more effective as I made judgments about whether my responses effectively supported me in terms of emotion regulation, and my goals for the classroom. Reflection shifted my understanding of the underlying reasons for my emotional responses, which enabled me to create new patterns of analysis and response that led me to better regulate my emotion within my classroom. Findings reveal that reflection, coupled with interaction with a critical friend, contributes significantly to my development of emotion regulation as a teacher. Although this study provides an examination into my particular emotion regulation, both teachers and teacher educators can profit from the findings. This study demonstrates the need for a different kind of professional development for supporting teacher emotion regulation, one that incorporates cycles of "in the moment" recording of experience, reflection on experiences, and interaction with a critical friend allowing space to adjust and retry. The findings suggest practical approaches to support teachers in developing more effective emotion regulation.

Ruminering är en maladaptiv emotionsregleringsstrategi som definieras av repetitiva, återkommande, okontrollerbara och påträngande tankar. Ruminering har visats vara starkt kopplat till depression. Självmedkänsla är en adaptiv emotionsregleringsstrategi som består av komponenterna mindfulness och motpolen överidentifiering, self- kindness och motpolen self-judgement och common humanity och motpolen isolering. Studiens syfte var att undersöka sambandet mellan de sex komponenterna av självmedkänsla och ruminering samt om komponenterna av självmedkänsla kunde predicera ruminering, kontrollerat för kön och ålder. Åttio deltagare varav 57 kvinnor, svarade på en online enkät som mätte självmedkänsla, ruminering samt demografiska variabler. Korrelationer visade, som förväntat att ruminering hade negativa samband med mindfulness, self-kindness och common humanity samt positiva samband med deras motpoler. En hierarkisk regression visade att överidentifiering kunde predicera 6.5% av ruminering kontrollerat för kön och ålder. Ju mer överidentifiering desto mer ruminering. Resultatet från studien kan vara viktigt i arbete med att förebygga ruminering då ruminering kan kopplas till depression.