Background and Aims: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by deficits in social interactions and communication, and the presence of stereotypic behaviors and restricted interests. Children with ASD also demonstrate difficulties in emotional competence, including poor emotion regulatory capacity. The goal of this study was to investigate the link of social skills to emotion regulation and emotionality in 3 through 7 year-old children with and without ASD. Methods: Both parental report and behavioral laboratory observations were used to examine emotion regulation and emotionality in 21 typically developing (TD) children and 12 high functioning children with ASD. Results: This study had three major findings. First, an association between enhanced reported emotion regulation and increased social skills was found in children with ASD, but not in TD children. Second, children with ASD demonstrated lower reported emotion regulation, higher reported general negative emotionality, and lower reported general positive emotionality compared to their TD peers. Third, reported emotion regulation was linked to reported specific emotionality in children with ASD and to reported general emotionality in the TD group, though not in the predicted direction. Few significant findings occurred for observed emotion regulation or observed emotionality. Conclusions: Although current results should be interpreted with caution due to small sample size, a link between social skills and parent-reported emotion regulation was found in children with ASD. Children with ASD were also viewed by their parents as having poor emotion regulation and increased negative emotionality compared to their TD peers. Limitations and future research are discussed. / Ph. D.

Despite the rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), interventions for the adult population, most of whom do not achieve independent living, are limited (Seltzer, Shattuck, Abbeduto, and Greenberg, 2004). Additionally, many individuals with ASD experience impaired emotion regulation (ER), which is thought to contribute to higher rates of psychiatric comorbidities among adults with ASD as well as indirect effects upon adaptive functioning, interpersonal relationships, and vocational status ( Mazefsky et al., 2013; Samson, Huber, and Gross, 2012). The primary purpose of the current study was to investigate the initial feasibility and efficacy of an adapted mindfulness-based individual therapy for adults with ASD to target ER difficulties, and evaluate ER as a potential change process. Initial feasibility of mindfulness-based approaches among adults with ASD was supported by acceptable treatment fidelity and participant satisfaction ratings. Efficacy of the intervention was partially supported; four of the participants demonstrated significant improvements in impulse control, access to ER strategies, and emotional acceptance, and two of the participants evidenced significant decreases in emotional symptom distress. Analysis of ER as a potential change process found significant improvement for four participants, but slopes demonstrated that improvement initiated before treatment, a confound for determination of change processes. Further research is recommended, including additional timepoints, a clinical cutoff-derived sample, and further understanding of the role of self-regulatory deficits for individuals with ASD. / Ph. D.

Previous research has shown peer victimization during adolescence to have strong lasting effects on mental health. Religiousness and forgiveness are two factors that are positively related to mental health and the current study proposes that they may have a protective influence against the negative effects of peer victimization. Additionally, religiousness and forgiveness may be related in that forgiveness may be a link in the religiousness/health relationship. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships among religiousness, forgiveness and mental health in the context of peer victimization during adolescence. Mental health was measured by internalizing symptomatology and emotion regulation. Analyses were conducted using Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicate that forgiveness may indeed be a link in the religiousness/health relationship but only when examining private religious practices. Results further show that religiousness may not be a strong protective factor in the context of peer victimization and that certain dimensions of forgiveness (specifically benevolence motivations) may actually exacerbate the effects of peer victimization on internalizing symptomatology rather than act as a protective factor. / Master of Science

abstract: Emotion regulation repertoire, or the number of emotion regulation strategies one is able to employ when needed, is an important element of emotion regulation flexibility. Emotion regulation flexibility, the ability to regulate in accordance with changing situational contexts and demands, is predictive of emotion regulation success. Currently, little is known about emotion regulation repertoire and its association with emotional health and well-being. In particular, more can be learned about how the different strategies in one’s repertoire interact, and which strategies show stronger relationships with mental health. The current study aimed to assess the relationship of different emotion regulation strategies to mental health, including their individual and combined influence. In addition, the interaction between the use of specific emotion regulation strategies and emotion regulation flexibility with respect to mental health was examined. I hypothesized (1a) reappraisal and (1b) acceptance, two strategies previously associated with positive psychological outcomes, would be significant predictors of mental health, and (2) better flexibility would predict better mental health. In addition, I hypothesized that (3) strategies often found to be maladaptive (suppression, distraction, rumination, and experiential avoidance) would have an inverse relationship with mental health. Finally, (4) maladaptive strategies would be associated with worse mental health for those lower in flexibility. These hypotheses were tested through a questionnaire as part of a larger in-lab study. Results revealed that reappraisal and rumination were the strongest predictors of mental health. Emotion regulation flexibility did not predict mental health or moderate the relationship between individual emotion regulation strategies and mental health. Results from this study suggest some emotion regulation strategies are stronger predictors of mental health than others. This will guide future research on specific emotion regulation strategies in a repertoire as well as their combined effect on mental health. Creating a clearer picture of how different strategies interact and influence mental health will also be vital for clinical interventions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2018

Emotions are a central part of our lives and the ability to effectively regulate them is central to well-being. Although a lot of research shows the beneficial role of sleep on emotional reactivity and regulation, little is known about how dream emotions relate to emotional reactivity and regulation. The current study investigated how dreams with high vs low levels of self-rated negative dream affect related to next-day waking emotional reactivity and regulation. Participants kept a home dream diary until reporting dreams on five days. They also reported dream and wake emotions and performed an online emotional reactivity and regulation task. Opposing predictions were derived from the continuity hypothesis and from the emotion regulation theories of dreaming. However, no significant differences were found between emotional reactivity and regulation on mornings following dreams with high vs low negative affect. Thus, no support was provided for the direct predictions made from the two theories. Nevertheless, morning wake affect differed significantly as a function of dream emotions. Specifically, participants reported significantly higher levels of positive emotions on mornings after a dream low, rather than high, in negative affect. Similarly, wake morning negative affect was higher following dreams high, rather than low, in negative affect. Thus, the results support a form of affective continuity between dreams and morning wakefulness.

This thesis deals with the emotion regulation. The author presents a theoretical concept of emotion regulation and deals with the theoretical development of emotion regulation across the human lifespan. In the empirical part, the author presents three papers. The first deals with the emotion regulation in relation to the health of the individual. The study shows that unhealthy individuals suppress significantly more emotions and affective phenomena compared to healthy individuals. The second study deals with the display rules of basic emotions in a sample of Czech undergraduate students. The last paper is a cross-cultural survey comparing the frequency of emotions experienced by its participants and the emotion regulation strategies in the group of Czech and Slovak undergraduate students. Emotion regulation in this study appears to be a significant factor of cultural differences: Slovak participants access open and authentic expression of emotions significantly more often than the Czech participants. The presented thesis is a contribution to the existing understanding of emotion regulation with regard to the development, health and culture of the individual. Keywords Emotion Emotion regulation Development of emotion regulation Health Culture

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