Better understanding difficulties in emotion regulation may help integrate a conceptualization for the etiology of a number of emotional disorders, such as depression or anxiety, and personality disorders. However, one deficit in extant literature has been in identifying a widely accepted measure in assessing problems with emotion regulation. A number of emotion regulation measures are currently used in the literature. Because each measure addresses regulation from a different perspective, the definition of emotion regulation remains unclear. Gratz and Roemer (2004) provide an integrated conceptualization for emotion regulation that accounts for the many ways in which emotions may affect the expression of psychological disorders. Gratz and Roemer constructed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) to assess various areas in which one might experiences problems with emotion regulation. The DERS is a 36-item scale that has six factors related to emotion regulation: Awareness, Non-acceptance, Clarity, Impulsivity, Strategies, and Goals. The purpose of this study was to perform a confirmatory factor analysis on the DERS, and to examine its predictive validity for disorders that are associated with difficulties in emotion regulation. The data for this study was collected from part of a larger study on emotion regulation. Participants consisted of undergraduates at a rural mid-western university who completed a survey packet including the DERS, the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS) the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESDS), and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL). It hypothesized that a six factor solution would be found, validating the findings of Gratz and Roemer (2004). It was also expected that total DERS scores will be associated with CESDS and PCL scores, suggesting that participants who scored higher on these measures of depression and PTSD would also report difficulties with emotion regulation. The DERS factors were expected to be related to corresponding factors on the TMMS. Results indicated that although a 6-factor solution was supported, several modifications were needed to the original model in order to achieve acceptable goodness of fit index values. Additionally, a number of other suggestions for changes to the measure, including re-wording several of the items or the possible removal of the Awareness factor, are discussed.

This study further defines the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and problem eating behavior. A total of 403 psychology undergraduate students completed measures of emotion regulation, disordered eating patterns, depression, and anxiety. Results from correlational and regression analyses suggest that difficulties in emotion regulation are related to problem eating behavior (r = .360, p< .001) and that overt problem eating behaviors and attitudes may be impacted more directly by symptoms of mood disorders rather than difficulties in emotion regulation (R2 = .190, F(4, 368) = 18.647, p< .001). Nonacceptance of emotional experience showed a significant impact on problem eating behavior above and beyond mood (R2 = .193, F(2, 370) = 44.162, p< .001; MOOD, β = .339, p< .001; nonaccept, β = .143, p = .014). The results of this study may have implications for prevention and treatment of problem eating behavior.

Parents remain to be effective in adolescents&rsquo / emotional development. However, emotion socialization research is fundamentally based on studies conducted in infancy through middle childhood, but late childhood and adolescence have been largely ignored. Therefore, the current study aimed to make contribution to the current literature investigating factors associated with adolescents&rsquo / emotion regulation difficulties. As the first part of the study psychometric properties of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were examined among Turkish adolescent sample. A total of 312 high school students (161 females and 141 males) whose ages ranged between 14 and 17 years participated in the study and findings indicated strong evidence for the utility of the DERS as a measure of emotion regulation difficulties in adolescents. The main study consists of three different purposes. First, discrepancies between mothers&rsquo / and adolescents&rsquo / reports on adolescents&rsquo / emotion regulation difficulties were examined. Second, factors associated with adolescents&rsquo / emotion regulation difficulties such as mothers&rsquo / emotion regulation, psychopathology, and personality traits, maternal rearing behaviors, and adolescents&rsquo / personality traits were explored. Lastly, mediating roles of emotion regulation difficulties on the relationship between adolescents&rsquo / perception of their mothers&rsquo / maternal rearing behaviors and their psychological problems were examined. Participants of this research were 595 first-grade high school students aged between 14 and 16 years, and 365 mothers from eight different high schools in Ankara. Data was collected from both adolescents and their mothers through questionnaire packets. Adolescents&rsquo / questionnaire set consisted of scales measuring emotion regulation difficulties (DERS), positive and negative affect scale (PANAS), maternal rearing behaviors (EMBU), basic personality traits (Big Five), and adolescents&rsquo / externalizing (SDQ) and internalizing symptoms (CDI). Similarly, mothers&rsquo / questionnaire set consisted of scales measuring emotion regulation difficulties (DERS), children&rsquo / s emotion regulation (DERS), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), maternal rearing behaviors (EMBU), and basic personality traits (Big-Five). The results indicated that adolescents, both boys and girls, reported higher levels of difficulties in emotion regulation for themselves as compared to reports of mothers for their children. As expected, adolescents&rsquo / basic personality traits were significantly associated with their emotion regulation difficulties even after controlling the effects of socio-demographic variables, mothers&rsquo / emotion regulation, psychological symptoms and their maternal rearing behaviors. Finally, mediation analyses indicated that the link between perceived maternal rearing behaviors and adolescents&rsquo / psychological problems occurs through emotion regulation difficulties of adolescents. Findings were discussed within the relevant literature.

Within the past two decades, research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) spurred by the seminal Felitti (1998) study has gained significant momentum. Research has shown that childhood adversity impacts development across the lifespan, and it has been linked to heightened risk for both physical and mental health difficulties. Depression symptoms is one such outcome that has been associated with ACE exposure. In examining the pathways through which ACEs impact later development, the literature indicates emotion regulation may be a potential mediator between ACEs and depression outcomes. While understanding etiology of depression and risk factors that contribute to symptomology is important, it is also important to investigate factors which may buffer against depression and build resilience. Social support may be a protective environmental factor that could mitigate heightened risk within populations of individuals with ACE exposure. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the role of social support as a protective factor against depression in those who have experienced ACEs nested within the model where emotion regulation acts as a mediator between ACE exposure and later depressive symptoms. In this study, undergraduate participants (N = 766) at a southeastern university completed self-report questionnaires which evaluated ACEs, emotion regulation difficulties, perceived social support, and depressive symptoms. In the current study, it is hypothesized that difficulties in emotion regulation will mediate the link between ACEs and later depressive symptoms (model 1), social support will act as a protective factor against depression in the pathway between difficulties in emotion regulation and depression (model 2), and social support will have a greater buffering effect in individuals who have greater severity of ACE exposure (model 3). Mediation (model 1) and moderated mediation (model 2) analyses will be conducted using Hayes PROCESS macro. For all PROCESS models, bootstrapping frequencies will be set at 5,000 and used to generate a 95% confidence interval. The PROCESS bootstrapping methods entail a statistical process of extracting, resampling, and replacement of cases within a dataset. Additional follow-up moderated moderation analyses (model 3) will be conducted using Hayes PROCESS macro if the moderated mediation model is found to be significant.

A preliminary measure of affect regulation strategies was developed from Parkinson and Totterdell’s (1999) provisional classification of deliberate strategies for improving negative affect. Four broad categories of strategies including Cognitive Engagement, Cognitive Diversion, Behavioural Engagement, and Behavioural Diversion were represented by the measure. Using this measure, relationships between self-reported use of affect regulation strategies and difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing variables were investigated. Participants included 186 adults. Participants completed a 20 minute online survey consisting of the measure of affect regulation strategies, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Subjective Experience of Emotions Scale (SEE), and a demographic information questionnaire. Weak correlations were found for the majority of the difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing subscales and individuals’ self-reported use of affect regulation categories. Results also provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the DERS and SEE.

A preliminary measure of affect regulation strategies was developed from Parkinson and Totterdell’s (1999) provisional classification of deliberate strategies for improving negative affect. Four broad categories of strategies including Cognitive Engagement, Cognitive Diversion, Behavioural Engagement, and Behavioural Diversion were represented by the measure. Using this measure, relationships between self-reported use of affect regulation strategies and difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing variables were investigated. Participants included 186 adults. Participants completed a 20 minute online survey consisting of the measure of affect regulation strategies, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Subjective Experience of Emotions Scale (SEE), and a demographic information questionnaire. Weak correlations were found for the majority of the difficulties in emotion regulation and emotion processing subscales and individuals’ self-reported use of affect regulation categories. Results also provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the DERS and SEE.

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