Most people have difficulty maintaining a healthy diet. Both social and individual factors play a role in shaping one's diet, and individual factors might be differentially associated with eating depending on social conditions. The present research focuses on eating to regulate emotion and body weight in the context of couple relationships. Forty-three committed heterosexual couples reported on emotion-regulation strategies including the use of eating to regulate emotion (ERE). During a lab visit, participants discussed their health habits with their partners and their body composition was measured (e.g.: weight, height, percent body fat). Finally, participants completed daily diaries assessing their emotions as well as their food intake relative to their own normal eating. I first tested whether ERE was associated with other measures of emotion regulation as well as body composition at an individual level. As predicted, ERE demonstrated internal consistency, was moderately correlated with an established measure of emotion-eating, and uncorrelated with other measures of emotion regulation. High ERE was associated with higher body mass index, as well as higher waist circumference and percent body fat among older women, and with higher percent body fat among younger men. Secondly, I tested whether self-reported ERE predicted connections between daily emotional fluctuations and eating. Consistent with my hypothesis, those who reported high ERE ate worse when they experienced negative emotions or did not eat better when they experienced positive ones (which was the case among people with low ERE). Finally, I tested whether ERE in couples was associated with body composition under specific relationship conditions. As predicted, when both partners had high ERE, women who used more we-talk during a discussion of health habits also had higher BMI. However, women who used high I-talk in such couples had lower BMI despite having high ERE. Moreover, in such couples expression of negative emotion by partners was associated with higher BMI. Identifying individual and couple-level factors shaping dietary practices adds to development of interventions for poor health habits. It is an important step in shifting disease-focused models of medical care towards more comprehensive, patient-centered care.

The feasibility of using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) feedback regarding the level of activation in rostromedial prefrontal cortex (rMPFC) to learn improved regulation of this brain area was examined in a group of 5 young adults. Subjects received real-time feedback from the target brain region while engaging in a blocked-design task involving alternating blocks of attempted up-regulation and down-regulation of the target brain region. A transient negative emotional state was induced prior to each scanning session. Subjects completed 6 scanning sessions (a pre-training session, 4 feedback sessions and a post-training session - no feedback was provided for pre and post-training sessions). The guideline strategy provided to subjects of engaging in emotional awareness during up-regulation and bodily awareness during down-regulation was found to consistently regulate the region in the pre-training session prior to the fMRI feedback sessions. This finding is in line with the previously proposed role of the rMPFC in emotional awareness. In contrast to previous real-time fMRI findings, greater recruitment of the region was observed in the pre-training session compared to the post-training session, with a non-significant negative trend observed across feedback sessions. These results suggest that there may be limitations to which the feedback techniques successfully employed for other brain regions extend to yet unexplored brain regions.

Children's difficulties with regulating or controlling emotion are associated with externalizing problems (Eisenberg et al., 2001). Emotion regulation develops through interactions with caregivers during childhood, where children are socialized about the management and expression of emotions (Kopp, 1989). The parent-child relationship is thus one factor associated with children's externalizing problems and, to date, research on children’s externalizing problems has focused on relationships with parental emotion socialization and parent-child emotions (Granic & Lamey, 2002; Lengua, 2006). However, parent-child co-regulation— the bidirectional process whereby individuals mutually regulate emotions with others (Fogel, 1993)— is also likely a proximal factor in children's externalizing problems. Over time, dyadic patterns emerge and are reinforced through co-regulation, and children develop regulated or dysregulated emotional patterns with their parents (Granic & Lamey, 2002). Co-regulation is also likely related to differences in externalizing symptomatologies, as dyads with children with co-occurring externalizing and internalizing problems (MIXED) show more mutual hostility over the course of a conflict than dyads with purely externalizing children (EXT; Granic & Lamey, 2002). The current study examined co-regulation in 255 parent-child dyads, of which 80 had EXT children (73% male), 111 had MIXED children (87% male), and 64 had typically-developing children (63% male). Children were between the ages of 8 and 12 (M = 9.56). Behaviours during positive and conflict discussions were coded with a new observational tool, the Co-Regulation of Emotion (CORE) coding system. CORE's validity was supported with associations with independent raters’ impressions of the interactions. Generally, co-regulation was higher during the conflict as compared to the positive discussions, as expected. Contrary to hypotheses, dyads with EXT and MIXED children did not show more non-supportive co-regulation than dyads with typically-developing children, and dyads with typically-developing children did not show more supportive co-regulation. Similarly, group differences on the association between interaction partners' supportive and non-supportive co-regulation and negative affect were not significant. Overall, MIXED dyads did not show more non-supportive co-regulation than EXT dyads, as had been expected. The findings did not support the hypothesis that emotion co-regulation differentiates dyads with externalizing children from dyads with typically-developing children in middle childhood. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-07 11:41:10.329

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Research on the socialization of emotion has examined the role of parents’ behavioural responses to children’s negative emotions in the development of a number of psychosocial outcomes for children. Parents’ unsupportive socialization practices have predicted poorer social and emotional functioning both in childhood and later in adulthood. The current study aimed to broaden existing knowledge of the nature and impact of parent emotion socialization practices on emotion regulation. This was done through an exploration of the emotional, cognitive, and behavioural aspects of mothers’ responses to their children’s anger and sadness; by examining the impact of factors such as child gender and age as well as contextual factors on mothers’ responses; and by examining the impact of socialization practices on the development of emotion regulation. An online community sample of 114 mothers of 6- to 10-year-old children read a series of hypothetical situations in which they were asked to imagine their child responding with either anger or sadness. Mothers reported on their emotional responses, their acceptance of their child’s reaction, their causal attributions, and their socialization responses. Mothers also completed measures that assessed perceived social support, recent stressful life events, and the emotion regulation abilities of their child. Mothers were generally positive and supportive in their responses. Mothers were more likely to endorse negative responses to anger than sadness Responses did not differ according to the gender or age of the child. There was general consistency in the tendency to react positively or negatively. High levels of stressful life events predicted anger and punishment responses to child anger. Minimization of sadness was predicted by lower educational status. No other contextual factors were significant. As expected, minimization of sadness and anger both emerged as significant predictors of poorer emotion regulation in children; problem-focused responses predicted better emotion regulation for anger not sadness; unexpectedly emotion-focused responses to anger predicted poorer emotion regulation. Results are discussed in relation to the existing literature on the socialization of emotion and child outcomes. Limitations of this study and future directions for the research are discussed.

Prevailing theories of emotion regulation (ER) focus on the role of various aspects of cognition for successful regulation of one’s emotions. In particular, research suggests that executive functions (EF) may play an important role in contributing to successful ER. Emerging adulthood can be a time of high levels of perceived stress associated with changing developmental roles, which can be a risk factor for psychopathology (e.g., depression, anxiety). Emerging adulthood is also a time during which EF comes to maturation both behaviorally and biologically. This prolonged period of development associated with EF and ER maturity may represent an increased period of vulnerability in young adults, and deficits in EF may pose a significant risk for emotion dysregulation and future psychopathology. This study aimed to investigate whether EFs played a role in ER for emerging adults. More specifically, this study examined whether EFs (including, working memory, attentional control, and inhibitory control) moderated the indirect effect of ER in the relationship between stress and psychopathology in the context of emerging adulthood. A sample of 75 undergraduate students at the University of Victoria was recruited. Participants self reported perceived levels of stress and psychopathology symptoms. Participants also completed a computerized ER task where they viewed aversive pictures and sentences on a computer screen and explicitly applied an ER strategy to reduce their negative emotions when viewing the stimuli. Tests of EF including the Go/No-Go, Number-Letter and N-Back task were also completed. Results revealed that moderated mediation did not hold for this sample. However, working memory, attentional control, and inhibitory control moderated the relationship between ER and psychopathology. Specifically, low working memory and attentional control, and high inhibitory control moderated the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and psychopathology. For this same relationship of cognitive reappraisal to psychopathology, faster engagement in response inhibition (i.e., faster reaction times) was trending toward significant levels of psychopathology symptoms. For expressive suppression, the relationship to psychopathology was moderated by inhibitory control. ER did not mediate the relationship between stress and psychopathology symptoms across the entire sample. The results illuminate the ways in which EFs contribute to ER in the context of emerging adulthood. Implications for promoting successful ER and informing therapeutic techniques used with this critical population are discussed. / Graduate / 0622 / 0347 / 0317 / mcochran@uvic.ca

Studies were conducted to investigate relationships between trait emotion regulation variables (including reappraisal and suppression) and selective attention to negative emotional information. Correlation analyses of data in experiment 1 showed that trait-suppression was related to early attentional avoidance of angry faces, while reappraisal showed no relationship to attention. Experiment 2 directly compared selective attention to angry faces in groups of high trait-suppressors and high trait-reappraisers. Since reappraisers are also low trait-anxious and suppressors are high trait-anxious, low emotion regulating high- and low-anxious control groups were included. Contrary to findings from experiment 1, trait-suppressors did not have lower selective attention to angry faces than low-regulating high anxious controls. Trait-reappraisers in experiment 2 showed pronounced vigilance for angry faces compared to both trait suppressors and low-regulating low anxious controls. These results suggest that trait-suppression may reduce attentional threat biases. Conversely, trait-reappraisal combined with low anxiety may allow individuals to prioritize threat in attention.

The feasibility of using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) feedback regarding the level of activation in rostromedial prefrontal cortex (rMPFC) to learn improved regulation of this brain area was examined in a group of 5 young adults. Subjects received real-time feedback from the target brain region while engaging in a blocked-design task involving alternating blocks of attempted up-regulation and down-regulation of the target brain region. A transient negative emotional state was induced prior to each scanning session. Subjects completed 6 scanning sessions (a pre-training session, 4 feedback sessions and a post-training session - no feedback was provided for pre and post-training sessions). The guideline strategy provided to subjects of engaging in emotional awareness during up-regulation and bodily awareness during down-regulation was found to consistently regulate the region in the pre-training session prior to the fMRI feedback sessions. This finding is in line with the previously proposed role of the rMPFC in emotional awareness. In contrast to previous real-time fMRI findings, greater recruitment of the region was observed in the pre-training session compared to the post-training session, with a non-significant negative trend observed across feedback sessions. These results suggest that there may be limitations to which the feedback techniques successfully employed for other brain regions extend to yet unexplored brain regions.

Resilience refers to the fact that some individuals cope well with stressful experiences. Many factors contribute to this sort of resilience, such as the early environment, the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTPLR), the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis, the sympathetic-adrenal medullary (SAM) axis, and emotion regulation techniques. The aim of this thesis is to investigate which factors contribute to resilience, with a particular focus on the emotion regulation technique of cognitive reappraisal. The results show that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala each play a crucial role when it comes to stress regulation. Studies have found that the PFC inhibits the amygdala response, but that the PFC is vulnerable to exposure to chronic stress. As a result, the PFC might fail to inhibit the amygdala response. Individuals who use cognitive reappraisal techniques – which has been associated particularly with frontal and parietal brain activity – seem to be less prone to this sort of problem, and, as a result, more resilient to stress.

xvi, 133 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The increasing incidence of depression worldwide has led the World Health Organization to predict that depression will be the second leading global burden of disease by 2020. Since depression is often characterized by suboptimal emotion regulation, one of the potential pathways for understanding the transmission of depression risk is through the examination of early emotion regulation development, specifically in a known at-risk group: offspring of depressed parents. A substantial body of literature underscores the myriad ways in which offspring of ever-depressed parents differ from offspring of never-depressed parents, particularly in their development of emotion regulation, and level of risk for affective disorders. Emotion regulation was defined, along with its putative component dimensions, within the context of several well developed temperament models. This study examined emotion regulation in toddlers through data from the Infant Development Study, a longitudinal study of infant development which included parents from the Oregon Adolescent Depression Project and their offspring. A measurement model of emotion regulation based upon mother reports of toddler behavior was developed and tested as a first step in exploring this putative risk pathway. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test three measurement models for absolute and comparative fit. A three factor model with dimensions of Negative Affectivity, Surgency, and Effortful Control, was the best fitted model of those tested. Following this aspect of the study, structural models with outcomes of problem behavior were also tested in order to examine the concurrent and predictive validity of the measure. The best fitting model was found to be significantly associated with concurrent toddler problem behavior and predictive of later toddler problem behavior, including internalizing, externalizing, and aggressive behaviors. Recommendations are presented for future study of emotion regulation as a risk transmission pathway. / Committee in charge: Kenneth Merrell, Chairperson, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Cynthia Anderson, Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences Joe Stevens, Member, Educational Leadership; John Seeley, Member, Not from U of 0; Jean Stockard, Outside Member, Planning Public Policy & Mgmt