Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI), or the deliberate damage of bodily tissue without suicidal intent, is a prevalent issue in young people. Relative to those who have never self-injured, young people with either recent (i.e., past-year) or distal (i.e., lifetime, but not in the past year) histories of NSSI demonstrate difficulties with emotion regulation, the process of modulating emotional responses. Emotion regulation difficulties are a risk factor for other forms of Self-Damaging Behaviours (SDBs), including binge drinking, substance use, and binge eating, which are more prevalent among individuals with a history of NSSI. Prominent theoretical models of NSSI and other SDBs posit that these behaviours may share a common function of altering negative mood states, explaining their frequent co-occurrence. The present study hypothesized that first-year university students with distal, recent, or no history of NSSI a) would differ in their rates of SDB engagement over seven months, and b) would differ in their strength of association between changes in stress and concurrent SDB engagement. Further, the present study hypothesized that emotional dysregulation would moderate the association between stress and SDB engagement. Multilevel modelling with longitudinal data from two cohorts of first-year undergraduates (N=540) revealed that students with either distal or recent NSSI histories were more likely to engage in substance use than their peers who had never self-injured, but did not report a greater frequency of binge eating or binge drinking. Regardless of NSSI history, substance use was unrelated to within-person changes in stress or emotional dysregulation. Higher-than-usual stress was associated with increased frequency of binge eating and binge drinking, but this association was unrelated to NSSI history or emotional dysregulation. Results suggest that elevated risk for substance use may persist even after NSSI has stopped, while other forms of SDBs (i.e., binge drinking and binge eating) were not predicted by NSSI history. Further, results suggest that some SDBs (i.e., binge drinking and binge eating) are enacted more frequently during periods of stress, but that this pattern is not unique to those with a history of NSSI or those who struggle to regulate their emotions. Consistent with person-centred models of NSSI recovery, these results suggest that vulnerability to some SDBs may persist even after NSSI has stopped. Future research should further examine the mechanisms underlying the complex association between NSSI and SDBs. / Graduate

No description available.

This cross-sectional, exploratory study aimed to determine the prevalence and characteristics of self-harming behaviours among a sample of South African university students (N = 603), as well as the relationship between deliberate self-harm (DSH) and symptoms of depression and anxiety. A battery of instruments, including the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (DSHI) was administered to participants. Data were analysed by means of descriptive statistics, Chi Square tests, t-tests, and logistic regression analyses. The findings suggest high rates of DSH among the sample (46% lifetime prevalence; 36% 12-month prevalence). No significant gender differences were found in the rates of DSH. Participants from the combined Asian and Coloured racial group reported significantly higher rates of DSH than both White and Black participants. Participants aged 20-21 were significantly more likely to report DSH than those in other age groups. Overall, depression scores in the sample fell within the normal range (M = 15.79), while anxiety scores were found to be exceptionally high (state anxiety: M = 46.56; trait anxiety: M = 48.72). The findings suggest that participants with elevated levels of depression are significantly more likely to report DSH. A significant, negative relationship was found between DSH and state anxiety, while a positive yet insignificant relationship was found between DSH and trait anxiety. The findings of this exploratory study partially support the findings of international research investigating the relationship between DSH and depression and anxiety, but warrant further exploration in order to better understand the complexities of these relationships, particularly in the South African context. / Mini-Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Psychology / MA / Unrestricted

The thesis presents the concept of emotion regulation in connection with music and its listening. It deals with the theoretical definition of emotions and in the context of emotion regulation supports the process model following the theory of appraisal. For further description we choose reappraisal strategy, with which is also worked in this research study in the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), which analyses 215 responses from 215 respondents by collecting online study data and finding that three variables predict this strategy, namely discharge (VE), entertainment (Z) and revival (R) of the used questionnaire Music in Mood Regulation (MMR). Furthermore, a negative correlation was found in the strategy of suppression with life satisfaction and a positive correlation of reappraisal with life satisfaction. The thesis by its research outcomes supports connection of ER concept together with mood regulation by music.

Background: Although bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for severe obesity, a subgroup of patients shows insufficient postbariatric outcomes. Differences may at least in part result from heterogeneous patient profiles regarding reactive and regulative temperament, emotion dysregulation, and disinhibited eating. This study aims to subtype patients based on these aspects before and two years after bariatric surgery and tests the predictive value of identified subtypes for health-related outcomes three years after surgery.

Researchers have not been able to ascertain how survivors of childhood trauma, especially sexual abuse, develop resilience. To explore resilience and what influences its development, this mixed-method study investigated the roles of cognitive emotion regulation and proactive coping by using a critical-realist ontology. The data was collected from eight women (between ages 25 and 56) who considered themselves to be resilient survivors of severe child sexual abuse. Harvey’s (2000) Multidimensional Trauma Recovery and Resiliency Interview (MTRR-I), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski, Kraaij&Spinhoven, 2002) and Greenglass’s (1999) Proactive Coping Inventory were used to gather the data necessary to determine whether resilience is influenced by cognitive emotion regulation strategies and proactive coping and to attempt to define what could be considered as traits of resilience in survivors or child sexual abuse. Through thematic analysis, approximately 50 a-priori codes were generated and grouped into 23 themes using the Atlas.ti program. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation, proactive coping and resilience in order to better understand, and develop intervention processes that can provide survivors of child sexual abuse and other trauma with the resources needed to be more resilient. Although causality could not be determined between these variables, it became evident that the more often a participant employs adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and the higher the scores on the Proactive Coping Inventory are, the more resilient the participant tends to be. The participants who displayed higher levels of resilience also verbalised that they felt they had dealt with the abuse and had managed to move on in their lives. Even though all the participants considered themselves to be resilient, half of them were functioning at a noticeably lower rate of resilience than the others. All the participants claimed to rely on spiritual strength in some way and attribute their resilience to their faith in God. The higher the levels of resilience, the more the participants used adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and proactive coping; and the more optimistic their views of the future and the more they considered their lives to be meaningful. Because the study was based on the ecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1995, 2005,) the interplay of the proximal environment, the individual, the social context and the changes that have taken place over time, were all taken into consideration because resilience, cognitive emotion regulation and proactive coping skills all develop within and between the same systems in which an individual develops. However, Bronfenbrenner (2005) states that the family is no longer taking the responsibility for the upbringing of children as it should and that other settings in society have had to step in to fulfil the role. One aspect of mental health is the ability to develop spiritually and since schools may not include religious instruction because it is the responsibility of the family, it happens that children are not being developed spiritually and this could influence the way in which individuals deal with traumatic childhood experiences. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

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.

Introduction: Previous research describes significant associations between criminal offending behaviour and traumatic brain injury (TBI). In young offenders, particularly, TBI is significantly more prevalent than in the general youth population. This association might be explained by the fact that key TBI sequelae (e.g., aggression, behavioural and cognitive impulsivity, emotional dysregulation) can place individuals at risk for criminal offending. However, at least two critical questions remain relatively under-investigated: Is there crossnational variability in the prevalence of TBI in young offenders and in the emotional, behavioural, and cognitive profile of young offenders with and without TBI? Few studies report on prevalence of TBI in young offender populations from low- or middle-income countries (LMICs), and fewer describe the neuropsychological profiles of TBI-afflicted young offenders from LMICs. Method: Participants were a South African sample of 25 young offenders and 56 non-offender controls. Conducting such investigations in South Africa is valuable because (a) crime rates, particularly those related to violent offences, are higher in this country than elsewhere in the world, and (b) the prevalence of TBI in South Africa is three times the global rate. All participants were administered self-report measures of emotion regulation, aggression, antisocial behaviour, as well as standardized tests of various executive functions (planning, cognitive flexibility, generative fluency, inhibition, problem solving, and rule learning/maintenance) from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) battery. I also gathered self-report information about their history of TBI, including whether it was accompanied by loss of consciousness (LoC). Results: Prevalence of TBI was higher in offenders (n = 18/25; 72%) than in non-offenders (n = 24/56; 43%). Offenders reported experiencing more severe TBI: The distribution of TBI with LoC was significantly different across offender and non-offender groups, p < .001. Analyses detected significant main effects of offender status on all outcomes; significant main effects of TBI on emotion regulation, aggression, and antisocial behaviour; and significant offender x TBI interaction effects on emotion regulation and aggression, ps < .036. Conclusion: These findings are broadly consistent with previous studies in this literature. Hence, the present study confirms the importance of understanding associations between TBI and offending (particularly in LMICs) and how the co-occurrence of the two is predictable and can have cumulative effects on affect, behaviour, and cognition. Because sustaining a TBI is preventable, describing the risk for negative outcomes and the socioeconomic costs thereof can inform policy development, rehabilitation planning, and initiatives to reduce recidivism rates.

Academic procrastination is a common phenomenon among contemporary college students. This behavior seriously affected the graduation, physical and mental of college students. Playing games is a kind of procrastination behavior, which refers to short-term happiness through games and avoiding the pain caused by academic writing. The purpose of this article is to help students pay attention to using idle games to regulate emotions to reduce the frequency of academic writing procrastination. In terms of game design, the game type chosen is idle games. The study used the method of emotion regulation skill trend chart to divide the procrastinators into two groups for the experiment. The conclusion is that serious games based on learning emotion regulation can help procrastinators to improve their emotion regulation skills and reduce the frequency of procrastination to a certain extent.

The late positive potential (LPP) is increasingly used as an indicator of emotional salience, which can be reduced by effective emotion regulation (ER), thus making LPP differences a practical marker of ER effects. One commonly used ER strategy is that of explicit distraction, a form of distraction that is consciously monitored and directed. Studies have shown that distraction modulates the LPP, and there are theoretical as well as empirical reasons to suspect that distraction occurs at an early stage in the timecourse of the LPP. However, the consistency of these findings have not yet been systematically assessed. This systematic review was conducted to address this gap in the literature. Following a literature search across three databases, nine empirical studies were systematically reviewed to assess the consistency of the effect of distraction on LPP latency and amplitudes. Mean LPP amplitude measurements from 270 healthy young adults, engaging in distraction and passive viewing during exposure to emotional stimuli, were gathered and reviewed. Mean differences were compared to assess the consistency of the LPP during distraction. Results showed consistent early LPP activation at centro-parietal sites, but not at frontal sites. These findings support the predictions of the process model of ER and its conceptualization of distraction as an antecedent strategy. The review was limited by the small number of studies, low mean ages of participants, and lack of diversity in stimuli, among other factors. As additional research is needed to further the scientific understanding of ER and its mechanisms, future directions are suggested.