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Interpersonal Emotion Regulation (IER) in adulthood has been the area of attention in a growing number of studies over the last decade. Despite the normality of emotion regulation in social situations, focus has mainly been on pathology. Motivated by the lack of salutogenic perspectives, this cross-sectional study aims to shed light on associations between IER strategies and Quality of Life (QOL). Also, to explore age-related aspects, a developmental angle was taken. A non-clinical sample (N=73) residing in Sweden was recruited and responded to the self-assessments Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ) and WHOQOL-BREF. The respondents were divided into two age groups, younger (NY=35) and older (NO=38) adults. Furthermore, participants were divided into groups based on whether or not they were temporarily experiencing special circumstances affecting life quality. Multiple bivariate correlation analysis was performed on IER factors and QOL domains for the whole group and also for the two group conditions. All IER strategies represented in IERQ were positively associated with all domains of QOL in all conditions, although only some of them were significant correlations. The results indicated that Soothing and Social Modeling can be effective IER strategies in terms of psychological well-being. In the age condition, this was only valid for the younger adults. In addition, the findings supported Soothing as an effective strategy for those experiencing special circumstances. Hence, different correlational patterns emerged related to the specific conditions examined, giving support for context-dependency of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation.

My goal was to examine potential moderators that affect emotional coordination between romantic partners. I conducted three separate empirical studies that are conceptually related. I used data collected in conjunction with Dr. Emily Butler (all 3 papers), and Dr. Shanmukh Kamble of Karnatak University, India (paper 3). Using models of two forms of emotional coordination in partners - emotion transmission and synchrony - I examined the moderating effects of attachment, cooperation and marriage type on emotional coordination between partners. The purpose of first paper was to examine the role that individual factors, specifically differences in attachment avoidance and anxiety, have on the transmission of emotions between partners. Interestingly, results were counter to hypotheses based on attachment differences in emotion regulation, which suggests the limitations of taking an individual perspective within dyadic contexts. The second paper examined how cooperation impacts emotional coordination between partners. I found that cooperation produces different emotional coordination patterns for men and women. Specifically, when both partners were at high levels of cooperation, men showed an in-phase emotional coordination pattern (changes in unison), whereas women showed an anti-phase emotional coordination (changes in opposite directions). Therefore, while both partners were engaging in similar behaviors their emotional experience was different. In the third paper, I moved to a more global analysis of factors that moderate emotional synchrony between partners. Specifically, I examined how different marriage-types in American and Indian cultures (love versus arranged marriages) impact emotional synchrony between partners. I expected that Indian-love marriages would show similar synchronization patterns to American marriages, and that both would show more synchrony in comparison with Indian-arranged marriages. Unexpectedly, Indian-love and Indian-arranged marriages were similar and both displayed lower synchrony than American couples. These findings suggest that emotional experience between partners may be influenced by the boarder culture, irrespective of marriage type. Taken together, these papers provide evidence for when emotional coordination between couples can have beneficial or detrimental effects on the relationship, depending on individual, dyadic and cultural factors.

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abstract: Intimate relationship functioning and mental well-being are inherently linked; thus, for those with mental illness, such as social anxiety, intimate relationship functioning may be impaired. Research on the intimate relationships of those with social anxiety has often focused on emotion regulation, as emotions play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships and are a clear area of deficit among those with social anxiety. The current thesis had three primary aims: 1a) to examine individual emotion expressivity and 1b) interpersonal emotion regulation processes among individuals with varying levels of social anxiety; 2) to examine individual and interpersonal emotion regulation within romantic relationships; and, 3) to examine how individual emotion expressivity and interpersonal emotion regulation influence relationship health and intimacy among those with varying levels of social anxiety. For Aim 1, differences in individual emotion expressivity and interpersonal emotion regulation were analyzed using regression analyses with social anxiety as a continuous predictor. Analyses were also conducted using a dichotomous grouping (i.e., non-socially anxious and socially anxious) and conducting a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). For Aim 2, the impact of individual and interpersonal emotion regulation processes on relationship health was examined using a series of regression analyses. Finally, Aim 3 was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results suggest those with social anxiety show specific, but not general, deficits in individual emotion expressivity and interpersonal emotion regulation, and both individual and interpersonal emotion regulation had positive effects on relationship health. Regarding the primary analyses, interpersonal emotion regulation fully mediated the association between individual emotion expressivity and relationship health. Further, although the strength of these paths varied between groups, the valence and general pattern of these findings were similar for both those with social anxiety and those without. The study provided novel insights into the role of interpersonal emotion regulation in relationship health, and extended previous findings on emotion regulation and relationship health among those with social anxiety. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2019

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