Over the past 20 years, our understanding of emotional processes has grown rapidly. Within the study of emotion, a key area of interest has been how individuals succeed or fail in regulating emotional responses. Although still in its early development, researchers in this field have made progress in identifying the neurological, psychological, and social processes that underlie emotion regulation and dysregulation. Despite these advances, relatively few of these insights have been considered in light of the highly emotional terrain of couple distress. In the present study, one hundred and eight cohabiting couples rated themselves and their partner on key emotion regulation variables (e.g., the tendency to lose control of one??s emotions and the ability to restore emotional control and equilibrium). Analyses using the Actor- Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) showed strong links between these variables and individuals?? experience of intimacy and distress in their relationship. Results suggest that there are multiple avenues through which emotion regulation impacts a given individual??s relationship functioning; these include: (1) the individual??s self perceived capacity for emotion regulation, (2) their partner??s self-perceived capacity for emotion regulation, (3) the individual??s perception of their partner??s capacity for emotion regulation, and (4) the partner??s perception of the individual??s emotion regulation abilities.

Alcohol and cannabis use are prevalent among young adults in Canada. Additionally, heavier substance use is associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing negative consequences resulting from use. Given the potential for harmful consequences resulting from alcohol and cannabis use, it is important to understand why people use these substances. Childhood maltreatment has been identified as an important predictor of alcohol and cannabis use. However, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship, though it seems emotion regulation may play an important role. This study explores the relationship between maltreatment and emotion dysregulation, in addition to the relationship between maltreatment and affective motives for using alcohol and marijuana. Results indicate that drinking to cope mediates the relationship between all measured forms of maltreatment and alcohol consequences. However, none of the motives individually significantly mediated the relationship between maltreatment and marijuana use consequences. Results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Alcohol and cannabis use are prevalent among young adults in Canada. Additionally, heavier substance use is associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing negative consequences resulting from use. Given the potential for harmful consequences resulting from alcohol and cannabis use, it is important to understand why people use these substances. Childhood maltreatment has been identified as an important predictor of alcohol and cannabis use. However, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship, though it seems emotion regulation may play an important role. This study explores the relationship between maltreatment and emotion dysregulation, in addition to the relationship between maltreatment and affective motives for using alcohol and marijuana. Results indicate that drinking to cope mediates the relationship between all measured forms of maltreatment and alcohol consequences. However, none of the motives individually significantly mediated the relationship between maltreatment and marijuana use consequences. Results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

According to adult attachment theory (Hazan and Shaver, 1987), people's levels of insecure attachment, both anxious and avoidant, are associated with their abilities to regulate emotions in a relational context. This study is the first to test emotion dysregulation as a mediator for the relationships between levels of insecure attachment and psychological aggression using dyadic data. Cross-sectional, self-report data were collected from 110 couples presenting for couple or family therapy at an outpatient clinic. Data were analyzed using path analysis informed by the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediational Model (APIMeM; Ledermann, Macho and Kenny, 2011). While the findings did not support a mediating role of emotion dysregulation between levels of anxious or avoidant attachment and psychological aggression, results indicated direct partner effects between people's own levels of anxious attachment and their partners' psychological aggression. Higher levels of anxious attachment were associated with higher levels of emotion dysregulation in both males and females; higher levels of avoidant attachment were only associated with higher levels of emotions dysregulation in females. Limitations and clinical implications for couple therapists are discussed. / Master of Science

Emotion dysregulation and rumination are involved in the development, maintenance, and treatment of both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sleep disturbances. We examined if and how these factors influenced the nature of the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and subjective sleep disturbances among trauma-exposed individuals. Using data gathered from a community sample of 199 trauma-exposed individuals (Mean age = 35.48; 59.80% female), we examined whether there were stronger significant associations between greater PTSD symptom severity and poorer sleep quality/lower sleep quantity at higher (vs. lower) levels of (1) negative emotion dysregulation and positive emotion dysregulation (both included in the same model) and (2) rumination. Participants recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk completed the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, Brief Version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale – Positive, Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire, and sleep quality/quantity items from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results of simple and additive multiple moderation analyses showed that neither negative/positive emotion dysregulation nor rumination moderated the relationships between PTSD symptom severity and sleep quality/quantity. Exploratory analyses showed that negative emotion dysregulation (when examined independently) moderated the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and sleep quality. There were also significant associations between poorer sleep quality/lower sleep quantity and greater PTSD symptom severity at low to average levels of negative emotion dysregulation coupled with any level of positive emotion dysregulation. Findings inform theoretical perspectives on the PTSD-sleep relationship and clinical applications of targeting emotion dysregulation and rumination in the treatment of PTSD symptoms and sleep disturbances for trauma-exposed individuals.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating without the use of compensatory behaviors. Functional accounts of BED propose that negative affect is an antecedent to binge eating because binge eating serves to alleviate negative affect. However, previous studies investigating the association between negative affect and binge eating have yielded inconsistent findings, perhaps due to individual vulnerability factors that moderate the effects of negative affect on binge eating behavior. As one candidate, the current study investigated emotion regulation strategies that may be implicated in the maintenance of binge eating in BED, particularly under conditions of negative affect: brooding rumination, distress tolerance, and mood-related expectancies for eating. These emotion regulation strategies were: a) compared in 38 women with BED vs. 36 non-eating disordered female controls, b) examined in relation to markers of current binge eating severity among BED women, and c) used as predictors of caloric intake and urge to eat in response to a personally-relevant dysphoric mood induction upon presentation of snack foods in a "taste task." Results revealed that women with BED endorsed higher brooding rumination, more positive expectancies that eating serves to ameliorate negative affect, and lower distress tolerance than controls. Among women with BED, higher brooding rumination was associated with greater binge eating severity, and stronger expectancies that eating reduces negative affect were associated with more frequent binge eating episodes and greater urge to eat in response to depression. Surprisingly, better distress tolerance was associated with more frequent binge eating episodes. Women with BED consumed more calories and reported greater loss of control as well as a greater sense of guilt in response to the taste task relative to control participants. Contrary to hypothesis, there were no direct or indirect effects of any of the three emotion regulation strategies on change in urge to eat or calories consumed on the taste task following sad mood induction in BED women. In controls, better distress tolerance and stronger expectancies that eating alleviates negative affect were associated with decreased caloric intake on the taste task after mood induction. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of considering trans-diagnostic processes in BED as well as the need to identify other theoretically-relevant factors that contribute to the cognitive and behavioral features of BED. Limitations and directions for future studies are discussed.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating without the use of compensatory behaviors. Functional accounts of BED propose that negative affect is an antecedent to binge eating because binge eating serves to alleviate negative affect. However, previous studies investigating the association between negative affect and binge eating have yielded inconsistent findings, perhaps due to individual vulnerability factors that moderate the effects of negative affect on binge eating behavior. As one candidate, the current study investigated emotion regulation strategies that may be implicated in the maintenance of binge eating in BED, particularly under conditions of negative affect: brooding rumination, distress tolerance, and mood-related expectancies for eating. These emotion regulation strategies were: a) compared in 38 women with BED vs. 36 non-eating disordered female controls, b) examined in relation to markers of current binge eating severity among BED women, and c) used as predictors of caloric intake and urge to eat in response to a personally-relevant dysphoric mood induction upon presentation of snack foods in a "taste task." Results revealed that women with BED endorsed higher brooding rumination, more positive expectancies that eating serves to ameliorate negative affect, and lower distress tolerance than controls. Among women with BED, higher brooding rumination was associated with greater binge eating severity, and stronger expectancies that eating reduces negative affect were associated with more frequent binge eating episodes and greater urge to eat in response to depression. Surprisingly, better distress tolerance was associated with more frequent binge eating episodes. Women with BED consumed more calories and reported greater loss of control as well as a greater sense of guilt in response to the taste task relative to control participants. Contrary to hypothesis, there were no direct or indirect effects of any of the three emotion regulation strategies on change in urge to eat or calories consumed on the taste task following sad mood induction in BED women. In controls, better distress tolerance and stronger expectancies that eating alleviates negative affect were associated with decreased caloric intake on the taste task after mood induction. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of considering trans-diagnostic processes in BED as well as the need to identify other theoretically-relevant factors that contribute to the cognitive and behavioral features of BED. Limitations and directions for future studies are discussed.

Although theorists, researchers, and therapists alike emphasize emotional intimacy as an important aspect of a couple’s relationship, empirical data to understand the underlying processes behind this concept are lacking. The purpose of this study is to examine Reis and Shaver’s interpersonal process model of intimacy in a community sample of couples and to contribute to the current understanding of constructs that may moderate the process of intimacy. Reis and Shaver’s model suggests that vulnerable self-disclosure by one partner, coupled with empathic responding by the other partner, results in greater subjective emotional intimacy. Previous studies have examined this interpersonal process model in a sample of community couples in committed romantic relationships. The present study aims to contribute to the extant literature by testing emotion dysregulation as a potential moderator in Reis and Shaver’s interpersonal process model of intimacy. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze data from 108 community couples. Couples completed measures and were asked to participate in videotaped interactions in which each partner discussed a time that someone other than the partner hurt their feelings (low threat condition) and a time the partner hurt their feelings (high threat condition). For each interaction, partners were assigned to a designated role (speaker or listener). Results lend support to Reis and Shaver’s interpersonal process model of intimacy suggesting that both vulnerable self-disclosure and empathic responding by the partner are key components to one’s subjective experience of emotional intimacy. Results also lend support to the idea that emotion dysregulation moderates the relation between self-disclosure, empathic responding, and resulting post-interaction intimacy; however, when measuring how emotion dysregulation affects post-interaction intimacy within this study, results varied based on whose intimacy was being measured (speaker or listener) and based on the condition (low or high threat.) Clinical implications as well as directions for future research were discussed.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and eating disorder behaviours (EDB) may share a similar emotion dysregulation mechanism. This study examined the relations between repeated rumination episodes and emotions in NSSI and EDB within the context of the Emotional Cascades Model (Selby, Anestis, & Joiner, 2008), which suggests that ruminating on negative events increases the intensity of negative emotion; negative emotion prompts continued rumination, which further increases the intensity of the negative emotion. Individuals with a history of NSSI and/or EDB reported higher levels of negative emotions and lower levels of positive emotions, relative to individuals without a history of these behaviours. Similarly, a history of NSSI was associated with greater initial increases in negative emotions, and a history of EDB was associated with greater initial decreases in positive emotions, following rumination. While these results support the presence of emotion dysregulation in NSSI and EDBs, it only partially supports the emotional cascades model. / CIHR graduate award helped to fund this research.

Research on factors that predict opioid cravings is lacking. Anhedonia may be a predictor of cravings and particularly relevant to cravings when people struggle to regulate emotions but has yet to be examined among justice-involved populations. This study aimed to examine the relationship between anhedonia, opioid cravings, and emotion dysregulation (ED) in this population. Participants completed several measures. The results showed that anhedonia and opioid cravings were significantly related at the bivariate level, but not in moderation models. The DERS-36 total score and ‘DERS Impulse’ subscale had a significant, positive effect on cravings in moderation models. In a higher severity sample of people who used heroin, there was a significant interaction wherein the relationship between anhedonia and cravings was positive at high levels of difficulty controlling behaviors when distressed. These findings indicate the need to understand how anhedonia and ED influence opioid cravings among justice-involved people with severe heroin use.