Adolescents experience heightened emotional arousal and difficulty regulating that arousal. Adolescent girls have emotion regulation difficulties particularly associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. In adults, the emotion dysregulation associated with depression and anxiety has been linked to not accepting emotions. Emotional non-acceptance is the act of judging certain emotional experiences as inadmissible and trying to avoid, suppress, or ignore those experiences. In adults, non-acceptance is thought to paradoxically lead to amplified emotional arousal and difficulty regulating arousal. Previous research supports this idea for the subjective experience of emotion but not the physiological response. The goal of the current study was to elicit these differences in physiology in order to better understand the effects of emotional non-acceptance on emotion regulation. Eighty-two adolescent girls were asked to perform a spontaneous speech while physiological and subjective responses were measured. These same measures were taken before and after the speech. Trait-like emotional non-acceptance was also measured. Although trait non-acceptance predicted differences in one aspect of physiology, there were no other effects of emotional acceptance or non-acceptance on physiological response. In line with previous research, emotional acceptance and non-acceptance had their effects on the subjective experience of emotion, both in reaction to, and recovery from, the speech. Interestingly, in the current sample, induced non-acceptance had no effects on arousal or regulation. Also, greater effects were found for self-reported positive emotion than any other measure of emotional response. Results support the idea that emotional non-acceptance and acceptance affect the appraisal of emotional experiences but do not affect the emotional arousal itself. Also, the findings of this study suggest that emotional non-acceptance has more qualities of a trait than a state. The implications for the model of emotional acceptance and the effects of puberty on emotion regulation are discussed. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-29 14:18:38.431

This research was designed to contribute to an understanding of child outcomes and parenting practices associated with father-perpetrated maltreatment, as well as to identify processes that may contribute to emotion regulation difficulties in maltreated children. In particular, the studies described in this dissertation investigated paternal emotion socialization practices as potential pathways to emotion dysregulation in physically maltreated children. In the first study, a normative sample of 200 young adults participated in a retrospective analysis, whereby participants completed questionnaires designed to measure the relationships between history of physical maltreatment, emotion socialization, and current-day emotion regulation. In this study, 26.9% of participants endorsed a childhood history of father-perpetrated physical maltreatment. The second study explored these same relationships in a concurrent analysis of physically maltreating and non-maltreating father-child dyads. Fourteen physically maltreated children and their fathers were recruited from the Children’s Aid Society and treatment programs for abusive fathers, and a control group matched on demographic variables was recruited from the community. Father-child dyads participated in an emotion interaction task where they discussed the child’s experience of negative emotions; interactions were videotaped and coded for fathers’ validating and invalidating responses to children’s emotions. Fathers and children also completed measures that further assessed paternal emotion socialization, as well as children’s emotion regulation. Across both studies, findings indicated that physically maltreated children experienced more difficulties with emotion regulation than their non-maltreated peers. Moreover, abusive fathers were more likely to use non-supportive (neglect, punish, invalidation) and anger magnifying socialization practices, and less likely to use supportive (reward, validation) emotion socialization. Finally, results showed that the relationship between physical maltreatment and emotion dysregulation was mediated through the indirect effects of emotion socialization (reward, neglect, punish, magnify anger, validation, invalidation). In particular, data from child maltreatment victims consistently indicated that paternal neglect of negative emotions and magnification of anger were the strongest unique mediators. Together, results highlight the important role of fathers in the regulatory development of maltreated children. Furthermore, they provide support for intervention efforts designed to decrease non-supportive emotion socialization, while fostering anger management, emotional responsivity, and emotion coaching skills for physically abusive fathers.

As students mature the types and frequency of stressors increase with age. Notably, middle school can be a stressful transition period that includes new peer relationships and hormonal changes, along with an increased probability of experiencing bullying and suicide ideation. Stress has been shown to have negative effects in psychological and physiological functioning among adolescents (Brietzke et al., 2012; De Young, Kenardy, & Cobham, 2011; Green et al., 2010). Effective coping skills can help to buffer these issues, giving adolescents a repertoire of tools to use. Along with that, proper emotional regulation has been shown decrease the negative effects of stress on adolescents (Berking & Whitley, 2014; Braet et al., 2014; Moriya & Takashi, 2013). These skills may be particularly important amongst adolescents living in rural areas, as they face unique and often more difficult challenges compared their urban counterparts (Imig, Bokemeier, Keefe, Struthers, & Imig, 1997; Sherman, 2006). However, research exploring rural populations is limited and does not focus on the mostly rural populated areas of the southern United States (Strong, Del Grosso, Burwick, Jethwani, & Ponza, 2005). To address the gaps in research, the purpose of the current study was to investigate if coping response styles predicted perceived stress scores in middle school students living in rural areas. Additionally, the purpose was to explore if emotional regulation moderated the relationship between coping and perceived stress. Multiple regression analysis was used to explore the predictability of coping on perceived stress scores (i.e., Perceived Stress Scale). Moreover, hierarchal regression analysis was used to explore moderation of emotional regulation on coping and perceived stress. Data were collected from a northeastern school in a rural area in Mississippi from a sample of 149 middle school students. The results indicated that coping is a statistically significant predictor of perceived stress scores, indicating that the better a student was at coping, the less likely he or she was to report perceived stress. Lastly, results revealed that a student’s emotional regulation does not strengthen or weaken their coping responses effect on perceived stress. Understanding how theses variables work together will provide educators with knowledge that is vital to development of prevention and intervention strategies.

No description available.

Emotion regulation is an important skill to acquire during childhood, as an inability to do so can lead to negative outcomes such as aggression, anxiety, eating disorders, and personality disorders during adolescence. Much research has demonstrated that maternal factors play a role in childhood emotion regulation; however, little research has looked at how these factors might predict emotion regulation during adolescence. Therefore, my thesis study assessed how maternal personality, parenting behaviors, and emotion regulation during middle childhood and adolescence predicted adolescent emotion regulation. Specifically, I hypothesized that maternal parenting behaviors during middle childhood would positively predict adolescent cognitive reappraisal, that this association would be moderated by maternal intrapersonal and interpersonal personality, and that maternal cognitive reappraisal during middle childhood would positively predict adolescent cognitive reappraisal. Participants included 122 mother-child dyads who provided data on parenting and maternal emotion regulation when the children were 9-years-old, in addition to data on child emotion regulation, maternal emotion regulation, and maternal personality when the children were adolescents. My initial hypotheses were not supported by the data, but post-hoc analyses revealed that maternal emotion suppression during middle childhood and adolescence predicts adolescent emotion suppression and that this association between maternal emotion suppression during middle childhood and adolescent emotion suppression was moderated by maternal intrapersonal personality. These results support the idea that maternal characteristics continue to play a role in shaping emotion regulation in children through adolescence, but not in the manner I had originally predicted. / M.S. / Emotion regulation refers to our ability to adjust to changes in our emotions. Difficulty with emotion regulation early in life can lead to negative outcomes such as aggression, anxiety, eating disorders, and personality disorders later in life. Maternal factors, like parenting, emotion regulation, and personality, affect emotion regulation during early childhood, but the research is lacking when it comes to looking at how these maternal factors might predict emotion regulation abilities during adolescence. This is important to consider, as adolescence is a time when we see some of these negative outcomes associated with difficulties in emotion regulation emerge. Therefore, my thesis study looked at how these maternal factors during middle childhood and adolescence predicted adolescent emotion regulation. Specifically, I hypothesized that optimal maternal parenting behaviors during middle childhood would predict better adolescent emotion regulation, that maternal personality during adolescence would moderate this association, and that better maternal emotion regulation during middle childhood would predict better emotion regulation during adolescence. Participants included 122 mother-child dyads. Mothers provided data on parenting and their own emotion regulation when their children were 9-years-old and data on their own personality and emotion regulation when the children were adolescents. Adolescents self-reported their own emotion regulation. My initial hypotheses were not supported, later analyses showed that maternal emotion regulation during middle childhood predicted adolescent emotion regulation and that this association was moderated by maternal personality. These results support the idea that maternal characteristics continue to play a role in shaping emotion regulation in children through adolescence.

Child maltreatment impacts approximately one in seven children in the United States, leading to many adverse outcomes throughout life. Adolescence is a time period that is critical for the development of self-regulation, as it is when the prefrontal cortex is actively developing. Existing research demonstrates the numerous adverse effects maltreatment may have on self-regulation, which encompasses executive function and emotion regulation abilities. However, there is little research examining how abuse and neglect may differently affect the developmental trajectories of executive function and emotion regulation throughout adolescence and into young adulthood. In the current study, 167 adolescents participated approximately annually at six time points, from ages 14 to 20. At each of the six time points, adolescents completed three executive function tasks as well as self-report questionnaires on their emotion regulation abilities and strategies. Information on maltreatment experienced from ages 1 to 13 was collected when the adolescents were approximately 18 to 20 years of age. Conditional growth curve models were utilized to test the differential effects of abuse and neglect on the growth trajectories of executive function abilities and emotion regulation difficulties and strategy use. The results revealed that neglect was associated with developmental changes in working memory abilities, such that greater amounts of neglect were associated with slower increases in working memory abilities across ages 14 to 20. Further, abuse was associated with developmental changes in difficulties in emotion regulation abilities, such that greater amounts of abuse were associated with larger increases in difficulties in emotion regulation abilities from ages 14 to 20. Finally, neglect was associated with the initial level (at age 14) of difficulties in emotion regulation abilities, such that greater levels of neglect were associated with higher initial levels of difficulties in emotion regulation abilities as compared to individuals with lesser amounts of experienced neglect. These findings suggest that working memory development during adolescence into young adulthood may be more vulnerable to childhood neglect and that both abuse and neglect in childhood may have adverse impacts on the development of emotion regulation abilities. / M.S. / Child maltreatment impacts approximately one in seven children in the United States, leading to many adverse outcomes throughout life. Adolescence is a time period that is critical for the development of self-regulation, which encompasses executive function and emotion regulation abilities. Existing research demonstrates the numerous adverse effects maltreatment may have on self-regulation. However, there is little research examining how abuse and neglect may differently affect the developmental trajectories of executive function and emotion regulation throughout adolescence and into young adulthood. In the current study, 167 adolescents participated approximately annually at six time points, from ages 14 to 20. At each of the six time points, adolescents completed three executive function tasks as well as self-report questionnaires on their emotion regulation abilities and strategies. Information on maltreatment experienced from ages 1 to 13 was collected when the adolescents were approximately 18 to 20 years of age. The results revealed that greater amounts of neglect were associated with slower increases in working memory abilities across ages 14 to 20. Further, greater amounts of abuse were associated with larger increases in difficulties in emotion regulation abilities from ages 14 to 20. Finally, neglect was associated with difficulties in emotion regulation abilities at age 14, such that greater levels of neglect were associated with higher levels of difficulties in emotion regulation abilities at age 14 compared to individuals with lesser amounts of experienced neglect. These findings suggest that working memory development during adolescence into young adulthood may be more vulnerable to childhood neglect and that both abuse and neglect in childhood may have adverse impacts on the development of emotion regulation abilities.

Parents, especially mothers, of a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are more likely to experience higher levels of stress, and adaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as mindfulness and acceptance, may decrease stress among parents of children with ASD. Research has shown that mindfulness-based interventions reduce perceived stress among parents of typically developing children and improve the parent-child relationship, and similar interventions may be helpful for mothers of children with ASD. However, research has not yet established that mindfulness is related to decreased stress among parents. It is important to first establish this relationship, given the possibility that other factors, such as child behavioral difficulties or parental psychopathology are stronger predictors of maternal stress than the mother's regulation strategies. This study examined the unique contribution of maternal mindfulness to maternal stress in a sample of mothers (n = 154) who completed an online battery of measures. As predicted, maternal mindfulness significantly predicted level of maternal stress, above and beyond child behavior problems and maternal psychopathology, and this relationship was not moderated by child's ASD diagnosis. Maternal emotion regulation and effortful control were also significantly related to maternal stress, and may account for the explained variance of mindfulness. These findings and their implications are discussed. / Master of Science

Extant research on temperament shows that it may be related to certain developmental outcomes. However, according to the goodness-of-fit hypothesis (Chess and Thomas, 1999), developmental outcomes are the result of how well the biological tendencies of an individual (i.e. temperament) fit with the contextual demands of their environment. Thus, temperament should only affect developmental outcomes as a function of their environmental context. The current study proposes that parent temperament may serve as an environmental context that interacts with adolescent temperament to affect the development of the adolescent emotion regulatory system. Structural equation modeling results revealed parent temperament, specifically parent effortful control, to moderate the relationship between adolescent temperament and the adolescent emotion regulatory system. Several gender differences were also found for both main and interaction effects. Adolescent negative affect was negatively related to emotion regulation for girls only. Parent effortful control moderated the relationship between adolescent effortful control and suppression use also for girls only. Parent effortful control moderated the relationship between adolescent surgency and emotion lability for boys only, and parent effortful control moderated the relationship between adolescent surgency and suppression for both boys and girls, but in opposite directions. The interaction term was negatively related to suppression for girls, and it was positively related to suppression for boys. Results have several implications for potential parenting interventions and may inform programs that teach emotion regulation strategies. / Ph. D.

Although the advance of social media has enabled people to build social connections much more easily than ever before, loneliness—an aversive feeling of being isolated and disconnected—persists in modern society. In this dissertation, I examine when, how, and why loneliness influences consumer behavior. First, I develop an experimental method to induce loneliness and identify a circumstance that experimenters can obtain a successful loneliness priming effect. Across three experiments, I demonstrate that the same loneliness primes produce different loneliness responses based on the availability of cognitive resources. Specifically, participants who are cognitively depleted tend to rely on responses evoked by the loneliness primes (showing the intended loneliness priming effect) while those with abundant cognitive resources are not affected by the loneliness primes. Building on the findings from Experiments 1-3, I investigate how loneliness affects consumer behaviors in two different marketing contexts, nostalgic product consumption and charitable giving by focusing on how consumers cope with loneliness through consumption. In Experiments 4-5, I demonstrate that consumers who lack cognitive resources tend to form positive attitudes toward nostalgic products when experiencing loneliness. In Experiments 6-7, I show that lonely consumers with limited cognitive resources are likely to donate money to a charitable organization. Additionally, I find that consumers can regulate feelings of loneliness by spending money either for themselves (i.e., nostalgic products) or for others (i.e., charitable giving). This dissertation contributes to our understanding of loneliness in marketing by identifying a circumstance in which such emotional distress significantly influences consumer behavior and by showing how consumers spend money to cope with loneliness. / Ph. D.

This study explored the relationship between the multidimensional construct of emotion regulation and relationship satisfaction in couples seeking couple or family therapy at an outpatient mental health clinic. Recognizing the necessarily interdependent nature of dyadic data, study data were analyzed via path analysis consistent with the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kenny, Kashy, and Cook, 2006). While overall emotion regulation was not found to be significantly related to relationship satisfaction, results indicated differential effects for the various dimensions of emotion regulation. Perceived access to emotion regulation strategies was significantly positively associated with relationship satisfaction for both men and women. Awareness of emotions was significantly negatively associated with satisfaction for men, with women displaying a trend toward significance, and acceptance of emotions was significantly negatively associated with satisfaction for women, with men displaying a trend toward significance. Women's acceptance of emotions was also significantly negatively associated with her partner's relationship satisfaction, while her ability to control her impulses was significantly positively associated with her partner's satisfaction. No partner effects were found for men's emotion regulation dimensions. Study limitations as well as research and clinical implications are discussed. / Master of Science