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Background: Father involvement, defined in terms of both the quantity and quality of ways in which fathers may be involved, affects the child's development. How specifically father involvement links to emotion regulation during early childhood (0-5 years) is, however, less clear., Methods: This literature review synthesizes research on the links between father involvement and emotion regulation during early childhood, as well as the measurement methods used to assess them. Ten relevant studies were identified via four databases (up to August 2023)., Results: Results showed no significant direct links, but significant links appeared between high father involvement and more adaptive emotion regulation when moderated by variables related to the assessment of father involvement and emotion regulation, as well as the characteristics of the father and the child., Conclusions: Future research should continue to use observational measures of father behaviors and child emotion regulation, increase the use of physiological measures of emotion regulation, and consider the influence of maternal and family variables., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Parenting styles encompass negative and positive approaches, potentially affecting adolescents' brain reward and emotion regulation systems. However, the association between parenting style and brain networks remains unknown. This study investigates the link between parenting style and functional connectivity (FC) within the reward and emotion regulation brain networks, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). A total of forty-two middle-aged adolescents (26 males; 16 females) with no neurological or psychiatric symptoms participated in this study. We assessed parenting behaviors and extracted reward/emotion regulation FC from rs-fMRI. We examined the association between FC and parenting style, identified through principal component analysis. Correlation analysis investigated these links while controlling for sex. We delineated both positive (love-autonomy) and negative (hostility-control) parenting styles, accounting for 79 % of the explained variance in parenting behaviors. The negative parenting style displayed connections with FC within the reward system, particularly in the left nucleus accumbens (NAc), showcasing links to multiple frontal regions. Furthermore, it correlated with the social reward network, specifically the insula-NAc FC in bilateral hemispheres. Conversely, the positive parenting style exhibited an association with FC between the hippocampus and right lateral prefrontal cortex. Our findings support negative parenting's association with an immature reward system and suggest positive parenting's potential to enhance emotion regulation in brain function. These observations highlight two distinct parenting styles, including single-parenting behaviors. Thus, we advance understanding of each style's unique contributions to adolescent reward- and emotion regulation-related brain network development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to this research and the publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Most addiction research has focused on reward- and impulsivity-related neurocircuitry. However, the impact of the withdrawal/negative affect stage in the addiction cycle has been somewhat overlooked, despite it being commonly evident in the clinic. This stage crucially drives negative reinforcement of repeated drug use and relapse, yet less is known about its neural underpinnings. How negative emotional processing is dysregulated in substance dependence is incompletely understood and may manifest differentially across the types of substances. In turn, the regions involved in negative emotional processing may show different patterns of dysregulation. Understanding how neurocircuitry involved in negative states differs across various substances may help inform new targets for treatments. Following a comprehensive literature search of studies examining negative emotional processing in substance dependence, a quantitative approach was deemed inappropriate. Instead, we employed a narrative approach to exploring neural responses to tasks involving emotional processing in alcohol, cocaine, opioid and cannabis dependence. Regions that were found to be dysregulated included the amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate, and medial prefrontal cortex. However, patterns of reactivity differed across alcohol, cocaine, opioid and cannabis dependence. Brain activation in alcohol dependence broadly appeared blunted in response to negative affective stimuli and emotional faces, whilst conversely appeared heightened in cocaine dependence. In opioid dependence, the amygdala was consistently implicated, whilst the insula, anterior cingulate, and medial prefrontal cortex were implicated in cannabis dependence. However, there was wide variability amongst the studies, with very few studies investigating opioid and cannabis dependence. These findings suggest emotional dysregulation varies according to the type of substance dependence. However, the variability in findings and lack of studies highlights the need for more research in this area. Further characterisation of emotional dysregulation in substance dependence will enable identification of treatment targets. More targeted treatments that modulate negative emotional processing could substantially improve outcomes by aiding relapse prevention., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: Recent theoretical work suggests that the expression of emotions may differ among Black and White Americans, such that Black Americans engage more frequently in expressive suppression to regulate emotions and avoid conflict. Prior work has linked expressive suppression usage with increases in cardiovascular disease risk, suggesting that racialized differences in expressive suppression usage may be one mechanism by which racism "gets under the skin" and creates health disparities., Method: To examine racialized differences in expressive suppression and blood pressure (a measure of cardiovascular disease risk), we used self-report and facial electromyography (fEMG) data from two cohorts of Black and White Americans from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) longitudinal study (MIDUS 2, n = 271, 34.7% Black, collected from 2004 to 2009; MIDUS Refresher 1, n = 114, 31.6% Black, collected from 2012 to 2016; total N = 385, 33.9% Black)., Results: Black Americans reported engaging in expressive suppression more frequently than White Americans ( t (260.95) = 2.18, p = .002) and showed less corrugator fEMG activity during negative images ( t (969) = 2.38, pFDR = .026). Less corrugator activity during negative images was associated with higher systolic blood pressure only for Black Americans ( b = -4.63, t (375) = 2.67, p = .008)., Conclusion: Overall, results are consistent with theoretical accounts that Black Americans engage more frequently in expressive suppression, which in turn is related to higher cardiovascular risk. Additional research is needed to further test this claim, particularly in real-world contexts and self-reports of in-the-moment usage of expressive suppression., (Copyright © 2024 by the American Psychosomatic Society.)

Previous emotion regulation studies revealed that emotional distraction decreases unpleasant emotions. This study examined whether distraction tasks decrease unpleasant task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) and unpleasant emotions when recalling stressful daily interpersonal events. Amygdala activity was examined to assess implicit emotional changes using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The behavioral data of 20 university students (mean age: 20.35 ± 1.42 years; range: 18-24 years) and fMRI data of 18 students were examined. As an emotion induction procedure, participants initially freely recalled memories of daily stressful interpersonal events and then responded to a series of questions about their recalled memories presented on a monitor. In the distraction experiment, the questions were re-represented as an emotional stimulation; a distraction task (nonconstant or constant finger tapping) or rest condition was then performed, and ratings were given for attentional state, thought types conceived during the tasks, and emotional state. Decreases in unpleasant emotions and TUTs were defined as distraction effects. We found that unpleasant TUTs decreased in the nonconstant relative to rest condition (p < .05). Furthermore, increased right amygdala activation positively correlated with unpleasant emotions, and bilateral amygdala activation correlated with unpleasant TUTs only in the rest condition, indicating the existence of amygdala activation associated with unpleasant emotions and thoughts. However, such associations were not under nonconstant or constant conditions, indicating distraction effects. Notably, this study showed that emotional distraction can decrease the degree of unpleasant emotions and the occurrence of unpleasant thoughts regarding common daily emotions., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest concerning the authorship or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

One transdiagnostic process that may be critical to depression and suicidal ideation is beliefs about the nature of one's own emotions, both concurrently and longitudinally. In a sample of community adults (n = 143), we assessed personal emotion beliefs about the degree to which one's own emotions are malleable, unique, and last a long time. There were significant associations between stronger views that one's own emotions were fixed, unique to you, and had a longer duration and higher clinical symptom severity, including higher levels of current suicidal ideation, and less adaptive emotion regulation. Mediation analyses using longitudinal data clarified that the differential engagement in emotion regulation, specifically rumination, represented the link tying specific personal emotion beliefs to clinical symptoms and that, in certain cases, the opposite pathway is also significant - differences in clinical symptoms mediated the relationship between specific personal emotion beliefs and emotion regulation (rumination) longitudinally. Additionally, personal emotion beliefs varied based on depression status, as determined using a semi-structured clinical interview. For example, individuals meeting current criteria for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) held stronger views that their emotions were unique to them compared to individuals with remitted MDD or no history of MDD. The current study's findings highlight the important role of specific personal emotion beliefs in clinical symptoms concurrently and longitudinally and mechanisms in these relationships. These results could guide future research on interventions to promote more adaptive beliefs about emotion to improve clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by unstable self-image, conflictual interpersonal relationships, emotional dysregulation, and marked impulsivity. One form of impulsivity commonly seen in BPD is binge eating; however, little is known about this maladaptive behavior in the context of BPD. In the eating disorder (ED) literature, multiple theories suggest binge eating occurs as a result of heightened levels of negative affect. Given that BPD and EDs share emotional dysregulation and impulsivity as maintaining mechanisms of each respective disorder, these theories of binge eating may provide a model for binge eating in BPD. Existing literature suggests feelings of emotional emptiness may precede binge episodes in those with EDs. The current study sought to explore feelings of emptiness as antecedents to binge eating behaviors in those with BPD traits. Using ecological momentary assessment, binge episodes, affect, and feelings of emptiness were tracked throughout the day for 14 days in undergraduate students with BPD traits ( n = 55). The current study found momentary feelings of emptiness at the time of the binge eating episode significantly predicted increased odds of a binge episode occurring. Additionally, momentary feelings of emptiness, as well as other negative affects, increase following a binge episode. Results suggest treatment of binge eating within BPD should include elements of acceptance of negative affects including emptiness, such as in dialectical behavior therapy distress tolerance skills training. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: The current study sought to clarify and harness the incremental validity of emotional dysregulation and unawareness (EDU) in emerging adulthood, beyond ADHD symptoms and with respect to concurrent classification of impairment and co-occurring problems, using machine learning techniques., Method: Participants were 1,539 college students ( M age  = 19.5, 69% female) with self-reported ADHD diagnoses from a multisite study who completed questionnaires assessing ADHD symptoms, EDU, and co-occurring problems., Results: Random forest analyses suggested EDU dimensions significantly improved model performance ( p s < .001) in classifying participants with impairment and internalizing problems versus those without, with the resulting ADHD + EDU classification model demonstrating acceptable to excellent performance (except in classification of Work Impairment) in a distinct sample. Variable importance analyses suggested inattention sum scores and the Limited Access to Emotional Regulation Strategies EDU dimension as the most important features for facilitating model classification., Conclusion: Results provided support for EDU as a key deficit in those with ADHD that, when present, helps explain ADHD's co-occurrence with impairment and internalizing problems. Continued application of machine learning techniques may facilitate actuarial classification of ADHD-related outcomes while also incorporating multiple measures., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objective: To construct a predictive model for the improvement of cognitive function in patients with depressive disorder treated with SNRIs, based on emotional regulation abilities, and to provide personalized treatment for depressed patients., Methods: Clinical data from 170 patients with depressive disorder treated with SNRIs at Tongji Hospital, Shanghai, from December 2017 to May 2023 were collected. Based on whether the MoCA-B total score at 3-6 months post-treatment was at least 2 points higher than at baseline, patients were divided into the cognitive function improved group (n = 80) and the cognitive function not improved group (n = 90). Stepwise logistic regression and LASSO regression were used to select predictive factors, and logistic regression analysis was applied to construct predictive models solely based on emotional regulation abilities, combined with executive functions and HAMD scores. The models were further validated through Bootstrap internal validation, calibration curve plotting, and C-index calculation, and a comparison between the two models was performed., Results: An ER model with an area under the ROC curve of 0.817was established using four emotional regulation ability indicators: the valence of reappraised images, the arousal of negative images, the arousal of neutral images, and the success of reappraisal (arousal). Internal validation using Bootstrap showed a C index of 0.817, and clinical decision curves indicated that this model has a significant net benefit with a probability of improved cognitive function ranging from about 20 to 85%. Additionally, an EREH model including emotional regulation ability, executive function, and HAMD score as predictors was constructed using Lasso and logistic regression methods. This model reached an area under the ROC curve of 0.859and clinical decision curves showed high net benefits with probabilities of improved cognitive function ranging from 10 to 100%. The calibration curves of both models coincided well with the actual curves, with the latter having a higher AUC and significant statistical differences between the two models., Conclusion: This study suggests that emotional regulation ability may serve as a predictor for the improvement of cognitive functions in patients with depression depressive disorder treated with SNRIs. However, it is important to note that there may be other factors not covered or included in this study.The predictive model that includes executive functions and HAMD scores offers better differentiation and consistency and is more feasible in clinical practice., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Considering the sparse but rapidly growing literature concerning the relationship between psychopathy and emotion regulation, taking stock of accumulating knowledge in a systematic review and meta-analysis of the existing results is needed. We performed a systematic search (up to May 30, 2024) following PRISMA guidelines of five scientific databases (PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science). Also, gray literature was searched. After removing the duplicates, a total of 8.786 records were screened, and 73 articles were selected based on the inclusion criteria used for systematic review. The meta-analytic procedure was performed on 55 identified studies consistent with the criteria adopted, which overall comprised 29.856 individuals. The current systematic and meta-analysis review has clarified the association between impairments of emotional regulation abilities and facets of psychopathy. More specifically, analyses indicated that emotional dysregulation is associated with overall levels of psychopathic traits, as well as with both the lifestyle and affective components of psychopathy, which suggests the utility of assessing these features when designing interventions focused on modulating negative emotional states and enhancing regulation of impulsive behaviors., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This study explored the effectiveness of a short-term mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on psychological distress, mindfulness levels, emotion regulation, and impulsivity among college students with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Participants completed four questionnaires, including the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Brief Barratt Impulsivity Scale, and two behavioral tasks, including an emotion regulation task and a stop signal task (SST), at three time points. Compared with the healthy group, the NSSI group had a significantly greater level of psychological distress and a lower level of mindfulness. Compared with the NSSI control group and the healthy group, the NSSI MBI group had significantly increased mindfulness levels and decreased psychological distress after the intervention. In the NSSI MBI group, regardless of which emotion regulation strategy was adopted when viewing negative pictures, the intensity of negative emotions during the emotion regulation task was significantly reduced. Moreover, in the NSSI MBI group, the effectiveness of the MBI on the mindfulness level, stress level, and emotion regulation process was maintained at the follow-up. The present study provided empirical support that short-term MBI has the potential to help individuals with NSSI by enhancing their emotion regulation., (© 2024 International Association of Applied Psychology.)

Research on experiencing workplace cyberbullying (WCB) and its underlying mechanisms that impact the well-being of teachers is scarce. We propose that cognitive reappraisal, which is a useful and adaptive emotion-regulation strategy for reinterpreting emotion-eliciting situations, is a mediator explaining the inverse relationships between experiencing WCB and well-being. A three-wave longitudinal survey (baseline, T1; 3 months, T2; and 1 year, T3) was conducted with a sample of 444 primary and secondary schoolteachers in Hong Kong, China. Exposure to WCB, cognitive reappraisal, affective well-being and work engagement of participants was assessed. In line with the hypotheses, results showed that cognitive reappraisal mediated the associations between WCB and well-being. WCB at T1 was negatively associated with cognitive reappraisal at T2, which in turn was positively associated with positive affect and work engagement and negatively associated with negative affect at T3. Findings suggest that the intrusive nature of WCB renders its victims emotionally exhausted and helpless, thus negatively impacting the process to reinterpret the situation in a positive light, resulting in undesirable consequences. This study has illuminated WCB's inhibitory mechanism and its long-term detrimental impact. Practical implications are discussed., (© 2024 The Authors. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Applied Psychology.)

Flexible use of emotion regulation (ER) strategies is central to mental health. To advance our understanding of what drives adaptive strategy-switching decisions, in this preregistered study, we used event-related potentials (late positive potential, LPP and stimulus preceding negativity, SPN) and facial electromyography (EMG corrugator activity) to test the antecedents and consequences of switching to an alternative ER strategy. Participants (N = 63, M age  = 24.8 years, all female) passively watched and then implemented an instructed ER strategy (reappraisal or distraction) in response to high-intensity negative pictures that were either easy or difficult to reinterpret (high or low reappraisal affordance, respectively). Next, they decided to "switch from" or "maintain" the instructed strategy and subsequently implemented the chosen strategy. Reappraisal affordance manipulations successfully induced switching. Regarding antecedents, switching was predicted by the reduced ER efficacy of the current strategy (corrugator, but not LPP). Switching to distraction was additionally predicted by increased responses to the stimulus during passive viewing (corrugator and LPP) and increased anticipatory effort in implementing reappraisal (SPN). Concerning consequences, switching to distraction improved, whereas switching to reappraisal impaired post-choice ER effects (LPP). However, starting with reappraisal was overall more effective than starting with distraction, irrespective of the subsequent decision (corrugator). Our results suggest that switching between ER strategies occurs in accordance with situational demands (stimulus affordances) and is predicted by reduced peripheral physiological ER efficacy. However, only switching to distraction leads to improved regulatory effects. These insights provide neurocognitively grounded starting points for developing interventions targeting ER flexibility., (© 2024 The Author(s). Psychophysiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Family environment, emotion regulation and biological sensitivity have been shown to be associated with adolescents' externalizing problem behaviours. However, findings regarding respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity are mixed and sometimes contradictory. This study aims to clarify the roles of RSA reactivity and anger regulation in the relationship between negative family expressiveness (NFE) and adolescents' externalizing behaviour by measuring RSA reactivity during the Parent-Adolescent Interaction Task (PAIT), designed to simulate a naturalistic negative family environment. In this study, 125 Chinese adolescents (M = 13.95 years, SD = 0.95; 48% male) completed questionnaires assessing negative family expressiveness, anger regulation and externalizing problems. Additionally, we collected electrocardiogram and respiration data during both the resting period and a 10-min PAIT. Results showed that anger regulation mediated the relationship between NFE and externalizing problem behaviours. Moreover, adolescents' RSA reactivity moderated this mediation effect, even after controlling for baseline RSA. Greater RSA suppression potentially indicated greater susceptibility, with the relationship between NFE and anger regulation being more pronounced in adolescents with greater RSA suppression compared to those with lesser RSA suppression. These findings highlight the importance of considering physiological systems, especially within the context of adverse family environments, when studying the relationships with externalizing problems., (© 2024 British Psychological Society.)

Objective: Research demonstrates associations between poor social cognition and eating disorder (ED) pathology. Moreover, research shows that individuals with EDs struggle with emotion regulation. The present study replicates and extends the literature on social cognition and ED pathology, which previously focused largely on symptoms of anorexia nervosa among women while the present study focuses on symptoms of bulimia nervosa among undergraduate men. Further, this study tests the hypothesis that better emotion regulation mitigates the association between social cognition and ED pathology., Methods: At a single timepoint, undergraduate males (n = 520) completed a series of questionnaires, and a task assessing mentalising, a key element of social cognition., Results: Consistent with hypotheses, bulimic symptoms were associated with worse mentalising and worse self-reported emotion regulation. Moreover, the association between mentalising and bulimic symptomatology was conditional on emotion regulation, such that it was strongest among those with more difficulties regulating their emotions., Conclusion: Results are consistent with existing theories that highlight an interplay between interpersonal (e.g., mentalisation) and intrapersonal (e.g., affective functioning) factors in relation to ED symptomatology. Among undergraduate males, bulimic symptoms were associated with worse mentalisation. However, a good ability to regulate emotions interrupted this association., (© 2024 Eating Disorders Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This study tested whether self-reports of childhood adversity would predict altered error processing under emotional versus non-emotional task conditions. N = 99 undergraduates completed two selective attention tasks, a traditional color-word Stroop task and a modified task using emotional words, while EEG was recorded. Participants also completed self-report measures of adverse and positive childhood experiences, executive functioning, depression, current stress, and emotion regulation. Reports of adversity were robustly correlated with self-reported challenges in executive functioning, even when controlling for self-reported depression and stress, but adversity was not correlated with task performance. With regard to neural markers of error processing, adversity predicted an enhanced error-related negativity and blunted error-positivity, but only during the emotion-word blocks of the task. Moreover, error-related changes in alpha oscillations were predicted by adversity, in a pattern that suggested less error responsiveness in alpha patterns during the emotion block, compared to the color block, among participants with higher adversity. Overall, results indicate alterations in error monitoring associated with adversity, such that in an emotional context, initial error detection is enhanced and sustained error processing is blunted, even in the absence of overt performance changes., (© 2024 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been shown to improve chronic pain and associated conditions like depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. However, there is limited research on how veterans with chronic pain apply mindfulness skills to manage pain in daily life. This cross-sectional study examined the association between applied mindfulness practice, pain, and several pain-related conditions among 1,737 veterans with chronic pain prior to enrollment in a trial of 2 MBIs. Applied mindfulness practice was assessed using the Applied Mindfulness Process Scale (AMPS). The outcomes included pain interference, pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, physical function, and social participation. Higher overall AMPS scores, as well as the positive and negative emotional regulation subscales of the AMPS, were associated with less pain interference and catastrophizing, as well as better outcomes for all pain-related conditions. The positive emotional regulation subscale had the strongest associations with outcomes. There was no significant association between the AMPS and pain intensity. The results suggest applied mindfulness practice, especially positive emotional regulation, may improve pain and functioning. In addition, the AMPS shows promise as a process measure of mindfulness skills applied in daily life. Additional research is needed to examine different aspects of mindfulness in the context of MBIs. PERSPECTIVE: This article describes the relationship between applied mindfulness practice and pain-related outcomes, prior to a MBI, using a novel measure of mindfulness practice. These findings underscore the importance of measuring applied mindfulness practice prior to and during clinical interventions to treat chronic pain., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objective: The primary objective of the present study is to validate the Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form (DERS-SF) in a sample of Italian adolescents. Additionally, we aim to evaluate its factorial structure by examining the contribution of each subscale (i.e., Nonacceptance, Clarity, Awareness, Goals, Impulse, Strategy) on the general factor using bi-factor models by replicating a past study., Method: The sample comprises N = 704 adolescents aged 11-17 years (M = 13.38, SD = 1.37; 53.12% females). To establish external validity, correlation and path analyses were conducted between the DERS-SF sub-scales, the total score, and measures of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU). Measurement invariance was tested comparing males versus females and pre-adolescents and adolescents., Results: Overall, results supported the multidimensional nature of the DERS-SF, confirming its original six-factor structure. However, bi-factor models analysis revealed that the Awareness subscale should be excluded when calculating the total score. Furthermore, findings indicated that the Strategy subscale variance is largely accounted for by the general factor rather than the specific subscale. In terms of external validity, significant positive associations between the DERS-SF sub-scales, the total score, and PSU, internalizing and externalizing symptoms were observed. Measurement invariance was supported., Conclusions: Altogether, findings support the validity of the DERS-SF among Italian Adolescents and provide insights relevant to the understanding of the multifaceted facets of emotion regulation, emphasizing its relevance as a transdiagnostic process., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of the parasympathetic nervous system activity, has been considered indicative of stress response and emotion regulation. However, the relationship between RSA and anxiety remains inconclusive, partly because previous research has primarily focused on static RSA levels. In this nonclinical sample (N = 75, M age  = 20.89 ± 1.72 SD, 48 males), we used a damped oscillator model to characterize RSA dynamics across 30-s epochs while participants completed the Trier social stress test. Results showed that RSA constantly oscillated during the three periods of TSST (namely Rest, Stress, and Recovery). Importantly, slower RSA oscillation in the Stress period was related to elevated state anxiety, whereas in the Recovery period, it was related to higher trait anxiety. These findings demonstrated the dynamic nature of RSA during the whole course of stress response. Slower RSA oscillation may indicate inflexible and tardy physiological regulation which may give rise to anxiety issues., (© 2024 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Objective: Emerging work suggests that affect regulation strategies (e.g., active coping, anger expression) predict disease and mortality risk, with sometimes divergent estimates by sex or education levels. However, few studies have examined potential underlying biological mechanisms. This study assessed the longitudinal association of affect regulation with future allostatic load., Method: In 2004-2006, 574 participants from the Midlife in the United States study completed validated scales assessing use of nine general and emotion-specific regulatory strategies (e.g., denial, anger expression). As a proxy for how flexibly participants regulate their affect, variability in the use of regulatory strategies was operationalized using a standard deviation-based algorithm and considered categorically (i.e., lower, moderate, greater variability) to assess non-linear effects. Participants also provided data on relevant covariates and 24 allostatic load biomarkers (e.g., cortisol, blood pressure). In 2017-2021, these biomarkers were again collected. Linear regressions modeled betas (β) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) examining associations of affect regulatory constructs with future allostatic load., Results: In fully-adjusted models including initial allostatic load, general regulatory strategies were unrelated to future allostatic load. Yet, greater versus moderate affect regulation variability levels predicted lower allostatic load (β=-0.14; 95 %CI: -0.27, -0.01). Only among more educated participants, greater use of anger expression predicted lower allostatic load, while the reverse was noted with anger control (β expression =-0.12; 95 %CI: -0.20, -0.05; β control =0.14; 95 %CI: 0.05, 0.24)., Conclusions: While general regulatory strategies appeared unrelated to allostatic load, greater variability in their use and anger-related strategies showed predictive value. Subsequent studies should examine these associations in larger, more diverse samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors do not have any declarations of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental illness, with high rates of co-morbid depression and suicidality. Despite the importance of optimizing treatment in BPD, little is known about how neural processes relate to individual treatment response. This study examines how baseline regional brain blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activation during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task of emotion regulation is related to treatment response following a six-month randomized clinical trial of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) treatment., Methods: Unmedicated females with BPD (N = 37), with recent suicidal behavior or self-injury, underwent an fMRI task in which negative personal memories were presented and they were asked to distance (i.e., downregulate their emotional response) or immerse (i.e., experience emotions freely). Patients were then randomized to DBT (N = 16) or SSRI (N = 21) treatment, with baseline and post-treatment depression and BPD severity assessed., Results: BOLD activity in prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and insula was associated with distancing. Baseline BOLD during distancing in dorsolateral, ventrolateral, and orbital prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, vlPFC, OFC) differentially predicted depression response across treatment groups, with higher activity predicting better response in the SSRI group, and lower activity predicting better response in the DBT group., Limitations: All female samples., Discussion: Findings indicate that greater prefrontal engagement during emotion regulation may predict more antidepressant benefit from SSRIs, whereas lower engagement may predict better response to DBT. These results suggest different mechanisms of action for SSRI and DBT treatment, and this may allow fMRI to guide individualized treatment selection., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest JJM and BHS receive royalties from the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene for commercial use of the C-SSRS. CAM, NS, BSB, and KNO have no conflicts to report. The design, preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript as well as the decision to submit the manuscript for publication was entirely done by the authors CAM, NS, BSB, KNO, JJM, and BHS., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Physiological synchrony is an important biological process during which parent-child interaction plays a significant role in shaping child socioemotional adjustment. The present study held a context-dependent perspective to examine the conditional association between parent-child physiological synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment (i.e., relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation) under different (i.e., from highly unsupportive to highly supportive) emotional contexts. One hundred and fifty school-age Chinese children (M age  = 8.64 years, 63 girls) and their primary caregivers participated in this study. After attaching electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes, parent-child dyads were instructed to complete a 4-minute conflict discussion task. Parent-child physiological synchrony was calculated based on the within-dyad association between parents' and children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) levels across eight 30-second epochs. Parental emotional support, child relationship quality with parents, and child emotion regulation during the discussion task were coded by trained research assistants. Supporting our hypotheses, parental emotional support moderated the relations of parent-child RSA synchrony with both child relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation. Furthermore, the Johnson-Neyman technique of moderation indicated that the associations between parent and child RSA synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment indicators shifted from negative to positive as the parental emotional support became increasingly high. Our findings suggest that parent-child physiological synchrony may not be inherently adaptive or maladaptive, highlighting the importance of understanding the function of parent-child physiological synchrony under specific contexts. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Physiological synchrony may not be inherently adaptive or maladaptive, and the meanings of parent-child physiological synchrony might be contingent on contextual factors. Parental emotional support moderated the relations between parent-child respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) synchrony and child socioemotional adjustment indicators (i.e., child relationship quality with parents and child emotion regulation). More positive/less negative parent-child RSA synchrony was associated with better child socioemotional adjustment under a supportive emotional context, whereas with poorer child socioemotional adjustment under an unsupportive emotional context. These findings highlight the significance of considering the emotional context in physiological synchrony studies., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a marker of self-regulation, has been linked to developmental outcomes in young children. Although positive emotions may have the potential to facilitate physiological self-regulation, and enhanced self-regulation could underlie the development of positive emotions in early childhood, the relation between positive emotions and physiological self-regulation in infancy has been relatively overlooked. The current study examined the bidirectional associations among maternal positive emotion, infant positive emotionality, and infant resting RSA across the first 18 months of life. We used data from the Longitudinal Attention and Temperament Study (LanTs; N = 309 in the current analysis) to test the within- and between-person relations of study variables over time using a random-intercepts cross-lagged panel model. We found that infants with higher overall levels of positive emotionality also displayed greater resting RSA, and their mothers exhibited higher levels of positive emotion. However, there were negative cross-lagged associations within-person; higher than average infant positive emotionality predicted lower levels of infant resting RSA at the subsequent timepoint during early infancy, whereas higher than average infant RSA subsequently predicted decreased levels of infant positive emotionality later in infancy. Results highlight the importance of considering transactional relations between positive emotion and physiological self-regulation in infancy., (© 2024 The Author(s). Developmental Psychobiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: Fetal anomalies occur in approximately 3% of pregnancies and receiving the diagnosis may be a potentially traumatic experience for families. The mental health of mothers receiving diagnoses and what predicts resilience or poor mental health is understudied. Emotion regulation is an important, modifiable, transdiagnostic factor of mental health, and may be protective post-diagnosis. Evaluating biomarkers of stress, including IL-6 and Allostatic Load (AL), can also serve as early indicators of risk, indicative of early intervention. This study assessed whether reappraisal, suppression, IL-6, and AL was associated with mental health outcomes and resilience in women after receiving a fetal anomaly diagnosis., Methods: Pregnant women (N=108) presenting to a fetal concerns clinic for initial consultation completed measures of emotion regulation (i.e., reappraisal and suppression), depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and resilience between 2019-2022. A blood draw was used to assess IL-6 and create composite allostatic load measure including: IL-6, blood pressure, heart rate, glucose, cortisol, and body mass index., Results: Linear regressions controlling for age, gestational age, and perceived fetal diagnosis severity, demonstrated that IL-6 was negatively associated with resilience and positively associated with depression. Reappraisal was positively associated to resilience and negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and PTSD, whereas state insurance status was positively associated to anxiety and PTS symptoms. Suppression and allostatic load were not significant., Conclusions: Women experiencing fetal anomaly diagnosis represent an understudied population with unaddressed mental health needs. Reappraisal serves as not only a protective factor, but one that can be enhanced to promote maternal resilience and mental health. Furthermore, elevated IL-6 may be a critical early indicator of potential intervention needs among women who are pregnant, to mitigate negative psychological states and enhance resilience., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Intolerance of uncertainty has been proposed as a transdiagnostic factor in emotional disorders. Despite comprehensive empirical evidence demonstrating the association between intolerance of uncertainty and emotional disorders, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Drawing on theoretical frameworks and empirical studies, the current study proposed that emotion regulation emerges as a potential mechanism. We explored the connections among intolerance of uncertainty, eight emotion regulation strategies (both adaptive and maladaptive), and emotional difficulties (specifically anxiety and depression) using a three-wave longitudinal approach (N = 341). Our findings revealed that heightened intolerance of uncertainty predicted increased anxiety but not depression over time. Greater intolerance of uncertainty significantly predicted elevated levels of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies including experiential avoidance, thought suppression, rumination, and reassurance-seeking. Adaptive strategies (i.e., mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, problem-solving) predicted lower anxiety and/or depression whereas maladaptive emotion regulation strategy rumination predicted greater levels of anxiety and depression. Surprisingly, thought suppression predicted lower levels of anxiety and depression. More importantly, our analysis showed that both rumination and thought suppression served as significant mediators in the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and both anxiety and depression. These results hold implications for future interventions, emphasising rumination and thought suppression as potential targets for interventions aimed at alleviating emotional difficulties in individuals with intolerance of uncertainty., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Depression is closely related to suicidal ideation (SI); however, it is unclear who is most vulnerable to SI within the context of depression. Research suggests that individual differences in emotion reactivity and regulation may be potential moderators of the link between depression and SI. Therefore, the current study tested this hypothesis using objective markers of emotion reactivity and volitional cognitive regulation capacity during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)., Methods: Adults (n = 91) with active SI completed validated self-report measures of current depressive symptoms and SI severity. Participants completed an fMRI task designed to probe neural response to aversive stimuli and during cognitive reappraisal - a form of volitional emotion regulation. Activation of the amygdala during aversive emotion reactivity was measured. Activation of ventrolateral, dorsolateral, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (vlPFC, dlPFC, and dmPFC) during cognitive reappraisal were also measured. A series of hierarchical linear regressions testing the unique and interactive effects of depression symptoms and neural activation on severity of SI were conducted., Results: Analyses revealed a depression x amygdala activation interaction. The positive association between depression and SI severity was more robust in the context of high amygdala reactivity than low amygdala reactivity. Analyses also indicated there was no PFC activity (neural cognitive reappraisal) by depression interaction., Limitations: Psychoactive medications were allowed and all participants endorsed suicidal intent., Conclusion: Strategies aimed at targeting exaggerated emotion reactivity within the context of depression may be beneficial., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy, includes reinterpretation and affect labeling involving verbalizing emotions. In general, reappraisal is supported by lateral prefrontal cortical regions, which are also known to underlie cognitive regulation. Other research has shown that affect labeling combined with reappraisal of negative emotions increases lateral prefrontal cortex activity more than reappraisal alone does, suggesting that affect labeling facilitates emotional regulation. However, the influence of affect labeling on the efficacy of reappraisal in reducing subjective negative emotions has not been determined., Methods: In the experiment, 35 participants (mean age = 28.2 years (SD = 9.63); 12 women and 23 men) viewed vignettes that aroused negative emotion. Then, they rated subjective negative emotions as baseline values. Following the baseline rating, the task branched into four conditions, combining affect labeling and emotion regulation factors. In the affect-labeling factor, participants selected emotional labels consistent with their own emotions or not. Regarding the emotion regulation factor, participants engaged in reappraisal to regulate their negative emotions. Throughout the experiment, the intensity of negative emotions was measured three times, mirroring the baseline measurement. Oxyhemoglobin (OxyHb) signal values in prefrontal cortex regions during tasks were measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy., Results: Differences between the subjective negative emotion ratings at baseline and after reappraisal indicated that reappraisal significantly reduced negative emotion with and without affect labeling (t (1173.05) = 29.97, p < 0.001), and the combination of affect labeling and reappraisal was less effective in regulating negative emotions at the subjective level than reappraisal without affect labeling (t (1172.03) = 3.15, p < 0.01). Additionally, there was an increase in OxyHb signal in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal and right ventral prefrontal cortices while participants performed reappraisal with affect labeling., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that affect labeling, when performed prior to cognitive reappraisal, may influence the process of negative emotion regulation in complex ways. The interaction between affect labeling and reappraisal appears to modulate prefrontal cortex activity, potentially reflecting changes in cognitive processing during emotion regulation attempts. These results highlight the need for further investigation into the intricate relationship between different emotion regulation strategies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Deficient neural activities during emotion regulation have been reported in depression. We sought to conduct a meta-analysis to provide a comprehensive description of these neural alterations during use of emotion regulation strategies among patients with depression, including major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD)., Methods: We identified neuroimaging studies of abnormal neural activities during emotion regulation in depression. We extracted the peak coordinates and effect sizes of differences in brain activity between patients and healthy controls. Using seed-based d mapping, we conducted voxel-wise meta-analyses of the neural activation pattern differences between the 2 groups across conditions involving emotion regulation and those where emotion regulation was not needed., Results: We included 33 studies reporting 34 data sets, including 23 involving MDD (571 people with MDD and 578 matched controls) and 11 involving BD (358 people with BD and 369 matched controls). Overall, compared with controls, patients with depression showed hyperactivity in the insula and postcentral gyrus, and hypoactivity in the prefrontal part of the inferior, middle, and superior frontal gyrus, the middle temporal gyrus, and the supplementary motor area. In subgroup analyses, data from patients with MDD and studies focused on decreasing negative emotions or using the emotional strategy of reappraisal reported specific hypoactivity in the middle cerebellar peduncles., Limitations: Given limited studies involving patients with BD, we were unable to detect the common and distinct abnormalities in neural activation between MDD and BD. We did not conduct any meta-regression analyses because of limited information., Conclusion: In this meta-analysis, we identified hyperactivity in brain regions associated with emotional experience and hypoactivity in brain regions associated with cognitive control during emotion regulation among patients with depression, relative to healthy controls. These findings could help indicate a target for future interventions aimed at increasing emotion regulation capacity for patients with depression., Competing Interests: Competing interests:: None declared., (© 2024 CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors.)

Objective: The present study focuses on the impact of emotion regulation on the establishment of the therapeutic alliance in a context of post-divorce group intervention., Method: The study involved 177 divorced parents and 60 therapists and was developed through multilevel path analysis., Results: The data showed an association between emotion regulation and therapeutic alliance across the difficulties of adaptation to divorce, although the results were different from the perspective of the participant and of the therapist and between the individual and the group level., Conclusion: The study highlights the relevant role of emotion regulation in post-divorce adaptation and in the success of the establishment of the therapeutic alliance, while clarifying the formation of the alliance from the viewpoints of the individual and the therapist. The study also highlights the need to understand the alliance at both the individual and the group level, in order to design therapeutic interventions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Alvarez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: It is well-recognized that maintaining a regular yogic practice is associated with numerous physical and psychological health benefits. However, few studies have explored the possible psychological and neurophysiological mediators through which the component parts of yoga-ethics, breath regulation, postures, and meditation-work to produce salutary effects., Purpose: To address this gap, we conducted a cluster randomized trial to test the following set of theory-based mechanisms: emotion regulation for ethics, self-control for breath regulation, discomfort and distress tolerance for postures, and mindfulness for meditation. We also explored yoga's effects on the autonomic nervous system by examining salivary acetylcholinesterase levels., Methods: Participants (N = 260) were randomly assigned in clusters (n = 37) to a single, hour-long standard or postures-only yoga class., Results: Findings suggest that a single yoga class may confer both psychological and neurophysiological benefits, yet there were few differences between the two types of yoga classes. Pre- to post-session main effects of time, all in the expected direction, emerged for five of eight theoretical mediators, as well as for salivary acetylcholinesterase levels. Time X condition interactions observed for three of the mediators-cognitive reappraisal, discomfort tolerance, and expressive suppression-along with findings from the exploratory mediation analysis suggest potential unique benefits of the two yoga sessions for certain outcomes., Conclusions: Additional studies are needed to replicate these results and to test other potential mediators and/or primary outcomes through which yoga might work to promote health., (© Society of Behavioral Medicine 2024. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) is a crucial ability for effectively recovering from negative emotions through social interaction. It has been emphasized that the empathy network, cognitive control network, and affective generation network sustain the deployment of IER. However, the temporal dynamics of functional connectivity among these networks of IER remains unclear. This study utilized IER task-fMRI and sliding window approach to examine both the stationary and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) of IER. Fifty-five healthy participants were recruited for the present study. Through clustering analysis, four distinct brain states were identified in dFC. State 1 demonstrated situation modification stage of IER, with strong connectivity between affective generation and visual networks. State 2 exhibited pronounced connectivity between empathy network and both cognitive control and affective generation networks, reflecting the empathy stage of IER. Next, a 'top-down' pattern is observed between the connectivity of cognitive control and affective generation networks during the cognitive control stage of state 3. The affective response modulation stage of state 4 mainly involved connections between empathy and affective generation networks. Specifically, the degree centrality of the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) mediated the association between one's IER tendency and the regulatory effects in state 2. The betweenness centrality of the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) mediated the association between one's IER efficiency and the regulatory effects in state 3. Altogether, these findings revealed that dynamic connectivity transitions among empathy, cognitive control, and affective generation networks, with the left VLPFC and MTG playing dominant roles, evident across the IER processing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have declared that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to the subject of this study., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Using the metacognitive model of emotion dysregulation as a basis, this study explored whether, among participants with substance use disorders (SUDs), metacognitive beliefs and repetitive negative thinking were associated with emotion dysregulation., Methods: 127 participants with SUDs and 127 controls without SUDs were recruited. Emotion dysregulation, metacognitive beliefs, rumination, worry, anxiety, and depression were assessed. t-tests, Mann-Whitney tests, logistic regression, correlation, and hierarchal regression analyses were run., Results: Participants with SUDs reported significantly higher levels of emotion dysregulation, positive beliefs about worry, beliefs about the need to control thoughts, rumination, and worry, compared to controls without SUDs. Among participants with SUDs negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger, cognitive confidence, beliefs about the need to control thoughts, rumination, and worry were significantly associated with an increase of emotion dysregulation., Limitations: The cross-sectional design., Conclusion: Emotion dysregulation, metacognitive beliefs, and repetitive negative thinking may contribute to increase the risk of substance use. Among participants with SUDs emotion dysregulation is associated with the tendency to endorse dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs and report repetitive negative thinking. Metacognitive beliefs and repetitive negative thinking could be a suitable therapeutic target to reduce emotion dysregulation among participants with SUDs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite the growing body of longitudinal research linking sleep problems and externalizing symptoms, regarding the direction of the effects of both variables, the results have been inconsistent. Given the mixed findings and inconsistent results in the literature, we propose that emotion dysregulation may link sleep problems and externalizing symptoms., Methods: The participants (N = 1281, 49.65 % female; M = 12.73 years at time 1, SD = 0.68) were middle school students who completed assessments for sleep problems, externalizing symptoms, and emotion dysregulation. The interval between each wave was six months, for two consecutive years. Autoregressive mediation models using longitudinal data and cross-sectional mediation models using baseline data were evaluated and compared through structural equation modeling., Results: The results revealed that severe sleep problems (at T1, T2, or T3) were associated with higher levels of externalizing symptoms later in adolescence (at T2, T3, or T4), but not vice versa. In addition, analyses of indirect effects indicated that emotion dysregulation mediated this link, such that greater sleep problems led to more emotion dysregulation, which, in turn, led to more externalizing symptoms., Conclusion: The findings highlight the critical role that emotional regulation plays in the link between sleep problems and externalizing symptoms and emphasize the need for students as well as middle school administration to pay close attention to both the sleep and externalizing symptoms of early adolescents., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) is a common, chronic, and impairing psychological condition characterized by recurrent, affective aggressive behavior. IED is associated with a host of cognitive and affective symptoms not included in the diagnostic criteria which may be a valuable indicator of heterogeneity in IED-such information can be useful to enhance understanding and treatment of this disorder in mental health settings. A preliminary investigation conducted on cognitive-affective symptom heterogeneity in individuals with a history of IED demonstrated that level of emotional dysregulation primarily differentiated IED subgroups, however the sample size was limited, and almost half of the individuals did not have current IED (only lifetime IED). The present study addressed these limitations by conducting a latent class analysis of cognitive-affective symptoms among a large (n = 504) sample of individuals diagnosed with current IED. The latent IED classes were then externally validated on several adverse outcomes, historical precursors, and demographic variables. Statistical and clinical indicators supported a four-class model, with classes primarily distinguished by patients' severity of emotion dysregulation. The two moderate emotion-dysregulated classes both endorsed callous-unemotional traits and low empathy relative to other classes, a finding which differs from the initial investigation. An external validation of the four classes revealed that they significantly differed on severity outcomes (e.g., aggression, suicide attempts, antisocial behavior, global functioning, comorbidities) and historical precursors (e.g., aversive parental care, childhood maltreatment). These findings provide further insight into the heterogeneity within IED and the associations of such variability with important precursors and clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Emotion classification using electroencephalographic (EEG) data is a challenging task in the field of Artificial Intelligence. While many researchers have focused on finding the best model or feature extraction technique to achieve optimal results, few have attempted to select the best methodological steps for working with the dataset. In this study, we applied two different theoretical approaches based on the noise of the dataset: curriculum learning and confident learning. Curriculum learning involves presenting training examples to the model in a specific order, starting with easier examples and gradually increasing in difficulty. This approach has been shown to improve model performance. Confident learning is a method for identifying and correcting label errors in datasets. By identifying and correcting these errors, confident learning can improve the performance of machine learning models trained on noisy datasets. We then applied the Integrated Gradient technique in order to assess the explainability of each model. Our aim was to explore the impact of different models and methods on emotion classification performance using EEG data. We collected and used an EEG dataset in which participants rated the emotional valence of positive and negative pictures while performing an emotion regulation (ER) task, comparing a control condition (Look) with two ER strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We performed a multilabel classification to identify emotional neutrality or polarization of emotional valence (both positive and negative) rated by participants and the emotion regulation strategy adopted during the task. We compared the performance of models trained on three datasets selected based on label noise and evaluated their suitability for this task. Our results suggest different patterns based on the architecture used for feature importance, highlighting both advantages and criticisms., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Novel technologies, such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and wearable biosensor wristwatches, are increasingly being used to assess outcomes and mechanisms of change in psychological treatments. However, there is still a dearth of information on the feasibility and acceptability of these technologies and whether they can be reliably used to measure variables of interest., Objective: Our objectives were to assess the feasibility and acceptability of incorporating these technologies into dialectical behavior therapy and conduct a pilot evaluation of whether these technologies can be used to assess emotion regulation processes and associated problems over the course of treatment., Methods: A total of 20 adults with borderline personality disorder were enrolled in a 6-month course of dialectical behavior therapy. For 1 week out of every treatment month, participants were asked to complete EMA 6 times a day and to wear a biosensor watch. Each EMA assessment included measures of several negative affect and suicidal thinking, among other items. We used multilevel correlations to assess the contemporaneous association between electrodermal activity and 11 negative emotional states reported via EMA. A multilevel regression was conducted in which changes in composite ratings of suicidal thinking were regressed onto changes in negative affect., Results: On average, participants completed 54.39% (SD 33.1%) of all EMA (range 4.7%-92.4%). They also wore the device for an average of 9.52 (SD 6.47) hours per day and for 92.6% of all days. Importantly, no associations were found between emotional state and electrodermal activity, whether examining a composite of all high-arousal negative emotions or individual emotional states (within-person r ranged from -0.026 to -0.109). Smaller changes in negative affect composite scores were associated with greater suicidal thinking ratings at the subsequent timepoint, beyond the effect of suicidal thinking at the initial timepoint., Conclusions: Results indicated moderate overall compliance with EMA and wearing the watch; however, there was no concurrence between EMA and wristwatch data on emotions. This pilot study raises questions about the reliability and validity of these technologies incorporated into treatment studies to evaluate emotion regulation mechanisms., (© Shireen L Rizvi, Allison K Ruork, Qingqing Yin, April Yeager, Madison E Taylor, Evan M Kleiman. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org).)

Objective: In spite of the evidence that both symptom reduction and functional improvement are important for supporting recovery from trauma, psychotherapy process research has largely focused on mechanisms of symptom reduction. A better understanding of how change occurs in treatments that emphasize functional improvement rather than trauma processing is critical for optimizing effective, patient-centered care., Method: This study involved secondary analysis of data collected in three multisite trials of a 10-module web-based version of Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation, a skills-focused transdiagnostic intervention. The sample included 314 trauma-exposed veterans (38% male; 64% non-Hispanic White) who screened positive for elevated symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and/or depression. Latent change score modeling examined prospective relationships between changes from pre-to-mid and mid-to-post treatment in four potential mechanisms (emotion regulation, interpersonal problems, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and depression symptoms) and the association of these changes with overall functional improvement (at posttreatment and follow-up)., Results: Emotion regulation change during the first half of treatment predicted interpersonal and symptom improvements during the second half of treatment, but not vice versa. Changes in each potential mechanism were uniquely associated with functional improvement and together statistically accounted for 78% additional variance in functional improvement beyond what was associated with baseline functioning and covariates., Conclusions: Results support emotion regulation as an early mechanism of transdiagnostic therapeutic change in web-based version of Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation and highlight the relevance of all four potential mechanisms to functional improvement. The study contributes to an understanding of how change occurs in skills-focused interventions for trauma-exposed individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

This meta-analytic review examines the relationships between foreign language teachers' burnout and two key factors: (1) job satisfaction and (2) emotion regulation. The analysis incorporates data from 14 studies with 3,812 participants to quantify these relationships and explore potential moderating factors. The results indicate a significant negative correlation between burnout and job satisfaction, as well as a strong negative correlation between burnout and emotion regulation. Moderator analyses reveal that country, educational setting, and education stage significantly influence these relationships. However, continuous moderators such as gender distribution and publication year did not significantly affect the outcomes. These findings underscore the importance of considering contextual factors in addressing burnout among foreign language teachers and suggest targeted interventions to enhance emotion regulation and job satisfaction in this population., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We, the authors of the manuscript titled “The Relationships Between Burnout, Job Satisfaction, and Emotion Regulation Among Foreign Language Teachers: A Meta-Analytic Review,” declare that we have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Contradictory findings suggest mental imagery may both exacerbate and protect against negative affect. We aimed to reconcile these contradictory findings by considering individual differences (N=989) in imagery vividness, attention control, resilience, emotion regulation strategy, and negative affect (depressive, anxious, and posttraumatic stress symptomology). We hypothesized that attention control would mediate relationships between imagery vividness and emotion regulation strategy use, and psychopathology symptomology. Results revealed that imagery vividness, as mediated by attention control, predicted greater levels of healthy reappraisal and deleterious rumination. Attention control also mediated negative relationships between imagery vividness and catastrophizing, self-blame, and psychopathology symptomology. An exploratory latent structural equation model revealed that imagery vividness and attention control aggregated positively with reappraisal and resilience scores. The present investigation suggests an adaptive function of imagery vividness via the indirect effects of attention control, facilitating adaptive emotion regulation and limiting maladaptive strategy use, thereby protecting against negative affect., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Previous studies investigated the impact of weight-related abuse (WRA) on eating pathology. However, the circumstances of such an effect are still unclear. Our study aimed to examine the relationship between verbal WRA and binge eating (BE) behavior via attentional bias (AB) to threat cues and difficulties in emotion regulation., Method: We conducted a parallel mediation model. On the basis of the purposive sampling method, 183 individuals with obesity and overweight (70.5% female and 28.4% male; Mean age  = 32.78), from February to June 2019, were recruited from a nutrition clinic in Tehran. The participants completed the BE scale (BES), the weight-related abuse questionnaire (WRAQ), the difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS), and the dot probe task (DPT)., Results: AB to threat cues had a significantly negative association with verbal WRA and BE. Difficulties in emotion regulation showed a significant positive association with verbal WRA and BE. The parallel mediation model showed a direct effect of verbal WRA on BE. Moreover, the bootstrap analysis revealed that difficulties in emotion regulation could mediate the association between verbal WRA and BE., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that experiences of verbal WRA can contribute to cognitive bias to negative emotion, maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and behavioral problems like BE., (© 2024 The Author(s). Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

The temporal dynamics of resting-state networks may represent an intrinsic functional repertoire supporting cognitive control performance across the lifespan. However, little is known about brain dynamics during the preschool period, which is a sensitive time window for cognitive control development. The fast timescale of synchronization and switching characterizing cortical network functional organization gives rise to quasi-stable patterns (i.e., brain states) that recur over time. These can be inferred at the whole-brain level using hidden Markov models (HMMs), an unsupervised machine learning technique that allows the identification of rapid oscillatory patterns at the macroscale of cortical networks. The present study used an HMM technique to investigate dynamic neural reconfigurations and their associations with behavioral (i.e., parental questionnaires) and cognitive (i.e., neuropsychological tests) measures in typically developing preschoolers (4-6 years old). We used high-density EEG to better capture the fast reconfiguration patterns of the HMM-derived metrics (i.e., switching rates, entropy rates, transition probabilities and fractional occupancies). Our results revealed that the HMM-derived metrics were reliable indices of individual neural variability and differed between boys and girls. However, only brain state transition patterns toward prefrontal and default-mode brain states, predicted differences on parental-report questionnaire scores. Overall, these findings support the importance of resting-state brain dynamics as functional scaffolds for behavior and cognition. Brain state transitions may be crucial markers of individual differences in cognitive control development in preschoolers., (© 2024 The Author(s). Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Purpose: Little is known about the relationship between apelin and serotonin in emotion regulation. This study aimed to examine children's emotional regulation skills and salivary apelin and serotonin levels., Methods: This is a cross-sectional study performed in Türkiye. The research was completed with the participation of 146 children, 8-10 years old, from the general population. Emotion Regulation Skills Scale for Children (CERS) was used to assess children's levels of emotion regulation skills. Apelin and serotonin levels were examined by ELISA technique in saliva samples obtained from children., Results: A statistically significant correlation was found between the mean total score of the CERS and the mean apelin and serotonin levels ( p ˂ .01). We found that females had higher emotion regulation skills compared to males, older higher than younger ones ( p ˂ .01). The regression analysis results show that age and gender together explain 50.5% of the variance in CERS scores, while apelin and serotonin together explain 35.8% of the variance. When all four variables (age, gender, apelin, and serotonin) are included in the model, they explain 51.3% of the variance in CERS scores., Conclusion: Older age and female gender explained most of emotion regulations skills.Key pointsIt was determined that the average salivary apelin and serotonin levels increased with increased age, and with increased age ERS also increased.More research is needed as this is the first time that the relationship between emotion regulation skills and serotonin and apelin levels has been examined.

Effective regulation of emotions is essential in coping with everyday stressors. Although cognitive reappraisal and acceptance are both commonly employed to downregulate negative emotions, they differ in many aspects. Their effectiveness in real-life situations can also be influenced by prior stress or a person's trait preferences for certain emotion regulation (ER) strategies. In the present study, we compared the effectiveness of both ER strategies in a laboratory setting, while focussing on the effect of stress and trait moderators. Ninety-eight healthy participants aged 18-40 were randomly divided into three groups with instructions to use reappraisal, acceptance, or nothing while viewing distressing pictures from the IAPS database. Half of the participants in each group underwent a laboratory stressor (socially evaluated cold pressor test) 20-30 min before the ER task. The effectiveness of ER was measured subjectively on the visual analog scale, and by measuring heart rate, skin conductance, and pupil responses. The data show that cognitive reappraisal lowered subjectively experienced negative emotion, while acceptance did not. These group differences were however not supported by psychophysiological indicators. Secondly, although the laboratory stressor elicited cortisol stress responses in our participants, we did not find any effect on ER. Furthermore, the data has not supported the moderation effect by trait reappraisal and acceptance. The present findings show that deliberate usage of ER strategies when viewing emotionally charged pictures leads to a decrease in experienced emotion. On the other hand, the effects of stress and trait moderators were not supported, therefore they may be smaller and more variable than expected., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Purpose of Review: To explore the relationship between early life trauma, hormonal sensitivity, and psychiatric disorders across female-reproductive life events, with a focus on the neurobiological mechanisms., Recent Findings: Childhood trauma significantly increases the risk of subsequent mood disorders during periods of intense hormonal fluctuation such as premenstrual, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause. Neurobiological changes resulting from early trauma influence emotion regulation, which emerges as a key predisposing, exacerbating, and perpetuating factor to hormonal sensitivity and subsequent psychiatric symptoms. We identified altered stress response and allopregnanolone imbalance, bias in cognitive processing of emotions, neuroimage correlates and sleep disturbances as potential underlying neurobiological mechanisms. This review integrates cumulative findings supporting a theoretical framework linking early life trauma to hormonal sensitivity and mood disorders. We propose that some women might be more susceptible to such hormonal fluctuations because of emotion dysregulation following significant early life trauma., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

It is well established that university students are vulnerable to poor mental health. Although increased gratitude has been shown to reduce stress among students, a clearer understanding of key mechanisms underpinning this relationship are needed to better inform theoretical models and potential interventions targeted at improving well-being in university students. The present study provides the first direct test of whether capacity for emotion regulation mediates the relationship of gratitude with stress at the beginning and middle of the academic semester. This study is also the first to assess this relationship in a cross-lagged panel mediation model. We used a repeated measures design and a total of 343 undergraduate students completed two online surveys with validated measures of gratitude, stress, and emotion regulation-one at the beginning and the second in the middle of the academic semester. Results showed that emotion regulation mediated the relationship between gratitude and stress at the beginning of semester, and again 6 weeks later. A Clogg's z-score test suggested that the strength of the indirect effect significantly increased across the two time points. A post-hoc cross-lagged panel model found that high gratitude at the beginning of the semester predicted low stress in the middle of the semester via emotion regulation. These data provide novel evidence that emotion regulation may serve as a key protective factor against undergraduate stress. The results provide evidence to support leading theories on how gratitude can reduce stress and promote well-being in university students. They also highlight the practical importance of strengthening emotion regulation abilities in university students and can be used to inform future targeted interventions to improve well-being in university students., (© 2024 The Authors. Stress and Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Positive autobiographical memories (AMs) have the potential to repair low mood, but previously depressed individuals have difficulty leveraging their positive AMs for emotion regulation purposes. We examined whether previously depressed individuals benefit from guided, deliberate recollection of preselected AMs to counteract low mood in daily life, utilizing individuals' smartphones to facilitate recollection. Sixty participants enrolled in 2020 were randomly allocated to retrieval of positive or everyday activity AMs and completed ecological momentary assessment of emotional experience for 3 weeks. Participants first created a pool of six memories for the digital AM diary. This was followed by a training week with two recollection tasks daily and a 2-week follow-up period where the diary could be used spontaneously. The positive condition experienced a greater increase in feelings of happiness and a greater decrease in feelings of sadness from pre- to post-AM recollection. While participants in the positive condition used the AM technique more frequently overall during the 2-week follow-up, the effect of condition was moderated by changes in feelings of sadness. The more participants experienced an emotional benefit during the training week, the more they used it spontaneously. Emotional vividness of untrained positive AMs at the 2-week follow-up differed depending on whether they were assessed before or after the first pandemic lockdown. Residual depressive symptoms decreased in both conditions over the study course, while mental well-being remained unchanged. Strengthening positive, self-affirming AMs in daily life may provide a tool to support regulation of transient low mood in those remitted from depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The ongoing repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic provide an unparalleled context to examine how distressing events are remembered. Prior theory and research suggest that (a) distress during lockdowns may fade and be remembered as less distressing, or remain salient and be remembered as more distressing, than initially experienced and (b) emotional suppression and cognitive reappraisal may predict these memory biases. We test these possibilities by assessing depressive symptoms and emotion regulation during two lockdowns: at the start of the pandemic (Lockdown 2020) and 17 months later (Lockdown 2021) in a sample of parents with young children ( N = 272). We assessed tracking accuracy, directional bias, and projection bias in memory of depressive symptoms in Lockdown 2020, and the moderating role of emotion regulation at the time of encoding (Lockdown 2020) and recall (Lockdown 2021). People experiencing more depressive symptoms later in the pandemic (2021) remembered the start of the pandemic (2020) to involve more depressive symptoms than initially experienced (projection bias). People engaging in greater emotional suppression at recall (2021) were less likely to project their current depressive symptoms onto memory of the prior lockdown (lower projection bias) and remembered feeling lower depressive symptoms than initially experienced (underestimation directional bias). By contrast, people engaging in cognitive reappraisal at recall (2021) remembered feeling greater depressive symptoms than they initially experienced (overestimation directional bias). These unexpected results indicate that emotion regulation may shape memory of emotion during real-life challenges differently than patterns observed in lab-based research and may reflect helpful coping with life events. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Co-occurrence between gambling disorder (GD) and other mental disorders is common, but its association with problematic pornography use (PPU) remains unexplored. This study aimed to investigate relationships between sociodemographic variables, personality measures, psychopathology, emotional regulation, and impulsivity and the co-occurrence of GD and PPU using structural equation modeling (SEM). The sample consisted of 359 adults seeking treatment for GD. The short version of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (PPCS-6) identified patients with GD + PPU. Psychopathology, impulsivity, emotional regulation, and personality were also assessed. Higher impulsivity levels statistically predicted co-occurrence between GD and PPU. Impulsivity mediated the relationship between younger age, maladaptive personality features, and emotional dysregulation and co-occurrence. Psychopathological distress did not directly associate with GD + PPU co-occurrence. Impulsivity relates importantly to the co-occurrence of GD and PPU. Younger age, maladaptive personality, and emotional dysregulation contribute to increased impulsivity levels and co-occurrence. The findings highlight the importance of addressing impulsivity in understanding and treating co-occurring GD and PPU., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Dr. Potenza discloses that he has consulted for and advised Game Day Data, Addiction Policy Forum, AXA, Idorsia, Baria-Tek, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Opiant Therapeutics; been involved in a patent application with Yale University and Novartis; received research support from the Mohegan Sun Casino, Children and Screens and the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling; consulted for or advised legal and gambling entities on issues related to impulse control, internet use and addictive behaviors; provided clinical care related to impulse-control and addictive behaviors; performed grant reviews; edited journals/journal sections; given academic lectures in grand rounds, CME events, and other clinical/scientific venues; and generated books or chapters for publishers of mental health texts. Drs. Fernández-Aranda and Susana Jimenez-Murcia received consultancy/speaker honoraria from Novo Nordisk. The other authors have no conflicts of interest with respect to the content of this manuscript., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The current study utilized mediation analyses to examine how parental symptoms of depression and anxiety impact child emotion regulation (ER) and emotion stability (ES) through parent emotion functioning, parenting, and the coparent relationship. 564 parents of children between 3 and 17 years (M age = 9.47; 54.4% male) were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk across three time points: baseline (Wave 1), 4 months (Wave 2), 8 months (Wave 3). Mediation results demonstrated that symptoms of parent depression at Wave 1 predicted worse coparent relationships and decreases in parents' ability to identify their own emotions at Wave 2. Symptoms of parental anxiety at Wave 1 predicted decreases in positive parenting and an increased tendency to have negative secondary emotional responses, impulse-control difficulties, and difficulty accessing emotion-regulation strategies at Wave 2. Additionally, symptoms of parental anxiety at Wave 1 directly predicted lower child ER and ES at Wave 3. However, no significant indirect pathways were identified between parent symptoms and child ER and ES. Sensitivity analyses examined the effects of three youth developmental stages (i.e., early and middle childhood and adolescence), as well as parent gender (i.e., mother and father), and found no significant differences across groups. Thus, even at non-clinical levels, parental symptoms of anxiety and depression may negatively impact parenting, parent regulation, and the coparent relationship, while parental anxiety symptoms may contribute to lower child ER and ES., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

School counsellors in South Korea face significant emotional exhaustion due to their challenging occupational environment. Previous studies have shown that cognitive reappraisal (CR) reduces emotional exhaustion, whereas expressive suppression (ES) increases it. However, these findings predominantly rely on trait questionnaires within cross-sectional approaches, overlooking the dynamic nature of emotion regulation (ER) strategy selection. Individuals may choose strategies that deviate from their general tendencies based on situational demands. There is limited empirical knowledge regarding the interaction between trait and state regulation strategies and their influence on exhaustion. Utilizing the strategy-situation fit hypothesis, this study examines the context-specific effects of ER strategies, considering both situational contexts and individual response tendencies. A multilevel analysis was performed to examine the influence of state and trait ER strategies on daily emotional exhaustion. A daily diary study was conducted for 5 days with 111 Korean school counsellors. Daily CR was associated with lower daily exhaustion and daily ES predicted higher daily exhaustion. Contrastingly, none of the trait ER strategies had an impact on daily exhaustion, but the trait level of both strategies significantly moderated the relationship between daily CR and exhaustion. The positive impact of daily CR was more pronounced in school counsellors who often utilized suppression strategies, and this impact was also evident in trait reappraisal. Re-evaluating daily emotions instead of suppressing them may assist in coping with emotional exhaustion caused by work. The effectiveness of these strategies may vary based on an individual's inclination to regulate emotions as state and trait. ER may aid in implementing preventive interventions for school counsellors experiencing emotional exhaustion., (© 2024 The Author(s). Stress and Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)