Abstract
Deficits regulating emotions are a core process underlying both substance use and mental health disorders. Research has focused on identifying one-to-one associations between individual emotion regulation (ER) strategies and mental health symptoms. Consequently, little is known about how patterns of ER relate to a broad range of psychopathology, in treatment seeking young people. Latent class analysis was used to examine patterns of ER strategies and their relationship with symptoms of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use and borderline personality disorder, in a sample of young treatment seekers. Participants were young people (N = 306, M = 20.8 years) accessing youth advocacy and support or mental health services in Australia. Participants recalled an emotionally-arousing event experienced when on their own and indicated their use of 14 possible ER responses in an online questionnaire. Symptoms of mental health and substance use were measured. The LCA identified three distinct classes of ER responses: Ruminators/avoiders (n = 76), active regulators (n = 81), and low regulators (n = 129). The ruminators/avoiders endorsed the most severe symptom picture across all disorders except alcohol use. Within this cohort, distinct patterns of ER responding had unique relationships with symptoms of psychopathology. The deleterious impact of heightened maladaptive ER strategies (rumination and avoidance) in the absence of adaptive strategies was highlighted.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akaike, H. (1973). Information theory as an extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In B. N. Petrov & F. Csaki (Eds.), Second International Symposium on Information Theory (pp. 267–281). Budapest: Akademiai Kiado.
Aldao, A. (2013). The future of emotion regulation research: Capturing context. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(2), 155–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612459518.
Aldao, A., & Dixon-Gordon, K. L. (2014). Broadening the scope of research on emotion regulation strategies and psychopathology. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 43(1), 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2013.816769.
Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2010). Specificity of cognitive emotion regulation strategies: A transdiagnostic examination. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48(10), 974–983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2010.06.002.
Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2012a). The influence of context on the implementation of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50(7–8), 493–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2012.04.004.
Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2012b). When are adaptive strategies most predictive of psychopathology? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121(1), 276–281. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023598.
Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2013). One versus many: Capturing the use of multiple emotion regulation strategies in response to an emotion-eliciting stimulus. Cognition and Emotion, 27(4), 753–760. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2012.739998.
Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychological Review, 30(2), 217–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004.
Antony, M. M., Bieling, P. J., Cox, B., Ennis, D., & Swinson, W. (1998). Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales in clinical groups and a community sample. Psychological Assessment, 10(2), 176–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.10.2.176.
Barry, A. E., Chaney, B. H., Stellefson, M. L., & Dodd, V. (2013). Evaluating the psychometric properties of the AUDIT-C among college students. Journal of Substance Use, 20(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.3109/14659891.2013.856479.
Bonanno, G. A., & Burton, C. L. (2013). Regulatory flexibility: An individual differences perspective on coping and emotion regulation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8, 591–612. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613504116.
Buckholdt, K. E., Parra, G. R., Anestis, M. D., Lavender, J., Jobe-Shields, L., Tull, M. T., & Gratz, K. L. (2014). Emotion regulation difficulties and maladaptive behaviors: Examination of deliberate self-harm, disordered eating, and substance misuse in two samples. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 39(2), 140–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-014-9655-3.
Burke, T. A., Anne McArthur, B., Daryanani, I., Abramson, L. Y., & Alloy, L. B. (2018). Latent classes of trait affect and cognitive affective regulation strategies are associated with depression, non-suicidal self-injury, and well-being. Journal of Affective Disorders, 225, 180–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.08.015.
Bush, K., Kivlahan, D. R., & McDonell, M. B. (1998). The AUDIT Alcohol Consumption Questions (AUDIT-C): An effective brief screening test for problem drinking. Archives of Internal Medicine, 3, 1789–1795.
Bush, K., Kivlahan, D. R., McDonell, M. B., Fihn, S. D., & Bradley, K. A. (1998). The AUDIT alcohol consumption questions (AUDIT-C): An effective brief scrrening test for problem drinking. Archives of Internal Medicine, 158, 1789–1795.
Carl, J. R., Soskin, D. P., Kerns, C., & Barlow, D. H. (2013). Positive emotion regulation in emotional disorders: A theoretical review. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(3), 343–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2013.01.003.
Carpenter, R. W., & Trull, T. J. (2013). Components of emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorder: A review. Current Psychiatry Reports, 15(335), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-012-0335-2.
Celeux, G., & Soromenho, G. (1996). An entropy criterion for assessing the number of clusters in a mixture model. Journal of Classification, 13, 195–212.
Chesney, S. A., & Gordon, N. S. (2017). Profiles of emotion regulation: Understanding regulatory patterns and the implications for posttraumatic stress. Cognition and Emotion, 31(3), 598–606. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1126555.
Clark, S., & Muthen, B. O. (2009). Relating latent class analysis results to variables not included in the analysis. Retrieved from http://www.statmodel.com/download/relatinglca.pd.
Cole, P. M., Michel, M. K., & Teti, L. O. (1994). The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation: A clinical perspective. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(2/3), 73–100. https://doi.org/10.2307/1166139.
Couwenbergh, C., van den Brink, W., Zwart, K., Vreugdenhil, C., van Wijngaarden-Cremers, P., & van der Gaag, R. J. (2006). Comorbid psychopathology in adolescents and young adults treated for substance use disorders: A review. European Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 15(6), 319–328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-006-0535-6.
Cowdrey, F. A., & Park, R. J. (2011). Assessing rumination in eating disorders: Principal component analysis of a minimally modified ruminative response scale. Eating Behaviors, 12, 321–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2011.08.001.
Crawford, J. R., Cayley, C., Lovibond, P. F., Wilson, P., & Hartley, C. (2011). Percentile norms and accompanying interval estimates from an Australian general adult population sample for self-report mood Scales (BAI, BDI, CRSD, CES-D, DASS, DASS-21, STAI-X, STAI-Y, SRDS, and SRAS). Australian Psychologist, 43(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-9544.2010.00003.x.
Dixon-Gordon, K. L., Aldao, A., & De Los Reyes, A. (2014). Repertoires of emotion regulation: A person centered approach to assessing emotion regulation strategies and links to psychopathology. Cognition and Emotion, 29(7), 1314–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.983046.
Dixon-Gordon, K. L., Weiss, N. H., Tull, M. T., DiLillo, D., Messman-Moore, T., & Gratz, K. L. (2015). Characterizing emotional dysfunction in borderline personality, major depression, and their co-occurrence. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 62, 187–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2015.07.014.
Eftekhari, A., Zoellner, L. A., & Vigil, S. A. (2009). Patterns of emotion regulation and psychopathology. Anxiety Stress and Coping, 22(5), 571–586. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615800802179860.
Ehring, T., Fischer, S., Schnülle, J., Bösterling, A., & Tuschen-Caffier, B. (2008). Characteristics of emotion regulation in recovered depressed versus never depressed individuals. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(7), 1574–1584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2008.01.013.
Garner, D. M., Olmsted, M. P., Bohr, Y., & Garfinkle, P. E. (1982). The eating attitudes test: Psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychological Medicine, 12, 871–878. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291700049163.
Gearhardt, A. N., Corbin, W. R., & Brownell, K. D. (2009). Preliminary validation of the Yale food addiction scale. Appetite, 52(2), 430–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2008.12.003.
Godinho, A., Kushnir, V., & Cunningham, J. A. (2015). Unfaithful findings: Identifying careless responding in addictions research. Addiction, 111(6), 955–956. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13221.
Gossop, M., Darke, S., Griffiths, P., Hando, J., Powis, B., Hall, W., & Strang, J. (1995). The Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS): Psychometric properties of the SDS in English and Australian samples of heroin, cocaine and amphetamine users. Society for the Study of Addiction, 90(5), 607–614. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.1995.9056072.x.
Gossop, M., Griffiths, P., Powis, B., & Strang, J. (1992). Severity of dependence and route of administration of heroin, cocaine and amphetamines. British Journal of Addiction, 87, 1527–1536.
Harrison, A., Sullivan, S., Tchanturia, K., & Treasure, J. (2009). Emotion recognition and regulation in anorexia nervosa. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 16(4), 348–356. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.628.
Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Fang, A., & Asnaani, A. (2012). Emotion dysregulation model of mood and anxiety disorders. Depression and Anxiety, 29(5), 409–416. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.21888.
Hsu, K. J., Beard, C., Rifkin, L., Dillon, D. G., Pizzagalli, D. A., & Bjorgvinsson, T. (2015). Transdiagnostic mechanisms in depression and anxiety: The role of rumination and attentional control. Journal of affective disorders, 188, 22–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2015.08.008.
Kessler, R. C., Chiu, W. T., Demler, O., & Walters, E. E. (2005). Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 617–627. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.617.
Kober, H. (2013). Emotion regulation in substance use disorders. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (2nd ed., pp. 428–446). New York: Guilford Press.
Kring, A. M., & Sloan, D. S. (2009). Emotion regulation and psychopathology: A transdiagnostic approach to etiology and treatment. New York: Guilford Press.
Lavender, J. M., Wonderlich, S. A., Engel, S. G., Gordon, K. H., Kaye, W. H., & Mitchell, J. E. (2015). Dimensions of emotion dysregulation in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: A conceptual review of the empirical literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 40, 111–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2015.05.010.
Lougheed, J. P., & Hollenstein, T. (2012). A limited repertoire of emotion regulation strategies is associated with internalizing problems in adolescence. Social Development, 21(4), 704–721. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00663.x.
Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(3), 335–343. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(94)00075-U.
Martin, G., Copeland, J., Gates, P., & Gilmour, S. (2006). The Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) in an adolescent population of cannabis users: Reliability, validity and diagnostic cut-off. Drug Alcohol Dependence, 83, 90–93.
McLaughlin, K. A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2011). Rumination as a transdiagnostic factor in depression and anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49(3), 186–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2010.12.006.
Mennin, D. S., Holaway, R. M., Fresco, D. M., Moore, M. T., & Heimberg, R. G. (2007). Delineating components of emotion and its dysregulation in anxiety and mood psychopathology. Behavior Therapy, 38(3), 284–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2006.09.001.
Mitchell, P., Kutin, J. J., Daley, L., Best, D., & Bruun, A. J. (2016). Gender differences in psychosocial complexity for a cohort of adolescents attending youth-specific substance abuse services. Children and Youth Services Review, 68(2016), 34–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.06.016.
Nylund, K. L., Asparouhov, T., & Muthen, B. O. (2007). Deciding on the number of classess in latent class analysis and growth mixtrure modelling: A Monte Carlo simulation study. Structural Equation Modelling, 14, 535–569.
Pfohl, B., Blum, N., St. John, D., McCormick, B., Allen, J., & Black, D. W. (2009). Reliability and validity of the Borderline Evaluation of Severity Over Time (BEST): A self-rated scale to measure severity and change in persons with borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.2009.23.3.281.
Schwartz, G. (1978). Estimating the dimension of a model. Annals of Statistics, 6, 461–464.
Selby, E. A., Fehling, K. B., Panza, E. A., & Kranzler, A. (2015). Rumination, mindfulness, and borderline personality disorder symptoms. Mindfulness, 7(1), 228–235. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0432-5.
Sloan, E., Hall, K., Moulding, R., Bryce, S., Mildred, H., & Staiger, P. K. (2017). Emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic treatment construct across anxiety, depression, substance, eating and borderline personality disorders: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 57, 141–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2017.09.002.
Szasz, P. L., Coman, M., Curtiss, J., Carpenter, J. K., & Hofmann, S. G. (2018). Use of multiple regulation strategies in spontaneous emotion regulation. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 11(3), 249–261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41811-018-0026-9.
Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1063–1070.
Willem, L., Bijttebier, P., Claes, L., & Raes, F. (2011). Rumination subtypes in relation to problematic substance use in adolescence. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(5), 695–699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.12.020.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Youth Support and Advocacy Service and Headspace Australia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
Elise Sloan, Kate Hall, George J. Youssef, Richard Moulding, Helen Mildred and Petra K. Staiger declares that they have no conflict of interest.
Animal Rights
This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sloan, E., Hall, K., Youssef, G.J. et al. Profiles of Emotion Regulation in Young People Accessing Youth Mental Health and Drug Treatment. Cogn Ther Res 43, 769–780 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-019-10003-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-019-10003-4