Emotion Regulation Strategies in Daily Life: Examining Contextual Variability in the Process of Emotion Regulation

Contemporary theories of emotional well-being emphasize context as being inextricably linked to the process of emotion regulation. Empirical studies of these processes have generally relied upon single-occasion measurement approaches, but such methods are limited in their capacity to uncover regulatory processes that are inherently contextual and dynamic and that unfold over discrete time-periods. In this thesis, I address this gap using a daily process approach in three empirical studies to examine contextual variability in the usefulness of three popular emotion regulation strategies: mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, and emotion suppression. In Study 1, I establish a daily process approach as relevant to studying emotion regulation, providing evidence for the notion, central to contextual approaches to emotion regulation that the utility of regulatory strategies depends on the person using the strategy. The study examines within-day and spillover (lagged) effects, providing evidence of the relationship between regulatory strategies and daily well-being within days and from one day to the next. This study explores the issue of directionality of effects and the possibility of reciprocal relations between daily strategy use and affect. Finally, this study uncovers age as an important moderator of the effect of one strategy—cognitive reappraisal—on the experience of daily negative affect. Study 2 examines contextual variability in emotion regulation at a macro level of environmental context, testing a hypothesis that the utility of the three regulatory strategies depends on how much people using the strategies experience psychological need satisfaction in their lives. The hypothesis is supported for one strategy: cognitive reappraisal. Cognitive reappraisal is associated with daily benefits to well-being for those not experiencing need satisfaction, and reductions in daily well-being for those using the strategy while getting their Emotion Regulation Strategies in Daily Life xi needs met. Further, this interaction is mostly explained by the need for relatedness, indicating a special relationship between the strategy and people’s social world. Study 3 examines the role of daily positive and negative events in the process of emotion regulation in a more proximal (micro) context. Specifically, it examines daily event “context” effects using a series of multilevel moderation models. Two reliable context effects were found. First, cognitive reappraisal was found to be related to decreased negative affect on days with more negative performance events, and increased negative affect when used on days with less negative performance events. Secondly, emotion suppression was associated with decreases in positive affect, but only on days in which there were more frequent positive social events. Several more tentative interactions are reported to inform future research possibilities. Results and future research directions, including practical considerations, are discussed in relation to prominent theories of well-being and current contextual theories of emotion regulation. Overall, this thesis provides evidence in support of a contextual approach to emotion regulation and validates a daily process approach in studying the contexts that influence this important human process. Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview Darwin (1890) described the emotions of humans as the most expressive and complex of all animals’ emotions. Emotions and their regulation are ubiquitous in the experience of daily life. While there are undoubtedly benefits to a life colored by emotions and “feelings”, problems in the healthy regulation of emotions appear also to be fundamental to human suffering. Emotion regulation problems are increasingly thought to be central to the etiology, maintenance, or both of most if not all psychological problems, including mood disorders (Ehring, Tuschen-Caffier, Schnülle, Fischer, & Gross, 2010), anxiety disorders (Amstadter, 2008), eating disorders (Harrison, Sullivan, Tchanturia, & Treasure, 2010), impulse-control disorders (Williams, Grisham, Erskine, & Cassedy, 2012), suicidal behavior (Pisani et al., 2013), self-harm behavior (Mikolajczak, Petrides, & Hurry, 2009), criminal behavior (Roberton, Daffern, & Bucks, 2012), personality disorders (Linehan, 1993), and even psychosis-spectrum disorders (Henry, Rendell, Green, McDonald, & O’Donnell, 2008). Further, the development of healthy means of regulating emotions appears to be a key determinant of child and adolescent well-being (Cicchetti, Ackerman, & Izard, 1995). Given the relevance of emotion regulation (ER) processes across a large range of problems, and the social and economic challenges presented by the current high prevalence rates of mental ill-health reported in Western countries (Kessler et al., 2009), research interest pertaining to ER processes has enjoyed exponential growth over the past decade (Figure 1.1). 2 Emotion Regulation Strategies in Daily Life Figure 1.1. Number of publications containing the exact phrase “emotion regulation” versus “mental control” in Google Scholar each year from 1990 to 2013 Source: Taken with permission from J. J. Gross, “Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects”, Psychological Inquiry, 2015, 26(1), p. 2. Copyright 2015 by Taylor & Francis. Despite this growth in interest, it has become apparent that scientific progress in understanding the process of ER has been seriously limited by two related issues. First, ER research to date has been dominated by the standard methodological approaches (experiments, trait surveys) frequently employed in empirical psychology (Nezlek, 2007; Aldao, 2013). While those approaches have uncovered many insights into the nature of ER processes as psychological traits, they have been unable to advance our knowledge of ER processes as they are experienced in people’s lives. ER is a dynamic and contextual process in which multiple determinants and influences unfold over time (Gross, 2015). It has been argued that the time has come for the field of ER to move beyond single-occasion measurement approaches and to embrace approaches more suited to examining regulatory processes in daily life (Aldao & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2012). My current research aims broadly to examine ER and its contextual influences in the daily life of individuals using an ecological momentary assessment approach, with daily Emotion Regulation Strategies in Daily Life 3 diary data collection and multilevel data analyses. This thesis consists of three empirical studies that are bookended by a general literature review and a discussion. Chapter 2 introduces and links together the two central theoretical frameworks (Gross, 2015; Aldao, 2013) that have guided the three empirical studies of the thesis (chapters 4–6). Chapter 3 presents information on the methodology and design that is not already detailed in each individual study and provides an overview of the methodological approach employed. In Chapter 4, I present the first empirical article of the thesis: a study of three ER strategies in daily life (cognitive reappraisal, emotion suppression, mindfulness). The article has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed journal Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Brockman, Ciarrochi, Parker & Kashdan, 2017). Study 1 (Chapter 4) aimed to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the degree of convergence between mean daily and trait measures of ER and well-being? 2. What is the unique contribution of three ER strategies (mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, emotion suppression) to the prediction of daily well-being? 3. Does the utility of the three ER strategies vary significantly among individuals? 4. What trait demographic variables moderate the strategy–affect link? 5. What is the relationship between the use of regulatory strategies and next-day affect experiences? 6. What is the directionality of the interrelationships between ER strategies and daily affect? Do regulatory strategies predict next-day affect, vice versa, or both? In Chapter 5, I test a hypothesis that the usefulness of the three strategies would depend on the degree to which people experienced need satisfaction in their lives. This study is currently under review at the peer-reviewed journal Emotion. Study 2 (Chapter 5) aimed to answer the following research questions: 4 Emotion Regulation Strategies in Daily Life 1. What is the relationship between the use of daily regulatory strategies (mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, emotion suppression) and the satisfaction of a person’s needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness? 2. Is the relationship between the use of daily regulatory strategies and emotional wellbeing (positive and negative affect) dependent upon a person’s need satisfaction? I hypothesized that the relationship between the use of daily strategies and the experience of daily positive and negative affect would be greater among people experiencing unmet psychological needs and lower for those with satisfied psychological needs. In Chapter 6, I explore the role of context at a more micro level, examining the role of daily positive and negative events in the process of ER. This study is currently being prepared for submission to the peer-reviewed journal Cognitive Research and Therapy. Study 2 (Chapter 6) aimed to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the relationship between the frequency of positive and negative events, ER strategy use, and positive and negative affect as they are experienced in daily life? 2. What is the relative contribution of strategy use and daily events to the experience of daily positive and negative affect? I hypothesized that both should be important. Strategies and daily events should all significantly predict unique variance in daily positive and negative affect. 3. Do positive and negative events moderate the impact of ER strategies in daily life? Is the strength of the relationship betw