Discovering and promoting ways that help regulate emotions has been a recurrent concern in the field of psychology, given that how one feels and reacts to and expresses emotions can have both short- and long-term effects on physical and mental health. Many psychological strategies that can influence this process, such as reappraisal, attention allocation, and suppression, have been previously investigated. The aim of the present work was to review the emotion regulation potential of yoga practice, given that it combines techniques that foster positive psychological outcomes. The results suggest that yoga produces improvements in emotional functioning in healthy subjects and people who suffer from some physical illnesses, particularly in psychological self-reported variables. Evidence regarding behavioral and neurophysiological correlates remains less well-established. Mechanisms that possibly mediate the relationship between yoga and emotion regulation are discussed and methodologies are considered, with suggestions for future studies. In summary, emerging evidence suggests that yoga may help foster healthier psychological responses, indicating its potential as an emotion regulation strategy.

BackgroundPrenatal cigarette smoke exposure may have adverse psychological effects on offspring. The objective was to assess the association between parental smoking during pregnancy and offspring happiness at age 18, as well as depression.MethodologyParticipants were part of a birth cohort study in Pelotas, Brazil (5,249 participants). Happiness was measured by the Subjective Happiness Scale, a Likert-like scale with four questions generating a score from 1 to 7, with ≥ 6 indicating "happiness". Depression was measured using the Mini International Psychiatric Interview.​ResultsAbout one third of mothers reported having smoked during pregnancy and 4.6% reported smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day. The prevalence of happiness was 32.2% (95% CI 30.8; 33.7), depression 6.8% (95% CI 6.1; 7.6), and simultaneous happiness and depression less than 1%. The prevalence of offspring happiness decreased as smoking in pregnancy increased, even after control for confounding variables, showing an OR = 0.79 [95% CI 0.55; 1.13]. The opposite happened to depression; the prevalence of offspring depression increased as smoking in pregnancy increased (<20 cigarettes/day OR = 1.38 [95% CI 1.03; 1.84] and ≥20 cigarettes/day OR = 2.11[95% CI 1.31; 3.40]. Smoking by the partner was associated with decreased offspring happiness after adjustment for confounders, but did no show association with offspring depression.ConclusionsOffspring were less likely to be happy and more likely to be depressed if their mother smoked during pregnancy, and less likely to be happy if their father smoked during mother’s pregnancy. Although we can not affirm that this is a “causal pathway”, public policies to reduce smoking in pregnancy could improve the health of the offspring in the short and long term.

Self-regulatory trainings can be an effective complementary treatment for mental health disorders. We investigated the effects of a six-week-focused meditation training on emotion and attention regulation in undergraduates randomly allocated to a meditation, a relaxation, or a wait-list control group. Assessment comprised a discrimination task that investigates the relationship between attentional load and emotional processing and self-report measures. For emotion regulation, results showed greater reduction in emotional interference in the low attentional load condition in meditators, particularly compared to relaxation. Only meditators presented a significant association between amount of weekly practice and the reduction in emotion interference in the task and significantly reduced image ratings of negative valence and arousal, perceived anxiety and difficulty during the task, and state and trait-anxiety. For attention regulation, response bias during the task was analyzed through signal detection theory. After training, meditation and relaxation significantly reduced bias in the high attentional load condition. Importantly, there was a dose-response effect on general bias: the lowest in meditation, increasing linearly across relaxation and wait-list. Only meditators reduced omissions in a concentrated attention test. Focused meditation seems to be an effective training for emotion and attention regulation and an alternative for treatments in the mental health context.

This study verified the effects of a Mindfulness and Social-Emotional Learning Program (M-SEL) in mental health problems and quality of life (QoL) in fifth graders of elementary public schools in Southern Brazil. A total of 132 students with a mean age of 11.1 (SD ϭ 1.19) years old were selected. Students (n ϭ 64) who received up to 12 M-SEL sessions during 5 months were compared with a wait-list control group (n ϭ 68). Intervention combined mindfulness practices, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning competencies, and the council method. Outcomes were measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Fleitlich, Cortazar, & Goodman, 2000), the Youth Quality of Life Instrument (Salum et al., 2012), and the Swanson, Nolan and Pelham-IV (Mattos, Serra-Pinheiro, Rohde, & Pinto, 2006) questionnaire. Relative to controls, M-SEL participants significantly improved in most mental health domains (emotional, conduct, relationship, and prosocial behavior) and in QoL scores. No changes occurred for attention deficit and hyperactivity symptoms. These preliminary results suggest the potential psychological contribution of the M-SEL program, as well as its feasibility as a psychosocial intervention for Brazil's educational system.