Emotion regulation and its relation to symptoms of anxiety and depression in children aged 8–12 years: does parental gender play a differentiating role?

Abstract

BackgroundSymptoms of anxiety and depression are prevalent and highly comorbid in children, contributing to considerable impairment even at a subclinical level. Difficulties with emotion regulation are potentially related to both anxious and depressive symptoms. Research looking at maternal contributions to children’s mental health dominates the literature but ignores the potentially important contributions of fathers.MethodThe present study is part of the Coping Kids study in Norway, a randomized controlled study of a new indicated preventive intervention for children, EMOTION. EMOTION aims to reduce levels of anxious and depressive symptoms in children aged 8–12 years. Using cross sectional data and multiple regression analyses, we investigated the relations between anxious and depressive symptoms and emotion regulation in n = 602 children. Symptoms were reported by the child, mothers and fathers. Emotion regulation was reported by mothers and fathers.ResultsSymptoms of anxiety, as reported by parents, were associated with poorer emotion regulation. This association was also demonstrated for depressive symptoms as reported by both parents and children. When analyzing same gender reports, parental gender did not differentiate the relationship between anxiety symptoms and emotion regulation. For depressive symptoms, we did find a differentiating effect of parental gender, as the association with dysregulation of emotion was stronger in paternal reports, and the association with adaptive emotion regulation was stronger in maternal reports. When using reports from the opposite parent, the emotion regulation difficulties were still associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, however exhibiting somewhat different emotional regulation profiles.ConclusionProblems with emotion regulation probably coexists with elevated levels of internalizing symptoms in children. In future research, both caregivers should be included.Trial registrationThe regional ethics committee (REC) of Norway approved the study. Registration number: 2013/1909; Project title: Coping Kids: a randomized controlled study of a new indicated preventive intervention for children with symptoms of anxiety and depression. ClinicalTrials.gov; Protocol ID 228846/H10.

Examining the Effects of Exercise on Frustration-Induced Anxiety-Like Behavior in Rats

“…Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies have robust associations with depression and anxiety. For example, lower use of cognitive WINTER 2019 PSI CHI JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH reappraisal (i.e., reinterpreting a potentially emotionally challenging event in a way that alters the emotional impact; Gross & John, 2003) and higher use of expressive suppression (i.e., inhibiting expressions of emotion; Gross & John, 2003) have been linked with lower positive emotion, lower wellbeing, and higher negative emotion (Gross & John, 2003), and with more symptoms of depression and anxiety (Dryman & Heimberg, 2018;Loevaas et al, 2018). Psychological flexibility, "the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to change or persist in behavior when doing so serves valued ends" (Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006, p. 7), is a related construct that has also been strongly linked with depression and anxiety.…”

The Effects of Conflicting Dietary Information on Dieting Self-Efficacy and Motivation

“…Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies have robust associations with depression and anxiety. For example, lower use of cognitive reappraisal (i.e., reinterpreting a potentially emotionally challenging event in a way that alters the emotional impact; Gross & John, 2003) and higher use of expressive suppression (i.e., inhibiting expressions of emotion; Gross & John, 2003) have been linked with lower positive emotion, lower wellbeing, and higher negative emotion (Gross & John, 2003), and with more symptoms of depression and anxiety (Dryman & Heimberg, 2018;Loevaas et al, 2018).…”

Depressão, ansiedade, autorregulação emocional, percepção do suporte social e familiar em escolares

“…Observa-se também um acréscimo de estudos que buscam compreender como a autorregulação emocional e/ou apoio familiar incidem sobre essas sintomatologias em sujeitos nessa etapa do desenvolvimento [3][4][5] . Grande parte destes investimentos de pesquisas se justificam pelas importantes consequências negativas que a depressão e a ansiedade podem trazer às diferentes esferas da vida dessas pessoas, podendo estar associada ao sexo e a marcos biopsicossociais na vida do ser humano, tais como a menarca nas meninas, podendo trazer como prejuízos diminuição de desempenho escolar, maior risco de suicídio e, até mesmo, uma maior probabilidade de experienciar a depressão na adultez 6,7 .…”

“…A autorregulação emocional corresponde a capacidade da pessoa em lidar com emoções aversivas e manter o controle das emoções mesmo diante de situações estressoras e/ou a capacidade para alterar comportamentos 15 . Desta forma, estudos realizados com crianças e adolescentes têm demostrado que esta capacidade de gerenciamento das emoções está negativamente associada a sintomatologias psicopatológicas, haja vista que pessoas com maiores níveis neste construto apresentariam respostas/estratégias emocionais e comportamentais mais adaptativas diante de experiências emocionais negativas 4,5 . Além disso, o sexo parece estar associado ao tipo de regulação empregado.…”

“…No que tange especificamente às crianças, a compreensão e a utilização de estratégias de autorregulação emocional, sobretudo àquelas que se direcionam a gestão da ansiedade e de sintomas depressivos, são essenciais para o desenvolvimento adaptativo, das funções cognitivas, da competência social 5 e para a percepção de bem-estar dos alunos em idade escolar do Ensino Fundamental 3 . É possível esperar que medidas interventivas para ensinar e promover estratégias para gestão emocional dos escolares levem a resultados efetivos na redução de emoções desagradáveis ou prejudiciais 3,5 .…”