Emotion Regulation Attenuates the Prospective Links from Peer Victimization to Internalizing Symptoms during Middle Childhood

Abstract

Objective: Peer victimization has been shown to be a robust predictor of depressive and anxiety symptoms over time. Relatively little is known, however, regarding what protective factors may attenuate these associations and render youth more resilient to this interpersonal stressor. Therefore, the current study examined sadness and worry regulation as moderators of the prospective links from peer victimization to internalizing symptoms over a 1-year period.Method: Participants included 464 predominantly Caucasian children (54.7% boys; ages 7-10), as well as their homeroom teachers, from an elementary school located in the Midwestern United States. Child and teacher reports of peer victimization and child reports of sadness and worry regulation were assessed at Time 1. Children also provided ratings of depressive and anxiety symptoms at Time 1, approximately 6 months later (Time 2), and again approximately 1 year later (Time 3). Moderating effects were evaluated using a series of multivariate latent growth curve models.Results: Consistent with expectations, sadness regulation attenuated the prospective links from both child-and teacher-reported peer victimization to internalizing symptoms. Worry regulation also attenuated the prospective links from teacher-reported peer victimization to internalizing symptoms. The moderating effects of emotion regulation did not differ according to gender. Conclusions:Findings suggest that the ability to effectively manage feelings of sadness and worry may serve as a buffer against the internalizing symptoms associated with peer victimization. Additional research is needed to determine whether interventions focused on enhancing victims' emotion regulation skills reduce their subsequent risk for depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Effect of Personal and Contextual Factors of Regulation on Academic Achievement during Adolescence: The Role of Gender and Age

“…That way, those who possess self-regulation and control skills choose adequate behavioral adjustment strategies, self-control the development of their working schedule looking to respond appropriately to their tasks to improve their performance [8,30]. The self-regulation general variable is present in the promotion of motivational-affective strategies [28,29]; the type of assumed learning scope [31][32][33]; achievement emotions [34,35]; coping strategies [36]; academic confidence and procrastination [37]. Contrary to selfregulation, when a dys-regulatory behavior as procrastination is present [26,27], people decide to postpone actions regardless of their adverse effects, increasing the perceived stress level, affecting important adjustment behaviors.…”

How does depression facilitate psychological difficulties in children? The mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies

“…Specifically, childhood depression, characterized by emotional and cognitive disturbances, has been associated with high clinical and school maladjustment, other internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, low self‐esteem, and stress), externalizing problems (e.g., somatization, aggressiveness, inattention‐hyperactivity and agitation), and peer relationship difficulties (e.g., victimization, poor social skills, and withdrawal) (Garaigordobil, Bernarás, Jaureguizar, & Machimbarrena, 2017; Kochel, Ladd, & Rudolph, 2012; Vaillancourt, Brittain, McDougall, & Duku, 2013). Other studies have also found that emotion regulation may influence the inverse, for example, moderating the link from peer problems to depression (Cooley, Blossom, Tampke, & Fite, 2020).…”

Meta-análisis de la eficacia de intervenciones psicológicas en menores refugiados

“…En esta línea, se han encontrado elevadas tasas de psicopatología en estos menores (Norredam et al, 2018;Oppedal y Idsoe, 2015), siendo los trastornos más frecuentes el trastorno de estrés postraumático, la ansiedad y la depresión, con una mayor prevalencia en menores refugiados que en población local de la misma edad (Brockie et al, 2015;Fazel et al, 2012;Hodes, 2019;Reed et al, 2012;Scoglio y Salhi, 2021). La pobre salud mental y el déficit en regulación emocional derivados de la exposición repetida a la violencia en etapas evolutivas tempranas constituyen un factor de riesgo para la futura victimización del niño o adolescente (Cooley et al, 2020), debido a la baja autoestima, la desesperanza aprendida y los esquemas cognitivos disfuncionales adquiridos (Finkelhor et al, 2011;Scoglio y Salhi, 2021), además de provocar reacciones emocionales desproporcionadamente intensas ante ciertos estímulos (McLaughlin et al, 2014). Como consecuencia, cabría esperar que la promoción de la salud mental actuase como factor protector ante la victimización; hipótesis que ha sido confirmada recientemente por Cooley et al (2020), quienes observaron que el adecuado desarrollo de habilidades de regulación emocional ejerce un efecto protector frente a los efectos de futuros episodios de victimización.…”

“…La pobre salud mental y el déficit en regulación emocional derivados de la exposición repetida a la violencia en etapas evolutivas tempranas constituyen un factor de riesgo para la futura victimización del niño o adolescente (Cooley et al, 2020), debido a la baja autoestima, la desesperanza aprendida y los esquemas cognitivos disfuncionales adquiridos (Finkelhor et al, 2011;Scoglio y Salhi, 2021), además de provocar reacciones emocionales desproporcionadamente intensas ante ciertos estímulos (McLaughlin et al, 2014). Como consecuencia, cabría esperar que la promoción de la salud mental actuase como factor protector ante la victimización; hipótesis que ha sido confirmada recientemente por Cooley et al (2020), quienes observaron que el adecuado desarrollo de habilidades de regulación emocional ejerce un efecto protector frente a los efectos de futuros episodios de victimización. Este efecto protector de la promoción de la salud mental ha sido también demostrado en relación con la victimización escolar y el fenómeno del bullying (Arslan y Allen, 2022;Simón-Saiz et al, 2019).…”