Emotion regulation difficulties as a prospective predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms following a mass shooting

Abstract

A strong positive association between emotion regulation difficulties (ERD) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) has been consistently evidenced in cross-sectional research. However, a lack of prospective research has limited hypotheses regarding the temporal relationship between trauma exposure, ERD, and PTSS. The present prospective study investigated the role of pre-trauma difficulties with emotion regulation in the development of PTSS following exposure to a potentially traumatic event. Between Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), a mass shooting occurred at the participants'(n = 691) university campus. ERD and PTSS were assessed prior to the shooting (T1), in the acute aftermath of the shooting (T2), and approximately eight months later (T3). Using a cross-lagged panel design, ERD was found to prospectively predict PTSS from T1 to T2 and T2 to T3. Additionally, PTSS prospectively predicted ERD from T1 to T2. However, T2 PTSS failed to predict T3 PTSS. Results indicate that ERD and PTSS are reciprocally influential from pre- to post-shooting. Further, results suggest that emotion dysregulation in the aftermath of a potentially traumatic event influences one's ability to recover from PTSS over time, even after accounting for the effects of existing symptomatology. To examine the specificity of temporal relations between ERD and PTSS a second cross-lagged panel design, in which a general distress construct was substituted for PTSS, was conducted. Results of this analysis, as well as conceptual and clinical implications, will be discussed.

Emotion Dysregulation Mediates Relations Between Chinese Parents’ Histories of Childhood Emotional Abuse and Parenting Stress: A Dyadic Data Analysis

“…With respect to the actor effects, parents with higher levels of emotion dysregulation seemed to feel more stress of parenting than parents with less emotion dysregulation. Previous findings have supported the association between emotion dysregulation and stress in general (Wang & Saudino, 2011) and also between emotion dysregulation and some specific types of stress (e.g., Bardeen, Kumpula, & Orcutt, 2013). In line with these findings, our results provide empirical evidence that emotion dysregulation might also be a powerful predictor of parenting stress.…”

The Mental Health Consequences of Mass Shootings

“…As noted previously, early post-incident mental health responses have been found to prospectively predict later postincident mental health responses (e.g., Bardeen et al, 2013). In a similar vein, different classes of psychiatric symptoms have been positively associated in cross-sectional assessments.…”

Emotion dysregulation mediates the relationship between trauma exposure, post-migration living difficulties and psychological outcomes in traumatized refugees

“…While there are multiple ways to conceptualize emotion regulation, we operationalize it in accordance with the definition used in Gratz and Roemer's (2004) model, which focuses on domains of emotion dysregulation. Difficulties in these areas have been linked to psychopathology, including PTSD and depression (e.g., Bardeen et al, 2013;Klemanski et al, 2012;Stevens et al, 2013;Tull et al, 2007). Other conceptualizations of emotion regulation (e.g., Gross' (1998) model) focus on specific strategies involved in regulating emotions at different stages during the emotion process.…”