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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (12 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2022)

Recent theoretical and empirical contributions to the emotion regulation and close relationships literatures have begun to elucidate the dynamic complexities and functional consequences of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) processes. The present study sought to evaluate a naturalistic method for capturing IER processes in the daily lives of committed romantic couples by using ambulatory acoustic recording in tandem with ecological momentary self-report to measure enacted behavior and subjective experience. A coding manual was developed for this purpose. Then, a community sample of cohabiting romantic couples was recruited (final N = 59 couples, 118 participants) to consider the feasibility, reliability, and validity of this method. Couples completed a thorough baseline assessment, followed by eight days of ecological momentary assessment and ambulatory acoustic recording with the Electronically Activated Recorder. A team of undergraduate and post-baccalaureate coders was trained to identify and code the content of acoustically observable IER-relevant interactions that occurred within the couples. Participants’ self-reported evaluations of wearing the audio recorder, total number of recordings produced, the characteristics of the IER-relevant interactions that coders identified, inter-rater reliability among the coders, the correlational structure of the coder ratings, and correspondences between coder ratings and participant self-report were analyzed. Consistent with past research, participants generally reported that wearing the audio recorder was only modestly obtrusive for themselves and others. In total, participants produced nearly 2200 hours of audio. Using a periodic sampling strategy, coders identified 836 unique IER-relevant interactions. Many of these interactions appeared to have been “invisible” to the participants in that they reported not having engaged in IER during those epochs in ecological momentary self-report surveys. Inter-rater reliability ranged from tolerable to excellent for the coder ratings, albeit some codes were rarely endorsed in this sample. There were systematic correspondences between coder ratings and participant self-report, although the magnitude of these correspondences was generally quite modest. Overall, data from this study suggest that this approach to recording and coding spontaneously occurring IER interactions is feasible, reliable, and valid.

    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2019)
    Although neurocognitive deficits and emotion regulation are closely linked within unipolar depression, little research has tested links between these two variables within bipolar disorder. The present study tested whether working memory is related to individual differences in emotion regulation strategies in bipolar disorder and whether working memory and emotion regulation can explain variability in symptoms over time. Fifty-nine euthymic adults with bipolar I disorder completed a working memory span task, symptom interviews assessing depression and mania, and questionnaires assessing brooding rumination, reappraisal, and suppression. At baseline, working memory was unrelated to emotion regulation. Symptom interviews were repeated at six months (n = 41) and 12 months (n = 36) follow-up. At 12 months, baseline working memory significantly interacted with baseline suppression to predict higher mania. Tests of simple slopes showed that at lower working memory levels, low use of suppression was associated with significantly greater mania symptoms. These results help to clarify previous inconsistent findings regarding cognitive functioning and emotion regulation strategies in bipolar disorder, suggesting that deficits in both domains combine to predict outcomes.
      Cover page: Working memory interacts with emotion regulation to predict symptoms of mania
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2022)
      Recent research has highlighted that emotion regulation strategy use varies both between and within people, and specific individual and contextual differences shape strategy use. Further, use of specific emotion regulation strategies relates to a wide array of differential outcomes, including mental health and behavior. Emotion goals (desire for a given emotion state) are thought to play a particularly important role in shaping peoples use of emotion regulation strategies; yet, surprisingly little is known about whether and how momentary emotion goals predict spontaneous strategy use in daily life. In the present investigation, we examined whether ideal desire for high versus low arousal positive affect was associated with subsequent use of specific emotion regulation strategies. Undergraduate participants (final N = 101) completed ecological momentary assessments (final ks = 1,932 for contemporaneous analyses, 1,386 for time-lagged analyses) of their momentary experienced affect, momentary desire for high versus low arousal positive affect, and emotion regulation. Desire for higher arousal predicted greater use of three disengagement strategies: distraction, expressive suppression, and experiential suppression. None of these strategies, though, were associated with sustained enhancement of high arousal (or low arousal) positive affect. These findings point to a possible disconnect between the strategies that people tend to use when they want to feel more arousal and the affective outcomes associated with use of those strategies.
        Cover page: Momentary Emotion Goals and Spontaneous Emotion Regulation in Daily Life: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Desire for High Versus Low Arousal Positive Emotion.
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2022)
        INTRODUCTION: Rumination and emotion-related impulsivity predict suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Because rumination and emotion-related impulsivity, though, are highly correlated, we consider their unique vs. conjoint influence on suicidal ideation and self-harm. METHOD: Across two samples of adults (Ns = 171 and 191), we examined how rumination and emotion-related impulsivity relate to suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and NSSI. We assess the more general process of repetitive negative thinking and the more specific process of suicide-related rumination. Participants completed the Three-Factor Impulsivity Index and the self-report Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale. Those in sample 1 completed the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire and the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory, and those in Sample 2 completed the Suicide Rumination Scale. RESULTS: Emotion-related impulsivity and both forms of rumination showed robust bivariate correlations with suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and NSSI. Neither rumination or impulsivity related to suicide attempts controlling for ideation or to NSSI. In multivariable analyses, emotion-related impulsivity but not general rumination was tied to suicidal ideation. In contrast, suicide-related rumination was more directly tied to suicidal ideation than was impulsivity. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide support for a more nuanced approach to the forms of impulsivity and rumination related to suicidal ideation.
          Cover page: Emotion-related impulsivity and rumination: Unique and conjoint effects on suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury across two samples.
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2019)
          Prior research has indicated that ideal affect (i.e., the affective states that people value and would ideally like to experience) may be relevant to mental health outcomes. Studies to date, however, have not used comprehensive multivariate models that account for covariation among facets of ideal affect and incorporate multiple clinical outcomes. In the present studies, we used structural equation modeling to examine the multivariate effects of ideal affect on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse in 2 moderately large samples of undergraduates (N = 293 and N = 146). Exploratory results of Study 1 indicated that valuation of high arousal positive affective states was significantly associated with lower depression symptoms but higher anxiety and alcohol abuse symptoms and that valuation of high arousal negative states was specifically associated with greater anxiety symptoms. These results were shown to be structurally invariant across samples and ethnicities in Study 2, which also found that ideal-actual affect discrepancies were significantly associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. These findings support and extend the hypothesis that ideal affect is implicated in clinical outcomes by highlighting the importance of jointly considering multiple facets of ideal and actual affect as they relate to a range of clinical syndromes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
            Cover page: Multivariate Associations of Ideal Affect With Clinical Symptoms
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2020)
            Clinical science has benefited tremendously from taking seriously the proposition that putatively maladaptive behaviors serve psychological functions, prominently among these affect regulation (AR). These functionalist accounts have not only advanced basic clinical science, but also formed the bedrock for the development of effective treatments. Drawing heavily on reinforcement learning theory, we aim to elucidate functional relationships between maladaptive behavior and AR. Specifically, we take the view that maladaptive behaviors are frequently motivated and reinforced by hedonic AR functions (i.e., decreasing negative affect and increasing positive affect) but are also susceptible to becoming stimulus-bound habits. We review empirical evidence related to one such behavior, nonsuicidal self-injury. We close with a brief reflection on future directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
              Cover page: Maladaptive Behavior and Affect Regulation: A Functionalist Perspective
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2022)
              OBJECTIVES: Suicidal ideation is a pervasive and painful experience that varies considerably in its phenomenology. Here, we consider how one key risk variable might inform our understanding of variation in suicidal ideation: emotion-related impulsivity, the trait-like tendency towards unconstrained speech, behaviour, and cognition in the face of intense emotions. We hypothesized that emotion-related impulsivity would be tied to specific features, including severity, perceived lack of controllability, more rapidly fluctuating course, higher scores on a measure of acute suicidal affective disturbance, and more emotional and cognitive disturbance as antecedents. METHODS: We recruited two samples of adults (Ns = 421, 221) through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), with oversampling of those with suicidal ideation. Both samples completed psychometrically sound self-report measures online to assess emotion- and non-emotion-related dimensions of impulsivity and characteristics of suicidal ideation. RESULTS: One form of emotion-related impulsivity related to the severity, uncontrollability, dynamic course, and affective and cognitive precursors of ideation. CONCLUSIONS: Despite limitations of the cross-sectional design and self-report measures, the current findings highlight the importance of specificity in considering key dimensions of impulsivity and suicidal ideation.
                Cover page: Emotion-related impulsivity and suicidal ideation: Towards a more specific model.
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2020)
                Clinical science has benefited tremendously from taking seriously the proposition that putatively maladaptive behaviors serve psychological functions, prominently among these affect regulation (AR). These functionalist accounts have not only advanced basic clinical science, but also formed the bedrock for the development of effective treatments. Drawing heavily on reinforcement learning theory, we aim to elucidate functional relationships between maladaptive behavior and AR. Specifically, we take the view that maladaptive behaviors are frequently motivated and reinforced by hedonic AR functions (i.e., decreasing negative affect and increasing positive affect) but are also susceptible to becoming stimulus-bound habits. We review empirical evidence related to one such behavior, nonsuicidal self-injury. We close with a brief reflection on future directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
                  Cover page: Maladaptive Behavior and Affect Regulation: A Functionalist Perspective
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2021)

                  Background

                  Burgeoning evidence suggests that loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic is tied to high levels of depression and anxiety. The current study is unique, though, in examining which facets of social behavior and perceived social quality are most tied to internalizing symptoms using longitudinal data, including a pre-pandemic baseline, collected from a community sample of adults with pre-existing mental health concerns (analyzed n = 144).

                  Methods

                  Participants completed measures of depressive and anxious symptoms pre-pandemic, followed by three weekly surveys during the pandemic. We distinguished four social variables: in-person social engagement, remote social engagement, social disruption, and social distress. OLS and mixed-effects regression models examined 1) pre-pandemic baseline symptoms as predictors of social functioning during the pandemic and 2) time-lagged associations between symptoms and social functioning during the pandemic.

                  Results

                  Social behavior and social perceptions were dissociable. Baseline depressive, but not anxious, symptoms predicted greater social distress during the pandemic. Both anxious and depressive symptoms were predicted by social variables, but the specific associations differed: depressive symptoms were related to perceived social quality, whereas anxious symptoms were more tied to reported social behavior.

                  Limitations

                  We relied on self-report indices, and causality should not be inferred directly from these correlational data.

                  Conclusions

                  Overall, our results indicate that it is possible to follow social guidelines and even to spend relatively few hours socializing with close others, while still feeling connected and rewarded; however, people who struggle with depression and anhedonia were particularly vulnerable to distressing feelings of social disconnection amid the pandemic.
                    Cover page: Longitudinal associations between internalizing symptoms, social behavior, and social perceptions in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a transdiagnostic community sample
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2021)

                    Background

                    Theory and research suggest that social dominance is important for multiple forms of psychopathology, and yet few studies have considered multiple dimensions of psychopathology simultaneously, and relatively few have used well-validated behavioral indices.

                    Method

                    Among 81 undergraduates, we used a well-validated experimental approach of assigning participants to a leadership or subordinate position, and we examined how self-rated severity of depression, social anxiety, manic tendencies, and psychopathy relate to psychophysiological and affective reactivity to this role.

                    Results

                    Consistent with hypotheses, manic symptoms related to more discomfort in the subordinate role compared to the leadership role, as evidenced by more decline in positive affect, more discomfort, and a larger RSA decline, while depression symptoms related to a more positive response to the subordinate role than the leadership role, including more positive affect and more comfort in the assigned role. Social anxiety was related to discomfort regardless of the assigned role, and those with higher psychopathy symptoms did not show differential response to assigned roles.

                    Limitations

                    Findings are limited by the mild symptom levels and absence of hormonal data.

                    Conclusions

                    Findings provide novel transdiagnostic evidence for the importance of social dominance to differentiate diverse forms of psychopathology.
                      Cover page: Social dominance and multiple dimensions of psychopathology: An experimental test of reactivity to leadership and subordinate rolesCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
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