This study examined if beliefs about emotion change across emotional contexts in daily life, and it investigated whether people with prominent features of borderline personality pathology experience greater shifts in emotion beliefs during emotional states. Undergraduate participants with (n = 49) and without borderline features (n = 50) completed a 1-week ecological momentary assessment study where they provided ratings of affect, nine different beliefs about emotion, and indicators of momentary self-efficacy. Results support the notion of beliefs as relatively schematic. However, most of the beliefs about emotion shifted with either positive or negative affect, and they predicted momentary self-efficacy for tolerating distress and exerting willpower. Those with borderline features experienced greater instability of beliefs, and borderline features moderated the relationships between affect and many beliefs. Results confirm that there are implications for emotion beliefs for people who struggle with emotion regulation and impulsivity (i.e., people with features of borderline personality).
Objective
The current study sought to empirically evaluate a new clinical tool, the Individual Beliefs about Emotion (IBAE) which assesses nine beliefs about emotion. The goal was to examine the overlap of the IBAE with the Leahy Emotional Schema Scale (LESS), indices of psychopathology, and emotion dysregulation.
Method
Participants (n = 513) completed the IBAE, the LESS, and measures of affective distress, borderline personality features, and emotion dysregulation.
Results
Results indicated that both emotion beliefs (IBAE) and schemas (LESS) were influenced by age and gender. Both measures significantly predicted variance in affective distress, borderline symptoms, and emotion dysregulation, although the LESS was a stronger predictor.
Conclusion
We conclude that the LESS total score is a particularly useful measure of maladaptive schematic attitudes toward emotion, with additional evidence that the IBAE is a clinical tool that can be useful in psychotherapy to quickly assess a variety of emotion beliefs.
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