Emotion regulation difficulties as common and unique predictors of impulsive behaviors in university students

Difficulties with emotion regulation and drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduates: the serial mediation of COVID-related distress and drinking to cope with the pandemic

“…More severe difficulties with goal-directed behavior were associated with greater past-month eBAC as well as more COVID-related worry. Further, consistent with extant work (Dvorak et al, 2014;Miller & Racine, 2020;Weinberg & Klonsky, 2009), difficulties with emotional clarity, emotional awareness, and goal-directed behavior were positively associated with pastmonth eBAC. Importantly, greater difficulty with goal-directed behavior was related to greater past-month eBAC indirectly via the serial effects of COVID-related worry and drinking to cope during the pandemic, suggesting a possible explanatory pathway.…”

“…Specifically, difficulty with emotion regulation is a transdiagnostic psychological vulnerability factor that may be associated with poorer alcohol-related outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Difficulty with emotion regulation is related to a variety of mental and behavioral health problems including anxiety (e.g., Amstadter, 2008;Cisler et al, 2010;Gonzalez et al, 2008;Hofmann et al, 2012;Mennin et al, 2005) and alcohol use (Cavicchioli et al, 2019;Dvorak et al, 2014;Kim & Kwon, 2020;Miller & Racine, 2020). Indeed, emotion regulation difficulties are associated with greater quantity and frequency of alcohol use (Fox et al, 2008), alcohol-related problems (Kim & Kwon, 2020), and the severity of AUD (Cavicchioli et al, 2019).…”

“…Difficulties with emotion regulation is a multidimensional construct, comprised of six related but distinct facets: difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, difficulties with impulse-control, non-acceptance of emotional responses, lack of emotional clarity, lack of emotional awareness, and limited access to emotion-regulation strategies (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). Although there has been mixed evidence regarding the relative magnitude of each facet's contribution to alcohol use, in part due to failure to control for collinearity between each facet (Dvorak et al, 2014;Weinberg & Klonsky, 2009), greater difficulty with impulse control is consistently associated with more negative alcoholrelated outcomes compared to those with lower levels of impulse control difficulties (Dvorak et al, 2014;Fox et al, 2008;Miller & Racine, 2020). Specifically, greater impulse control difficulty is positively related to alcohol use frequency and alcohol-related problems (Dvorak et al, 2014;Miller & Racine, 2020).…”

“…Although there has been mixed evidence regarding the relative magnitude of each facet's contribution to alcohol use, in part due to failure to control for collinearity between each facet (Dvorak et al, 2014;Weinberg & Klonsky, 2009), greater difficulty with impulse control is consistently associated with more negative alcoholrelated outcomes compared to those with lower levels of impulse control difficulties (Dvorak et al, 2014;Fox et al, 2008;Miller & Racine, 2020). Specifically, greater impulse control difficulty is positively related to alcohol use frequency and alcohol-related problems (Dvorak et al, 2014;Miller & Racine, 2020). Lack of emotional clarity is also higher among individuals with AUD compared to non-clinical controls (Berking et al, 2011), and is associated with both greater likelihood and frequency of alcohol-related problems among individuals endorsing alcohol-related problems (Dvorak et al, 2014;Fox et al, 2008;Miller & Racine, 2020).…”

“…Specifically, greater impulse control difficulty is positively related to alcohol use frequency and alcohol-related problems (Dvorak et al, 2014;Miller & Racine, 2020). Lack of emotional clarity is also higher among individuals with AUD compared to non-clinical controls (Berking et al, 2011), and is associated with both greater likelihood and frequency of alcohol-related problems among individuals endorsing alcohol-related problems (Dvorak et al, 2014;Fox et al, 2008;Miller & Racine, 2020). The ability to tolerate negative emotions also emerges as an important factor related to more alcohol consumption both before and after treatment among individuals seeking treatment for AUD, as it is the only emotion regulation skill that negatively predicted subsequent alcohol consumption (i.e., relapse) following cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for AUD (Berking et al, 2011).…”