Exploring the Interplay of Adaptive and Maladaptive Strategies

Abstract

In emotion regulation research, it is common to distinguish adaptive from maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. However, little is known about their interactional impact (compensational or interfering effects) on adolescents' adjustment. We collected longitudinal, multiple informant questionnaire data from N = 608 adolescents and their parents to examine the prevalence of adolescents' anger regulation profiles using latent profile analysis. We identified five anger regulation profiles-an adaptive, a maladaptive, a low, a medium, and an undefined profile. The first three profiles could be replicated 1 year later, as could one additional multiple and another undefined profile. Findings supported the assumption that adaptive strategies compensate for the negative impact of maladaptive strategies, yielding negative psychosocial consequences, particularly for the maladaptive profiles. Moreover, different profiles were divergently related to adolescents'

Negative views of out-groups and emotion regulation strategies: Evidence for an association with the tendency to suppress emotion expression, but not with cognitive reappraisal or emotion dysregulation

“…Aldao and Nolen-Hoeksema (2012) found that cognitive reappraisal and other adaptive emotion regulation strategies had a negative association with psychopathology only when the level of maladaptive strategies was high. Results in the same direction have been reported by Otterpohl et al (2016). See also Bonanno and Burton (2013) for a discussion on regulatory flexibility.…”

“…Based on earlier literature concerning regulatory flexibility (Aldao and Nolen-Hoeksema 2012;Bonanno and Burton 2013;Otterpohl et al 2016) we further wanted to assess how the relative distribution of the two emotion regulation strategies was related to out-group attitudes. We therefore explored whether a relatively higher degree of habitual cognitive reappraisal compared to expressive suppression would be associated with the attitudes toward all out-groups.…”

Interventions Under the Microscope: Emotionregulation training as a treatment element for externalizing problems in adolescence

“…For example, the emotion regulation strategy rumination is found to be associated to aggressive behavior, both concurrently (Harmon et al, 2019) and longitudinally (McLaughlin et al, 2014). Moreover, adolescents who use a maladaptive profile of emotion regulation strategies (i.e., frequent use maladaptive strategies such as rumination, infrequent use of adaptive strategies such as reappraisal) experience more internalizing and externalizing problems (Otterpohl et al, 2016). In addition, emotion regulation strategies are found to mediate the association between child maltreatment and externalizing symptoms (VanMeter et al, 2020).…”

“…The second step of the chain is to practice three cognitive (cognitive distraction, cognitive relaxation and cognitive reappraisal) or behavioral (behavioral distraction, behavioral relaxation and time-out) emotion regulation strategies. The goal of this step is to regulate anger and/ or other negative emotions with adaptive regulation strategies, since research shows that adolescents with externalizing problems are inclined to use mainly maladaptive, rather than adaptive, regulation strategies (Otterpohl et al, 2016). Lastly, problem solving was practiced through cognitive problem solving (i.e., understanding a problem from multiple perspectives, thinking about possible solutions and consequences, choosing the most suitable solution) or behavioral problem solving (i.e., behavioral exercises of specific problem-solving skills such as asking for help).…”

“…Given that this study is, to our knowledge, the first study that integrates an outcomeoriented and process-oriented classification system of emotion regulation strategies, and because emotion regulation is characterized by emotion specificity (e.g., specific emotions elicit distinct functional relations between an individual and the environment; Zeman et al, 2007), this study focuses on a specific emotion, rather than a combination of emotions and/or general negative affect. We selected the negative emotion of anger, because anger is relevant not only for externalizing, but also for internalizing problems (Harmon et al, 2019;Otterpohl et al, 2016;Zeman et al, 2002). In preadolescence, high levels of anger rumination are, for example, associated with elevations of both depressive and aggressive symptoms, independently of the levels of sadness regulation (Harmon et al, 2019).…”