Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation, Childhood Trauma and Proneness to Shame and Guilt in Adolescence

Abstract

Dispositional shame and guilt have been associated with psychopathology and an increasing number of studies have traced this relation back to adolescence. This developmental period is thought to be characterized by maturational changes in emotion regulation, which also play an important role in vulnerability to psychopathology, but little is known about the links between emotion regulation and dispositional shame and guilt. The current study investigated the relations between individual differences in the habitual use of a wide range of emotion regulation strategies and proneness to shame and guilt in a large sample of adolescents (N = 706), aged 13 to 17 years. History of childhood trauma was also assessed. Our results showed that emotion regulation independently explained about 20% of the variance of shame-proneness and guilt-proneness. Higher use of maladaptive (e.g., Self-Blaming, Catastrophizing) and lower use of adaptive (e.g., Refocus on Planning, Positive Reappraisal) emotion regulation strategies were positively associated with shame-proneness. In contrast, lower use of maladaptive (e.g., Catastrophizing, Blaming Others) and higher use of adaptive (e.g., Refocus on Planning, Positive Reappraisal) emotion regulation strategies were associated with guilt-proneness, independent of the influence of childhood trauma, which also explained a relatively minor portion of guilt-proneness. Although there were age differences (i.e., rumination was used more by older adolescents, and the influence of emotion regulation on depression and anxiety symptoms increased with age) and sex differences (i.e., girls reported higher use of Putting into Perspective and Other Blaming compared to boys) in emotion regulation, age and sex were not significantly associated with proneness to shame and guilt. The positive relations with maladaptive emotion regulation underscores the dysfunctional nature of shame-proneness. Future studies could use longitudinal measures to establish that emotion regulation drives dispositional shame and guilt, and also investigate whether emotion regulation optimization is able to normalize proneness to shame and guilt and reduce risk for psychopathology.

The Childhood to Prison Pipeline: Early Childhood Trauma as Reported by a Prison Population

“…If, at a later time, the person feels as though they are in a dominant situation, the amygdala can shift into a blame response. This shame/blame processing can reflect a person who freezes in response to abuse in one situation (shame) and becomes the abuser (blame) in a similar situation that triggers the response (Cozolino, 2006; Gold, Sullivan, & Lewis, 2011; Stuewig, Tangney, Heigel, Harty, & McKloskey, 2009; Szentagotai-Tatar, & Miu, 2016; Thomason et al, 2015). To what extent can one say the person committing the crime that gets them incarcerated is not displaying posttraumatic stress behavior?…”

“…Understanding how childhood trauma is displayed in adults offers a better way to understand and treat adult behavioral disorders. It potentially can offer a way to better understand the psychotic spectrum (Szentagotai-Tatar, & Miu, 2016;Yen et al, 2002), intergenerational violence (Craig & Sprang, 2007;Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2005), childhood bullying (Wolke, Copeland, Angold, & Costello, 2013), and criminal behavior (Salmond et al, 2011;Veer et al, 2015).…”

Die Lebenszeitprävalenz von Schuldgefühlen in der deutschen Erwachsenenbevölkerung – Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten telefonischen Bevölkerungsbefragung

“…eine Ursache für die Entwicklung einer Depression darstellen, wenngleich bisher vorliegende Forschungsbefunde auf solche negativen Effekte von Schuldgefühlen nur zum Teil oder nur unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen (z. B. nur für Schuldgefühle im Zusammenhang mit Schamgefühlen oder nur für obsessiv erlebte, eine Person gedanklich stark beschäftigende Schuldgefühle) hindeuten [29][30][31][32].…”

Distinguishing Shame, Humiliation and Guilt: An Evolutionary Functional Analysis and Compassion Focused Interventions

“…Indeed, study after study has shown that guilt is significantly linked to moral behaviour and cooperation whereas shame is not (De Hooge, Zeelenberg, & Breugelmans, 2007;Tangney & Dearing, 2002). Further guilt and it has low or no association with mental health problems (Gilbert, 2000c;Tangney & Dearing, 2002;SzentaÂgotai-Tȃtar, & Miu, 2016). In contrast, shame proneness, when rooted in a deep sense of an unattractive and an undesired self, is often associated with hostile forms of self-criticism and is linked to whole range of psychopathologies (Gilbert, 2009).…”