Intra- and interpersonal emotion regulation and adjustment symptoms in couples: The role of co-brooding and co-reappraisal

Abstract

BackgroundAdult emotion regulation is not only occurring within the person but includes strategies that happen in social interactions and that are framed as co-regulating. The current study investigates the role of the interpersonal emotion regulation strategies of co-reappraisal and co-brooding in couples for adjustment disorder symptoms as the disorder will be outlined in the International Classification of Diseases-11 (ICD-11).MethodsCouples registered together in an online questionnaire study reporting whether or not they are adjusting to a major stressor that is psychologically challenging to them. In total, one hundred and forty-six participants (N = 73 male; N = 73 female) reported having experienced a major stressor in the last 12 months and were thus be identified as at risk for adjustment disorder. Those individuals at risk were assessed for adjustment disorder and depressive symptoms; intra- and interpersonal emotion regulation (co-/brooding, co-/reappraisal) were assessed not only in the individual at risk but also in the romantic partner.ResultsRegression-based dyadic analyses revealed that above and beyond intrapersonal emotion regulation, interpersonal co-brooding and for the female participants also co-reappraisal were significantly associated with symptoms of adjustment disorder and depression, standardized betas varied between .24 and .36, suggesting medium effect sizes. An association with the female partner’s tendency to reappraise with fewer symptoms in the male partner at risk for adjustment disorder could also be observed.ConclusionsCo-brooding and co-reappraisal represent emotion regulation strategies that happen in social interaction and seem to play a relevant role in the context of adjustment disorders above and beyond the commonly assessed intrapersonal emotion regulation strategies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40359-016-0159-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A scoping review of ICD-11 adjustment disorder research

“…The stressor list of the ADNM was used in nine reviewed studies. However, the number of stressors in the first part of the ADNM ranged considerably across different studies: 10 stressors (Bachem & Maercker, 2016; Bachem, Perkonigg, Stein, & Maercker, 2016), 13 stressors (Horn & Maercker, 2016), 15 stressors (Zelviene, Kazlauskas, Eimontas, & Maercker, 2017), 16 stressors (Glaesmer, Romppel, Brähler, Hinz, & Maercker, 2015), 17 stressors (Eimontas et al, 2017), and 19 stressors (Lorenz, Bachem, & Maercker, 2016). …”

“…However, the authors of this study reduced number of items to 20 in the analysis of data. A brief 8-item ADNM-8 symptom scale with a two main AjD symptoms: failure to adapt (four items), and preoccupation (four items) was used in two studies (Eimontas et al, 2017; Horn & Maercker, 2016), and a short 6-item ADNM-6 was used in a case study by Maercker, Bachem, Lorenz, Moser, and Berger (2015). The scoring of the ADNM is the sum of items for the total scale and subscales in all versions of the ADNM, and the 4-point Likert scale with the frequency of symptoms (1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = often) is used.…”

“…Two studies analysed factors associated with symptoms of ICD-11 AjD (Horn & Maercker, 2016; Mahat-Shamir et al, 2017). Seventy-three couples with exposure to a major stressor over the last 12-months participated in a study which explored the role of interpersonal emotion regulation strategies on adjustment disorder (Horn & Maercker, 2016).…”

“…Seventy-three couples with exposure to a major stressor over the last 12-months participated in a study which explored the role of interpersonal emotion regulation strategies on adjustment disorder (Horn & Maercker, 2016). The study found that interpersonal co-brooding and depressive symptoms were significantly associated with symptoms of AjD, supporting the importance of interpersonal social factors in AjD (Horn & Maercker, 2016). …”

“…AjD was predicted both by stressful experiences and previous trauma exposure in the same study (Mahat-Shamir et al, 2017). Furthermore, demographic characteristics, such as age, and interpersonal factors, such as emotional regulation, seem to be important for AjD (Horn & Maercker, 2016; Mahat-Shamir et al, 2017). Furthermore, initial findings indicate that AjD can also be associated with traumatic experiences (Mahat-Shamir et al, 2017; O’Donnell et al, 2016), and this should be explored in further studies.…”