Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in a vulnerable population predict increased anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic: A pseudo-prospective study

Brehl, Anne-Kathrin; Schene, Aart H.; Kohn, Nils; Fernández, Guillén

doi:10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100113

Cited by 31 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Our findings further suggest that childhood abuse survivors might not only exhibit elevated distress during the pandemic but also a particular relationship between emotion regulation difficulties on one hand and psychological distress and peritraumatic stress symptoms on the other. Consistent with former studies (Brehl et al, 2021;Jiang et al, 2020), we found that emotion regulation difficulties were related to elevated overall psychological distress and peritraumatic stress symptoms during the pandemic, and that limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies as well as difficulty in controlling impulsive behaviors made a unique contribution to explaining distress and trauma-related symptoms among both childhood abuse survivors and nonabused participants. Nevertheless, the final model which explored childhood abuse as a moderator indicated that such abuse might shape the relations between emotion regulation, overall psychological distress, and peritraumatic stress symptoms.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Emotion Regulation and Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Childhood Abuse

Siegel

Lahav

2021

J Interpers Violence

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The COVID-19 pandemic may be experienced as traumatogenic and may fuel or exacerbate psychological distress and trauma-related symptoms. Based on trauma research, one might expect that survivors of childhood abuse would be susceptible to these negative outcomes during the pandemic, and that among this population a stronger relation between emotion regulation difficulties and symptomatology would be found. Aiming to explore these suppositions, an online survey was conducted among 710 Israeli adults. Of them, 370 were childhood abuse survivors. A history of childhood abuse, COVID-19-related stressors, overall psychological distress, and peritraumatic stress symptoms during the pandemic were assessed via self-report measures. Participants with a history of childhood abuse had elevated overall psychological distress as well as peritraumatic stress symptoms during the pandemic, compared to nonabused participants, above and beyond demographic characteristics and COVID-19-related stressors. Emotion regulation difficulties were related to elevated psychological distress and peritraumatic stress symptoms among both childhood abuse survivors and nonabused participants. Nonetheless, a history of childhood abuse moderated the relations between the emotion regulation difficulty of being unable to engage in goal-directed behaviors when distressed (on one hand) and mental outcomes (on the other): Although the associations between inability to engage in goal-directed behaviors, overall psychological distress, and peritraumatic stress symptoms were nonsignificant among nonabused participants, they were significant among childhood abuse survivors. The current findings suggest that a history of childhood abuse might be a risk factor for distress in the face of COVID-19, and that childhood abuse survivors would benefit from clinical interventions that promote emotion regulation skills during this ongoing global health crisis.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Emotion Regulation and Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Childhood Abuse

Siegel

Lahav

2021

J Interpers Violence

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“…Emotion dysregulation has previously been found to play a role in psychopathology via rumination, catastrophizing, or self-blame (Aldao, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Schweizer, 2010 ). A study among 127 healthy individuals who suffered from increased trait anxiety indicated that maladaptive emotion regulation strategies measured prior to the pandemic predicted state anxiety and perceived stress during the pandemic (Brehl, Schene, Kohn, & Fernández, 2021 ). Another study comprising 6,049 participants in China revealed associations between emotion regulation strategies and peritraumatic stress symptoms during the pandemic: Cognitive appraisal, which is an adaptive emotion regulation strategy, was negatively associated with belonging to a profile that was characterized by elevated peritraumatic stress symptoms, whereas expression inhibition, a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy, had the opposite direction of association (Jiang et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Profiles in COVID-19: peritraumatic stress symptoms and their relation with death anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation

Siegel

Mor

Lahav

2021

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic might be experienced as an ongoing traumatic event and could result in peritraumatic stress symptoms. Evidence implies that individuals’ levels of death anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and difficulties in emotion regulation may contribute to their peritraumatic stress symptomatology in the aftermath of trauma exposure. Objective The current study aimed to explore these hypotheses in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method An online survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 846 Israeli adults from April 2 to 19 April 2020. COVID-19-related stressors, death anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, difficulties in emotion regulation, and peritraumatic stress symptoms were assessed via self-report questionnaires. Results Analyses indicated significant relations between death anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion regulation difficulties, on the one hand, and peritraumatic stress symptoms, on the other. Three distinct profiles were identified. Furthermore, profile type – namely having low, medium, and high levels of death anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation – had a significant effect in explaining peritraumatic stress symptoms. Conclusions Results suggest that during the pandemic, levels of death anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation may explain heterogeneity in individuals’ trauma-related symptomatology.

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“…Young people are particularly vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and loneliness ( Groarke et al, 2020 ), which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic ( Liu et al, 2020 ). Thus, the accumulation of negative life events during this period, have deteriorated mental health and could increase the risk of underperformance under the current scenario ( Brehl et al, 2021 ). Surprisingly, however, Gonzalez et al (2020) found that the confinement has affected academic performance of Spanish students positively.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depression and Anxiety in Times of COVID-19: How Coping Strategies and Loneliness Relate to Mental Health Outcomes and Academic Performance

et al. 2021

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The link between depression, anxiety, and loneliness has been well established in the literature. Yet, the performance consequences of these negative mental health outcomes and the role of coping behaviors, as well as behavioral consequences such as procrastination as mediators have received far less research attention. Due to the COVID-19 social isolation restrictions, people are at risk of falling into a negative mental health spiral that can also affect their performance over time. The purpose of this longitudinal study among 881 first-year bachelor students is to explore the mechanisms by which loneliness, coping strategies in the context of COVID-19, mental health outcomes and procrastination sequentially mediate the relationship depression and anxiety on the one hand, and academic performance on the other hand. We measured mental health variables several times during the COVID-19 crisis and assessed how this translates into academic performance at the end of the academic year. By performing exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, three high-order factors for the coping strategies in the context of the COVID-19 crisis were identified, namely maladaptive coping, adaptive coping, and supportive coping. Structural equation modeling was used to test the sequential mediational model. The results showed that maladaptive coping strategies employed at T2 during the lockdown, but not adaptive or supportive coping partially mediate the trajectories of depression (T1) and anxiety (T1). Loneliness (T2) partially mediated the trajectory of depression and anxiety (T1), and procrastination fully mediated the impact of depression (T3) on academic performance (T4). These results help understand the mechanisms that influence mental health and academic performance outcomes in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Based on the study outcomes, educational researchers can test strategies to reduce the adverse effects of stressful situations in learning environments by targeting maladaptive coping behaviors and procrastination.

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Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in a vulnerable population predict increased anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic: A pseudo-prospective study

Cited by 31 publications

References 26 publications

Emotion Regulation and Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Childhood Abuse

Emotion Regulation and Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Childhood Abuse

Profiles in COVID-19: peritraumatic stress symptoms and their relation with death anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation

Depression and Anxiety in Times of COVID-19: How Coping Strategies and Loneliness Relate to Mental Health Outcomes and Academic Performance

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