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OBJECTIVES Findings are inconsistent regarding the relationship between worry and anxious arousal (AA). Effortful control (EC) capacity may explain these inconsistent findings, such that only high worriers with higher EC are able to suppress autonomic arousal through worrying. The current study investigated these main and interactive effects of worry and EC on AA as well as depression. METHODS Participants (N = 1210, 779 females) were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk website and completed self-report measures assessing worry, EC, AA, depression, and negative affect intensity. RESULTS Regression models revealed that EC moderated the relationship between worry and AA, with individuals lower in EC demonstrating a stronger positive relationship between worry and AA. EC also moderated the relationship between worry and depression, with individuals lower in EC demonstrating a stronger positive relationship between worry and depression. Results remained the same when controlling for age, gender, and negative affect intensity. CONCLUSIONS Results support the idea that low EC may help to explain a range of comorbid psychiatric symptoms. PRACTITIONER POINTS Individuals low in effortful control demonstrate a stronger association between worry and anxious arousal, as well as between worry and depression Those low in effortful control may be especially vulnerable to comorbid worry and depression High worriers who are high in effortful control may be motivated to continue worrying due to their ability to reduce anxious arousal during worry.

Higher anxiety and depression in females becomes more pronounced in the transition from childhood to adolescence. Although previous research indicates that parental anxiety may predict anxiety and depression more strongly in girls than boys, there is a lack of longitudinal research investigating these relationships. The current study utilized longitudinal data (N = 940) to investigate our hypotheses that 1) mothers’ and fathers’ anxiety (at child age 7) would be more strongly associated with symptoms of adolescent anxiety and depression in girls than in boys, and 2) that greater increases in both mothers’ and fathers’ anxiety (from child age 7 to child age 15) would be more strongly associated with symptoms of adolescent anxiety and depression in girls than in boys. Structural equation modeling results indicated that higher mothers’ anxiety at child age 7, as well as higher increases in fathers’ anxiety (from child age 7 to child age 15), were associated with girls’ anxiety and depression at age 15, but not boys’ anxiety and depression at age 15. There were no child gender differences found in the associations between 1) fathers’ anxiety at child age 7 and child anxiety and depression at child age 15, or 2) change in mothers’ anxiety (from child age 7 to child age 15) and child anxiety and depression at child age 15. These results highlight important gender differences that may influence the development of anxiety and depression in adolescence.

The comorbid diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and depression is highly prevalent. Examining relationships between emotion regulation factors and depression in individuals high in trait worry (the cardinal symptom of GAD) may contribute to our understanding of this comorbidity. In the current study, we aimed to determine whether two emotion regulation factors—reappraisal (i.e., reinterpreting experiences) and suppression (i.e., not expressing emotion)—were associated with depression differentially in high versus low worriers. Participants were 206 high and low worriers (112 high worriers; 94 low worriers) recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk website. Participants completed measures assessing reappraisal, suppression, and depression. Regression models revealed that among high worriers, low reappraisal was associated with higher depression, but that among low worriers, reappraisal was not associated with depression. In contrast, suppression was not differentially associated with depression in high and low worriers; higher suppression was associated with higher depression in both high and low worriers. These results are consistent with the idea that reappraisal may represent an especially helpful emotion regulation strategy for high worriers, potentially buffering against the negative effects of worry on depression.

The intolerance of uncertainty model of worry posits that individuals worry as a means to cope with the discomfort they feel when outcomes are uncertain, but few experimental studies have investigated the causal relationships between intolerance of uncertainty, situational uncertainty, and state worry. Furthermore, existing studies have failed to control for the likelihood of future negative events occurring, introducing an important rival hypothesis to explain past findings. In the present study, we examined how individuals with high and low trait intolerance of uncertainty differ in their behavioral, cognitive, and emotional reactions to situational uncertainty about an upcoming negative event (watching emotionally upsetting film clips), holding constant the likelihood of that negative event taking place. We found that although individuals high in trait prospective intolerance of uncertainty reported a higher degree of belief that being provided with detailed information about the upcoming stressor would make them feel more at ease, they did not experience an actual decrease in distress or state worry upon being provided with more information, during anticipation of the film clips, or during the film clips themselves. Our results suggest that heightened distress regarding negative events may be more central than intolerance of uncertainty to the maintenance of worry.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are associated with significant emotion dysregulation, which in turn marks risk for greater symptom-related difficulties and psychiatric comorbidity. Individuals with PTSD symptoms who are high in anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of anxiety and related sensations) may have particular difficulty managing negative affect, as they tend to perceive their trauma-related symptoms to be more threatening. The present study investigated the main and interactive effects of PTSD symptoms (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) and AS (Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3) on emotion dysregulation (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-16) in a sample of 836 trauma-exposed firefighters (94.6% men; Mage = 38.5 years, SD = 8.5). Results of hierarchical linear regression models indicated that the main effects of PTSD symptom severity (β = .353, p

This experimental training study examined which of three brief online cognitive reappraisal training protocols best enhances well-being and emotion regulation in response to stressful events. Participants were randomly assigned to learn positive reframing, self-distancing, or temporal distancing, and were asked to practice these techniques in their daily lives as interpersonal stressors arose naturally. The control group was instructed to continue regulating their emotions as they naturally would. Compared to the control, all training groups showed decreased negative emotional reactivity to the visualization of a recent stressful event 2 weeks post-training. They also showed a significant increase in general well-being from baseline to post-training. Participants’ change in reappraisal accounted for the training groups’ increased well-being.

Background and objectives Research indicates that greater variability in affect and emotion over time is associated with depression and anxiety. However, it remains unclear whether individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) experience greater affect variability due to individual differences or differences in the stimuli they encounter. The current study investigated whether individuals with analogue GAD demonstrate greater affect variability in response to a standardized set of stimuli. Methods: Participants were 134 (95 female) undergraduate participants with analogue GAD (endorsing DSM-IV criteria A, B, C, and E on the GAD-Q-IV; n = 66) or with no symptoms of GAD (n = 68). Participants reported affective reactions (positive affect, negative affect, affective arousal, and affective dominance) to each of nine sets of standardized images varying in valence (positive, neutral, or negative) and arousal (low, medium, or high). Results: In a logistic regression model controlling for baseline measurements, higher variability of affective arousal across the nine sets of images uniquely predicted analogue GAD status, whereas variability in positive affect, negative affect, and affective dominance did not. Additional analyses revealed that lower mean affective arousal also uniquely predicted analogue GAD. Limitations: Limitations include using self-report measures to determine analogue GAD status; using a short laboratory session for the assessment of affect variability; and potential repeated testing effects. Conclusions: These findings suggest that individuals with GAD symptoms experience higher levels of affective arousal variability, even when the stimuli presented are held constant. Assessing variability in affective arousal may be helpful in both conceptualizing and treating individuals with GAD symptoms.