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Given recent attention to emotion regulation as a potentially unifying function of diverse symptom presentations, there is a need for comprehensive measures that adequately assess difficulties in emotion regulation among adults. This paper (a) proposes an integrative conceptualization of emotion regulation as involving not just the modulation of emotional arousal, but also the awareness, understanding, and acceptance of emotions, and the ability to act in desired ways regardless of emotional state; and (b) begins to explore the factor structure and psychometric properties of a new measure, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Two samples of undergraduate students completed questionnaire packets. Preliminary findings suggest that the DERS has high internal consistency, good test–retest reliability, and adequate construct and predictive validity.

Este estudio examina el uso de 43 estrategias de regulación en episodios emocionales de alegría y tristeza en una condición de autorregulación y regulación interpersonal. Tras recordar las experiencias interpersonales de tristeza y alegría, 324 estudiantes universitarios respondieron al Cuestionario sobre la Regulación Emocional Intrapersonal e Interpersonal (CIRE-43) y una escala de logro percibido en la consecución de las metas emocionales después de usar la estrategia en dichos episodios (eficacia percibida). Como era de esperar, los participantes informaron regular la emoción positiva, pero con menos frecuencia que la tristeza; similar a estudios anteriores, la autorregulación es más frecuente que la regulación interpersonal. El análisis del patrón de correlación entre la eficacia percibida y el uso de diferentes estrategias muestra que los participantes consideran diferentes estrategias como adaptativas en las diferentes condiciones: dependiendo de la emoción (tristeza o alegría) y del objetivo (autorregulación o regulación de la otra persona). Las estrategias que implican el crecimiento personal fueron consideradas como las más adaptativas., This study examines the use of 43 emotion regulation strategies in episodes of joy and sadness in self- and interpersonal regulation conditions. After recalling interpersonal experiences of sadness and joy, 324 college students replied to the Questionnaire on emotional intrapersonal and interpersonal regulation (CIRE-43) and to a scale of perceived attainment of adaptive goals as a result of the use of the strategy in the episode (perceived effectiveness). As expected, the participants reported regulation of the positive emotion, but withless frequency than in the case of sadness; similar to former studies, selfregulation was found to be more frequent than interpersonal regulation. The analysis of the correlation pattern between perceived effectiveness and the different strategies shows that participants consider different strategies to be adaptive in the different conditions: depending on the emotion (sadness or joy) and on the target (self-regulation or regulation of the other person). The strategies that imply personal growth were considered to be more adaptive overall.

This study examines the use of 43 emotion regulation strategies in episodes of joy and sadness in self- and interpersonal regulation conditions. After recalling interpersonal experiences of sadness and joy, 324 college students replied to the Questionnaire on emotional intrapersonal and interpersonal regulation (CIRE-43) and to a scale of perceived attainment of adaptive goals as a result of the use of the strategy in the episode (perceived effectiveness). As expected, the participants reported regulation of the positive emotion, but withless frequency than in the case of sadness; similar to former studies, selfregulation was found to be more frequent than interpersonal regulation. The analysis of the correlation pattern between perceived effectiveness and the different strategies shows that participants consider different strategies to be adaptive in the different conditions: depending on the emotion (sadness or joy) and on the target (self-regulation or regulation of the other person). The strategies that imply personal growth were considered to be more adaptive overall., Este estudio examina el uso de 43 estrategias de regulación en episodios emocionales de alegría y tristeza en una condición de autorregulación y regulación interpersonal. Tras recordar las experiencias interpersonales de tristeza y alegría, 324 estudiantes universitarios respondieron al Cuestionario sobre la Regulación Emocional Intrapersonal e Interpersonal (CIRE-43) y una escala de logro percibido en la consecución de las metas emocionales después de usar la estrategia en dichos episodios (eficacia percibida). Como era de esperar, los participantes informaron regular la emoción positiva, pero con menos frecuencia que la tristeza; similar a estudios anteriores, la autorregulación es más frecuente que la regulación interpersonal. El análisis del patrón de correlación entre la eficacia percibida y el uso de diferentes estrategias muestra que los participantes consideran diferentes estrategias como adaptativas en las diferentes condiciones: dependiendo de la emoción (tristeza o alegría) y del objetivo (autorregulación o regulación de la otra persona). Las estrategias que implican el crecimiento personal fueron consideradas como las más adaptativas.

Building relationships is crucial for satisfaction and success, especially when entering new social contexts. In the present paper, we investigate whether attempting to improve others’ feelings helps people to make connections in new networks. In Study 1, a social network study following new networks of people for a 12-week period indicated that use of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) strategies predicted growth in popularity, as indicated by other network members’ reports of spending time with the person, in work and non-work interactions. In Study 2, linguistic analysis of the tweets from over 8000 Twitter users from formation of their accounts revealed that use of IER predicted greater popularity in terms of the number of followers gained. However, not all types of IER had positive effects. Behavioral IER strategies (which use behavior to reassure or comfort in order to regulate affect) were associated with greater popularity, while cognitive strategies (which change a person’s thoughts about his or her situation or feelings in order to regulate affect) were negatively associated with popularity. Our findings have implications for our understanding of how new relationships are formed, highlighting the important the role played by intentional emotion regulatory processes., Frontiers in Psychology, 6, ISSN:1664-1078

The Managing the Emotions of Others Scale (MEOS) is a new measure of the prosocial and non-prosocial aspects of interpersonal emotion regulation (ER) within the emotional intelligence (EI) domain. The present study sought to cross-validate the MEOS with another interpersonal ER measure, the Emotion Regulation of Others and Self (EROS) scale, and to examine personality and well-being correlates of the MEOS. 299 participants completed a web survey which included the MEOS, the HEXACO-60 personality inventory, the EROS, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and measures of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Correlations of the MEOS were explored and regression models were used to examine incremental validity of the MEOS in predicting well-being. In terms of cross-validity, the MEOS showed stronger associations with the EROS extrinsic subscales than with intrinsic subscales or the ERQ. Additionally, the MEOS prosocial pair correlated with the EROS extrinsic affect-improving subscale while the non-prosocial pair correlated with the extrinsic affect-worsening subscale. These findings supported construct validity of the MEOS. In terms of personality, honesty-humility and agreeableness correlated negatively with the non-prosocial pair while agreeableness correlated positively with the prosocial pair. This indicated that individuals who endorsed non-prosocial strategies were likely to be lower in honesty-humility and agreeableness, while agreeableness was linked to the tendency to endorse prosocial strategies. Although well-being was associated with several MEOS factors, well-being correlated more strongly with aspects of intrapersonal ER and personality. Additionally, the MEOS showed little incremental validity in predicting well-being in a regression model controlling for personality. Overall, results provided support for the construct validity of the MEOS as an interpersonal ER measure and extended findings on the relationship between the MEOS, personality and well-being.

This chapter reviews relevant literature regarding coping, social support, and emotion regulation processes in sport teams. It argues that in order to advance our understanding of coping in sport and provide useful advice for coaches and practitioners, it is important to consider the social context within which athletes coping are embedded. The chapter presents some emerging conceptual considerations from the sport psychology literature, and presents the distinction between intrapersonal and interpersonal perspectives of coping and emotion regulation. Intrapersonal perspectives of coping and emotion regulation focus on individual athletes perceptions of stressors, their emotions, coping, and outcomes. There are different types of social support that athletes may experience, including emotional support, informational support, esteem support, and tangible support. The chapter describes theory and research relating to interpersonal emotion regulation and communal coping that could inform future research and applied work among athletes.

The emerging field of emotion regulation studies how individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them. This review takes an evolutionary perspective and characterizes emotion in terms of response tendencies. Emotion regulation is defined and distinguished from coping, mood regulation, defense, and affect regulation. In the increasingly specialized discipline of psychology, the field of emotion regulation cuts across traditional boundaries and provides common ground. According to a process model of emotion regulation, emotion may be regulated at five points in the emotion generative process: (a) selection of the situation, (b) modification of the situation, (c) deployment of attention, (d) change of cognitions, and (e) modulation of responses. The field of emotion regulation promises new insights into age-old questions about how people manage their emotions.

The present study analyzes whether the use of adaptive strategies for the regulation of anger and sadness is congruently associated with the perception that one has successfully improved the emotional experience of oneself (emotional self-regulation) and of others (interpersonal regulation). 296 students recalled episodes of anger and sadness and replied to the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CIRE-43) and to a scale for the assessment of achieved regulation emotional goals. Results confirm that a) participants use more adaptive than maladaptive strategies, b) participants use more strategies to regulate their own emotions than those of other people, c) participants tend to use the same strategies for self-regulation as for interpersonal regulation and d) there is a core set of emotion regulation strategies that are adaptive both for self regulation and for interpersonal regulation, because their use was followed by the perception of improvement in the achievement of personal and interpersonal goals (functionality). En este e trabajo se analiza si el uso de estrategias adaptativas para la regulación de la experiencia emocional de la ira (enojo) y de la tristeza se asocia congruentemente con la percepción de haber tenido éxito en el manejo de estas emociones en uno mismo (autorregulación) y en otras personas (regulación interpersonal). Para ello 296 estudiantes recordaron episodios de ira y de tristeza y contestaron un Cuestionario de Regulación Emocional Interpersonal (CIRE-43) y una escala de evaluación de las metas de regulación emocional. Los resultados del estudio confirman que a) se usan más estrategias de regulación emocional adaptativas que desadaptativas, b) se usan más estrategias para regular las emociones propias que para regular las emociones de otras personas, c) se tiende a usar las mismas estrategias para la autorregulación que para la regulación interpersonal de estas emociones y d) existe un conjunto de estrategias de regulación emocional que son adaptativas para la regulación de las emociones de uno mismo y de los otros, ya que en ambos casos su uso en episodios emocionales de ira y tristeza generan, al finalizar el episodio, una percepción de haber regulado eficazmente (funcionalidad) las emociones propias y las de los demás .

Background: Multimorbidity (the co-occurrence of two or more chronic diseases) can be seen as a prototypical situation in which psychosocial adjustment is required. Even though most patients adapt successfully, a significant number of individuals show adaptation problems and develop additional mental health problems. Objective: For this reason, this article focuses on the importance of psychosocial adaptation as a core process in the context of quality of life. Results: Important findings pointing at the association between multimorbidity and mental health are summarized, and the stress-response perspective on psychosocial adjustment is introduced. Furthermore, cognitive-affective processing of the disease (in the context of illness perceptions) and interpersonal emotion regulation are presented as relevant examples for processes involved in psychological adaptation to multimorbidity. As an intervention possibility, expressive writing is given as a feasible example. Conclusion: Viewing adjustment problems to multimorbidity from a stress-response perspective offers a framework for a deeper understanding of core processes regarding multimorbidity and quality of life that is not only important for research but also for clinical practice. This article ends with a general summary and an outlook on clinical implications of the introduced stress-response concept of adjustment to multimorbidity.

The present study analyzes whether the use of adaptive strategies for the regulation of anger and sadness is congruently associated with the perception that one has successfully improved the emotional experience of oneself (emotional self-regulation) and of others (interpersonal regulation). 296 students recalled episodes of anger and sadness and replied to the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CIRE-43) and to a scale for the assessment of achieved regulation emotional goals. Results confirm that a) participants use more adaptive than maladaptive strategies, b) participants use more strategies to regulate their own emotions than those of other people, c) participants tend to use the same strategies for self-regulation as for interpersonal regulation and d) there is a core set of emotion regulation strategies that are adaptive both for self regulation and for interpersonal regulation, because their use was followed by the perception of improvement in the achievement of personal and interpersonal goals (functionality)., En este e trabajo se analiza si el uso de estrategias adaptativas para la regulación de la experiencia emocional de la ira (enojo) y de la tristeza se asocia congruentemente con la percepción de haber tenido éxito en el manejo de estas emociones en uno mismo (autorregulación) y en otras personas (regulación interpersonal). Para ello 296 estudiantes recordaron episodios de ira y de tristeza y contestaron un Cuestionario de Regulación Emocional Interpersonal (CIRE-43) y una escala de evaluación de las metas de regulación emocional. Los resultados del estudio confirman que a) se usan más estrategias de regulación emocional adaptativas que desadaptativas, b) se usan más estrategias para regular las emociones propias que para regular las emociones de otras personas, c) se tiende a usar las mismas estrategias para la autorregulación que para la regulación interpersonal de estas emociones y d) existe un conjunto de estrategias de regulación emocional que son adaptativas para la regulación de las emociones de uno mismo y de los otros, ya que en ambos casos su uso en episodios emocionales de ira y tristeza generan, al finalizar el episodio, una percepción de haber regulado eficazmente (funcionalidad) las emociones propias y las de los demás .

Research suggests that people deliberately try to improve others' feelings in a variety of social contexts. However, little is known about whether and how interpersonal affect regulation influences the quality of people's relationships. Two applied social network studies investigated the relational effects of interpersonal affect regulation. In Study 1 attempts to improve others' affect among grocery store employees were associated with both regulatory targets' and agents' perceptions of friendship and trust. In Study 2 we replicated this finding among staff and prisoners in a high-security prison. Additionally, we showed that these associations were mediated by positive changes to regulatory targets' and agents' affect. The results provide insights into the social consequences of interpersonal affect regulation and help to elucidate the factors influencing the formation and maintenance of high-quality relationships. © The Author(s) 2012.

Contemporary interest in emotion regulation promises to advance important new views of emotional development as well as offering applications to developmental psychopathology, but these potential contributions are contingent on developmentalists' attention to some basic definitional issues. This essay offers a perspective on these issues by considering how emotion regulation should be defined, the various components of the management of emotion, how emotion regulation strategies fit into the dynamics of social interaction, and how individual differences in emotion regulation should be conceptualized and measured. In the end, it seems clear that emotion regulation is a conceptual rubric for a remarkable range of developmental processes, each of which may have its own catalysts and control processes. Likewise, individual differences in emotion regulation skills likely have multifaceted origins and are also related in complex ways to the person's emotional goals and the immediate demands of the situation. Assessment approaches that focus on the dynamics of emotion are well suited to elucidating these complex developmental and individual differences. In sum, a challenging research agenda awaits those who enter this promising field of study.

Research on affect regulation has blossomed in recent years. However, the lack of validated scales assessing individual differences in the use of strategies to achieve alternative types of affect regulation, e.g., the regulation of others’ affect and the worsening of affect, has hampered research on these important processes. This\ud paper presents the development and validation of a brief new measure of individual differences in the use of strategies to regulate one’s own and other people’s feelings:m the Emotion Regulation of Others and Self (EROS) scale. Two distinct samples (N=551 and N=227) confirmed a four-factor structure: intrinsic affect-improving,\ud intrinsic affect-worsening, extrinsic affect-improving and extrinsic affect-worsening. In line with predictions, these factors were associated with existing measures of affect regulation, personality and affect. Both intrinsic factors were positively associated with emotional exhaustion, while all factors except extrinsic affect-improving were positively associated with health-related impairments. Convergence between self- and other-reported scores on the extrinsic factors in a third sample (N=50 dyads) demonstrated further evidence of validity.

Controlled interpersonal affect regulation refers to the deliberate regulation of someone else's affect. Building on existing research concerning this everyday process, the authors describe the development of a theoretical classification scheme that distinguishes between the types of strategy used to achieve interpersonal affect regulation. To test the theoretical classification, the authors generated a corpus of 378 distinct strategies using self-report questionnaires and diaries completed by student and working samples. Twenty participants then performed a card-sort of the strategies. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to determine how well the theoretical classification represented spontaneous understandings of controlled interpersonal affect regulation. The final classification primarily distinguished between strategies used to improve versus those used to worsen others' affect, and between strategies that engaged the target in a situation or affective state versus relationship-oriented strategies. The classification provides a meaningful basis for organizing existing research and making future conceptual and empirical distinctions. © 2009 American Psychological Association.

Family is the preferred place for the regulation of individual and relational affectivity, for the heating and tuning of emotions. Larson and Richard (1994) call it an ‘arena of emotions’. The project ‘Regulation of Emotions in Families with Adolescents’ explored the processing of emotional and somatic states, the perception of other’s emotional states and the social regulation of or coping with emotionally heated social situations in the family. We expected the sensitivity for family members’ emotions (i.e. accuracy of the perception) and the modalities of coping to he relevant prerequisites for the development and the well-being of the family members. An additional goal was the development of a new methodological tool to assess affective, cognitive and behavioural phenomena in the natural setting of family life. The questions we were focusing on concern (i) feelings and emotional states as a function of the time of the day, the day of the week, the social settings and activities, (ii) the role of accurate reading of the other’s emotional state in families and couples, (Hi) functional and dysfunctional modalities of interpersonal emotion regulation, and finally (iv) the evaluation of the possibility for practical applications of the new assessment tool in counselling and clinical settings. The following text describes some core facets of the project.

Individuals regulate their emotions in a wide variety of ways. Are some forms of emotion regulation healthier than others? We focus on two commonly used emotion regulation strategies: reappraisal (changing the way one thinks about a potentially emotion-eliciting event) and suppression (changing the way one responds behaviorally to an emotion-eliciting event). In the first section, we review experimental findings showing that reappraisal has a healthier profile of short-term affective, cognitive, and social consequences than suppression. In the second section, we review individual-difference findings, which show that using reappraisal to regulate emotions is associated with healthier patterns of affect, social functioning, and well-being than is using suppression. In the third section, we consider issues in the development of reappraisal and suppression and provide new evidence for a normative shift toward an increasingly healthy emotion regulation profile during adulthood (i.e., increases in the use of reappraisal and decreases in the use of suppression).

Five studies tested two general hypotheses: Individuals differ in their use of emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal and suppression, and these individual differences have implications for affect, well-being, and social relationships. Study 1 presents new measures of the habitual use of reappraisal and suppression. Study 2 examines convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 shows that reappraisers experience and express greater positive emotion and lesser negative emotion, whereas suppressors experience and express lesser positive emotion, yet experience greater negative emotion. Study 4 indicates that using reappraisal is associated with better interpersonal functioning, whereas using suppression is associated with worse interpersonal functioning. Study 5 shows that using reappraisal is related positively to well-being, whereas using suppression is related negatively.

The frequency of eating with friends and/or family (i.e., eating together) has been reported to have a positive effect on mental health. More specifically, the reception of psychological support from others (e.g., my friend calms my feelings) and the provision of psychological support for others (e.g., I tell my friend that the situation also has positive aspects) during the shared meal times are proposed to mediate the relationships between eating together frequently and mental health. However, these possibilities are not yet confirmed. The present study examined whether reception of psychological support and/or provision of psychological support mediate the relationship between eating together frequently and mental health. In total, 135 Japanese undergraduate students were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding the frequency of eating together, reception of psychological support, and provision of psychological support. In addition, we measured stress responses and positive moods in daily lives as indices of mental health. The path analysis showed that eating together frequently had a positive effect on the provision of psychological support and daily positive mood, but not for stress responses. In addition, the provision of psychological support mediated the relationship between the frequency of eating together and daily positive mood. However, the reception of psychological support did not mediate the relationship between frequency of eating together and mental health. Based on these results, it can be considered that eating together with friends and family frequently promotes the provision of psychological support for others during meal, which improves mental health in turn.

Two dyadic studies investigated interpersonal worry regulation in heterosexual relationships. In study 1, we video-recorded 40 romantic couples discussing shared concerns. Male partners’ worry positively predicted female partners’ interpersonal calming attempts, and negatively predicted female partners’ interpersonal alerting attempts (i.e., attempts to make their partners appreciate the seriousness of concerns). Video-cued recall data also indicated that changes in partner A’s worry over time positively predicted partner B’s motivation to reduce partner A’s worry, and that this effect was stronger when B was the female partner. Study 2 was a dyadic survey of 100 couples. Individual differences in partner A’s negative affect were positive predictors of partner B’s interpersonal calming, and individual differences in partner A’s expressive suppression were negative predictors of partner B’s interpersonal calming. Further, individual differences in male partners’ expressivity were significant positive predictors of female partners’ interpersonal calming, and individual differences in male partners’ reappraisal were significant positive predictors of female partners’ interpersonal alerting. These findings suggest that interpersonal worry regulation relates to partners’ expression and intrapersonal regulation of worry, but not equally for men and women.

The aim of the present study was to examine the intra- and interpersonal emotion regulation of patients with somatic symptom disorders (SSDs) during interactions with significant others (i.e., romantic partners). We presented two case couples for analysis. The first couple consisted of a patient with SSD and his healthy partner, whereas the second couple consisted of two healthy partners. The couples underwent an interpersonal experiment that involved baseline, anger and relaxation tasks. During each task, partners' cutaneous facial temperature, heart rate and skin conductance levels were measured simultaneously. Participants' trait-emotion regulation, state-affect reports for self and other, and attachment styles were also examined. The experimental phases were successful in creating variations in physiological processes and affective experience. As expected, emotion regulation difficulties predicted higher increase in the course of temperature at each phase. Besides, the patient showed restricted awareness and reflection to emotions despite his higher autonomic activity compared to healthy controls. Both partners of the first couple revealed limited ability in understanding the other's emotions, whereas the second couple performed relatively better in that domain. The temperature variations between the patient and his partner were significantly correlated while the correlations of temperature changes between the second couple were negligible except anger task. The study supported the merits of an embodied interpersonal approach in clinical studies. The tentative results of the cases were discussed in the light of findings in emotion regulation and attachment research.

Background: Retirement is a central transition in late adulthood and requires adjustment. These processes not only affect the retired individuals but also their romantic partners. The aim of this study is to investigate the interplay of intrapersonal emotion regulation (rumination) with interpersonal regulation processes (disclosure quality). Furthermore, the associations of daily retirement-related disclosure with adjustment symptoms in disclosing and the listening partner will be investigated. It is expected that the effects of disclosure alter after providing the couples with a self-applied solitary written disclosure task in order to support their intrapersonal emotion regulation.Methods: In this dyadic online-diary study, 45 couples (N = 45) with one partner perceiving the adjustment to a recent retirement as challenging reported rumination, perceived disclosure quality (repetitive, focused on negative content, hard to follow, disclosing partner open for common/authentic), retirement-related disclosure, and ICD-11 adjustment symptoms preoccupation and failure to adapt were assessed at the end of the day over 14 days. In the middle of this assessment period, couples performed a modified online-expressive writing about their thoughts and feelings regarding the transition to retirement.Results: The double-intercept multilevel Actor–Partner Interdependence Models (APIM) reveal that on days with more daily rumination, the spouse perceived that disclosure of the retiree is more difficult to follow, more negative, and repetitive. In contrast, the retiree perceived less authenticity and openness to comments during disclosure on days when the spouse reports more rumination. Retirement-related disclosure showed no within-couple association with failure to adapt but actor effects on preoccupation. Moreover, a partner effect of disclosure of the retirees on the preoccupation of spouses could be observed. This contagious effect of the retiree disclosure, however, disappeared during the week after writing.Conclusion: Our results support the notion that disclosure processes are altered during maladaptive intrapersonal emotion regulation processes. This in turn seems to lead to less effective interpersonal regulation and contagious spilling over of symptoms.Supporting intrapersonal emotion regulation seems to have the potential to allow more favorable interpersonal regulation processes and to free interpersonal resources for an individual adjustment. This has implications for further planning of support for couples facing life transitions and aging-related changes.

Studies investigating the neurophysiological basis of intrapersonal emotion regulation (control of one's own emotional experience) report that the frontal cortex exerts a modulatory effect on limbic structures such as the amygdala and insula. However, no imaging study to date has examined the neurophysiological processes involved in interpersonal emotion regulation, where the goal is explicitly to regulate another person's emotion. Twenty healthy participants (10 males) underwent fMRI while regulating their own or another person's emotions. Intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation tasks recruited an overlapping network of brain regions including bilateral lateral frontal cortex, pre-supplementary motor area, and left temporo-parietal junction. Activations unique to the interpersonal condition suggest that both affective (emotional simulation) and cognitive (mentalizing) aspects of empathy may be involved in the process of interpersonal emotion regulation. These findings provide an initial insight into the neural correlates of regulating another person's emotions and may be relevant to understanding mental health issues that involve problems with social interaction.