The relation between emotion regulation choice and posttraumatic growth

Ana I. Orejuela-Dávila, Sara M. Levens*, Sara J. Sagui-Henson, Richard G. Tedeschi, Gal Sheppes

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Previous research has examined emotion regulation (ER) and trauma in the context of psychopathology, yet little research has examined ER in posttraumatic growth (PTG), the experience of positive psychological change following a traumatic event. ER typically involves decreasing negative affect by engaging (e.g. reappraisal) or disengaging (e.g. distraction) with emotional content. To investigate how ER may support PTG, participants who experienced a traumatic event in the past 6 months completed a PTG questionnaire and an ER choice task in which they down regulated their negative emotion in response to negative pictures of varying intensity by choosing to distract or reappraise. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that an increase in reappraisal choice from low to high subjective stimulus intensity predicted higher PTG, suggesting that individuals who chose reappraisal more as intensity increased reported higher PTG. Findings suggest that reappraisal of negative stimuli following a traumatic event may be a key component of PTG.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1709-1717
Number of pages9
JournalCognition and Emotion
Volume33
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 Nov 2019

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Institutes of Health
National Center for Complementary and Integrative HealthT32AT003997

    Keywords

    • Emotion regulation
    • posttraumatic growth
    • reappraisal
    • trauma

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