Emotion Regulation in Childhood Anxiety

Abstract

(from the chapter) The field of psychology is in the midst of an "emotion revolution," reflecting the emerging role of emotion theory in clinical research and practice (Samoilov & Goldfried, 2000; Southam-Gerow & Kendall, 2002). Although many researchers have commended this trend, there is also an ongoing call for more clinical research that is founded on emotion theory and expands our understanding of the relations between the development of psychopathology, including anxiety disorders (ADs), and various emotional constructs (Hannesdottir & Ollendick, 2007; Suveg, Southam-Gerow, Goodman, & Kendall, 2007). Emotion regulation is one such construct. Emotion regulation (ER) is defined as "the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions, especially their intensive and temporal features, to accomplish one's goals" (Thompson, 1994, p. 27-28). More simply stated, ER involves an awareness of an emotional experience, the ability to appraise the context surrounding the emotional experience, and the modification of the expression of the emotion to the social context demands. Emotion regulation is not solely emotional suppression. It is a dynamic and complex process that involves controlling mechanisms such as exaggeration, substitution, and neutralization in addition to inhibition (Zeman, Shipman, & Penza-Clyve, 2001). Emotion regulation is intimately linked with both emotion understanding and emotion awareness; people need to be aware of their own and others' emotions, and have an understanding of the social implications of given emotions in various contexts in order to engage in adaptive regulation strategies (Campos, Mumme, Kermoian, & Campos, 1994; Saarni, 1999). Emotion dysregulation, or maladaptive methods of managing emotional experiences in a given social context, has implications for both intrapersonal (e.g., low self-efficacy about one's ability to manage emotions) and interpersonal (e.g., difficulties relating to others) functioning (Thompson, 1994). Thus, ER is posited to play a role in many forms of psychopathology (Bradley, 2001; Cicchetti, Ackerman, & Izard, 1995; Cole, Michel, & Teti, 1994). Although emotion dysregulation is not specific to ADs, there are certain patterns of emotional arousal and inefficiente motion management that are associated with childhood ADs, as opposed to other types of internalizing difficulties (Suveg, Hoffman, Zeman, & Thomassin, 2009). Individual differences in children's ER result from elements both internal and external to the child (Calkins, 1994). Cognitive, biological, and environmental factors are linked to children's emotional development and are subsequently associated with the link between ER and ADs in youth. Understanding the dynamic contexts surrounding children's development is an essential component of using an ER framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)