Brunna Tuschen-Caffier

This study explores how child emotion regulation (ER) and maternal overinvolvement contribute to the maintenance of anxiety disorders (ADs) in children. Building on the tripartite model on the impact of the family on children’s emotion regulation and adjustment, it experimentally examines the impact of maternal expectations on overinvolvement and child distress. 65 children with ADs (ages 8–15) and 64 healthy controls (HCs) and their mothers participated in a tangram task, with manipulated maternal expectations. Mother–child interactions were observed for maternal involvement and child behavior (ER, distress), with children reporting their emotional reactivity. Against expectations, maternal involvement did not differ between groups and was not influenced by expectations. HC children had better ER abilities than those with ADs. Emotional reactivity moderated the relationship between overinvolvement and ER problems. Children with ADs exhibited more distress, unaffected by maternal expectations. Further research is needed to clarify the relationship between parental behavior and child behavior, particularly regarding emotional reactivity.

Purpose: Emotion regulation (ER) plays a relevant role in internalizing disorders, therapeutic interventions and treatment approaches. Training individuals in functional ER strategies may contribute to improved mental health outcomes. Digital interventions, such as ecological momentary interventions (EMI), have the potential to facilitate the transfer of ER skills into daily life. This study investigated the feasibility and potential efficacy of an EMI designed to train young people in acceptance and problem-solving strategies based on the perceived controllability of experienced situations in everyday contexts. The goal is to evaluate whether the EMI leads to increased acceptance and problem solving, a reduction in dysfunctional ER strategies and negative affect, and decreased ER difficulties and internalizing symptoms. Methods: The participants (N = 66, 14–21 years) were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a control group. Outcome measures were assessed via ecological momentary assessment before and after the intervention, with 5 assessments for 3 days each (from Thursday to Saturday), as were cross-sectional questionnaires. Results: The intervention group did not report using more acceptance and problem solving, fewer dysfunctional strategies or negative affect. Internalizing symptoms and ER difficulties did not improve. Perceived controllability was not associated with acceptance or problem solving. Conclusion: The findings contribute to considerations regarding the feasibility and acceptability of EMIs and provide valuable insights for future research on low-threshold, stand-alone interventions aimed at enhancing ER and mental health.

Adolescence poses significant challenges for emotion regulation (ER) and is thus a critical phase in the emergence of various mental disorders, specifically internalising disorders such as anxiety and depression. Affective control, defined as the application of cognitive control in affective contexts, is crucial for effective ER. However, the relationship between ER and affective control is unclear. This study examined the predictive role of ER strategies and difficulties in affective control, measured as the congruency effect and error rate on an Emotional Stroop task (EST), in a sample of adolescents and young adults (aged 14–21, M = 17.28, 22% male). It was hypothesised that participants with internalising disorders would show higher congruency effects and error rates on the EST than healthy controls after a psychosocial stress induction, indicating lower affective control. Surprisingly, our findings revealed no significant differences in these measures between the groups. However, higher depression scores were associated with increased EST errors. While ER strategies and difficulties did not predict affective control, exploratory analyses unveiled associations between depression scores and ER strategy repertoire, perceived ER success and the ER strategy Acceptance. These findings underscore the importance of implicit ER facets, particularly perceived ER success and flexibility to change between applied strategies for adolescents and young adults with elevated depressive symptoms.

Models of social anxiety disorder (SAD) describe shortfalls in child social performance, whereas empirically, children often show a deficit only in subjective and not objective performance. We examined social performance in relation to possible changes (before and after cognitive behavior therapy [CBT] including social skills training) and to an objective parameter (vocal arousal). Children with SAD were expected to subjectively judge their behavior as less competent than healthy control (HC) children despite a lack of objective differences. Children receiving CBT were expected to show a change in subjective and objective social performance in comparison to children waiting for treatment. Exploratory correlation analyses were used to disentangle the relation between social performance and vocal arousal. One hundred and nineteen children (64 with and 55 without SAD; aged 9–13 years) completed a Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Children with SAD participated in a second TSST after CBT or waiting. Performance was assessed by self-report and by blinded observers. Vocal arousal was analyzed by audio recording. Children with SAD were objectively assessed as more socially competent than HC children; subjectively, children with SAD showed lower social performance. CBT showed no effect on subjective or objective performance ratings. Vocal arousal did not correlate with social performance. Results need to be considered carefully, as psychometric problems appeared that had not been considered in previous studies. The surprising lack of CBT effects suggests a need to focus on cognitions surrounding social performance. Further, social skills training should not be a standard SAD treatment component but used only if necessary.