Implications and Predictors of Emotional Control During Adolescence: A Daily Diary Study
Open Access
- Author:
- Lane, Mackenzie
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- May 30, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Gregory M Fosco, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Lisa Michelle Kopp, Committee Member
Charles Geier, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies - Keywords:
- Emotional Control
Emotion Regulation
Depression
Anxiety
Family Cohesion
Caregiver Emotion Coaching
Adolescence
Daily Diary Study
Negative Affect
Affective Lability
Emotional Control Lability
Prevention Science - Abstract:
- Emotion regulation is a key factor in adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment and well-being. One conceptualization of emotion regulation that remains under-examined is emotional control, a facet of one’s subjective sense of emotion regulation. The current study provided a novel assessment of emotional control by examining emotional control level (mean) and lability (degree of fluctuation in emotional control from one day to the next). Daily diary data nested within a 1-year longitudinal study from 140 adolescents (Mage = 14.61, 62.1% female, 87.1% White) and their caregivers was used to assess two main aims: (1) implications of emotional control level and lability on depressive and anxiety symptoms, and (2) family-based predictors of emotional control level and lability. A series of multiple linear regression models were employed to examine whether emotional control level and lability were risk factors for increases in depressive and anxiety symptoms, accounting for adolescents’ negative affect level and lability, over the course of one year, and whether family cohesion and caregiver emotion coaching were significant predictors of adolescent emotional control level and lability. Results suggested that emotional control level and lability were not directly associated with depression and anxiety outcomes; however, emotional control level moderated the relationship between emotional control lability and anxiety. For adolescents with high levels of emotional control, emotional control lability was a significant risk factor for increases in anxiety symptoms. In light of the second study aim, family cohesion was associated with better adolescent emotional control level and lability, whereas caregiver emotion coaching was not a significant predictor. These findings emphasize the important implications of bolstering stability in adolescents’ emotional control for adolescents experiencing symptoms of anxiety. One avenue this might be achieved is by promoting family cohesion in family-based intervention programming.