The Longitudinal Effect of Emotion Regulation Strategies on Anxiety Levels in Children and Adolescents

Publication Date

11-2018

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology

Keywords

Anxiety, Mindfulness- and acceptance-based treatments, Children and adolescents, Emotion regulation, Longitudinal

Abstract

There is growing evidence linking emotion dysregulation to anxiety. However, few studies have examined this relationship longitudinally or developmentally. Additionally, no studies have specifically examined the predictive relevance of the emotion regulation skills taught in mindfulness- and acceptance-based therapies. We explore whether specific emotion regulation processes differentially predict specific anxiety symptoms over time among children and adolescents. Methods: Initial emotion non-awareness, nonacceptance, and difficulties with goal-directed behavior were assessed in a community sample (n = 312, age range = 8–16, mean age = 11.68, 59% female, 69% Caucasian). Social anxiety, separation anxiety, and physical anxiety symptoms were assessed every 3 months for 3 years. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the concurrent and longitudinal effects of emotion dysregulation assessed at baseline or 18 months on anxiety. Results: After controlling for depression, age, and gender, all three processes concurrently predicted physical and social anxiety, and all but nonacceptance predicted separation anxiety. Only difficulties with goal-directed behavior, however, predicted longitudinal change in separation anxiety over time with covariates. Additionally, emotion non-awareness and difficulties with goal-directed behavior predicted subsequent changes in social anxiety. Conclusions: Emotion dysregulation may serve as a potential risk factor for the development of anxiety symptoms among youth. It may be beneficial to target reductions in maladaptive strategies in prevention or intervention work.

Copyright Date

6-2-2016

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as:

Schneider, R. L., Arch, J. J., Landy, L. N., & Hankin, B. L. (2018). The longitudinal effect of emotion regulation strategies on anxiety levels in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 47(6), 978-991. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2016.1157757

Accepted Manuscript is openly available through the "Link to Full Text" button.

The published Version of Record is available at libraries through Compass or Worldcat.

Rights Holder

Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

Provenance

Received from CHORUS

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

15 pgs

File Size

529 KB

Publication Title

Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

Volume

47

Issue

6

First Page

978

Last Page

991

ISSN

1537-4424

PubMed ID

27254420

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