The role of emotion regulation in mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak: A 10-wave longitudinal study.

The COVID-19 pandemic elicited a lot of concerns among citizens, thereby potentially compromising their well-being. This study sought to examine the role of individuals' emotion regulation styles (i.e., emotional dysregulation, emotional suppression, and emotional integration) in handling these concerns and their experiences of well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life and sleep quality) and ill-being (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms). The study had a unique 10-wave longitudinal design (N = 986; Mage  = 41.28; 76% female) and was conducted during the outbreak of the pandemic in March-May 2020. Multilevel analyses showed, first, that weekly variation in COVID-19 related concerns related negatively to weekly variation in well-being and positively to weekly variation in ill-being. Second, at the between-person level, emotional dysregulation and suppression related positively to between-person vulnerability in ill-being and lower well-being (across all waves). Third, between-person differences in emotional dysregulation amplified the strength of the within-person association between concerns and depressive complaints and lowered life satisfaction. Unexpectedly, integrative emotion regulation amplified the strength of the within-person association between concerns and anxiety. The discussion focuses on the critical role of emotion regulation in handling the uncertainty elicited by the pandemic and provides directions for further research.

Correction to: Testing an Online Program to Foster Need Crafting During the COVID­19 Pandemic.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03012-2.].

Testing an Online Program to Foster Need Crafting During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a threat not only to individuals' physical health but also to their mental health. Self-Determination Theory assumes that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence promotes psychological well-being during destabilizing times. Yet, the pandemic seriously hampered individuals' opportunities to satisfy their needs. The current study provides a preliminary test of the effectiveness of a 7-session online program, LifeCraft, that promotes individuals' proactive attempts to uplift their need-based experiences (i.e., need crafting). Next to the effects on individuals' need crafting skills, we examined program-effects on adults' need-based experiences and mental health and we explored the role of participants' program engagement. An experimental study among 725 Belgian adults [M age = 51.67 (range = 26 - 85); 68.55% female] was conducted, with an experimental condition of 252 and a control condition of 473 participants. At the level of the entire sample, there was limited evidence for the effectiveness of the program. There were only small immediate program-effects on need crafting and well-being. After taking into account the role of program engagement, findings showed that the program was more beneficial for participants who actively participated, with these participants reporting immediate and stable increases in need crafting, need satisfaction and well-being and decreases in need frustration. Further, changes in need crafting fully mediated changes in need-based experiences and well-being. To conclude, the findings provide initial evidence for the effectiveness of LifeCraft during the COVID-19 pandemic, with active participation being a prerequisite for the program to be effective.

Emotion regulation in times of COVID-19: A person-centered approach based on self-determination theory.

Although the COVID-19 crisis is a worldwide threat to individuals' physical health and psychological well-being, not all people are equally susceptible to increased ill-being. One potentially important factor in individuals' vulnerability (versus resilience) to ill-being in the face of stress is emotion regulation. On the basis of Self-Determination Theory, this study examined the role of three emotion regulation styles in individuals' mental health during the COVID-19 crisis, that is, integration, suppression, and dysregulation. Participants were 6584 adults (77% female, M age = 45.16 years) who filled out well-validated measures of emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and sleep quality. To examine naturally occurring combinations of emotion regulation strategies, hierarchical k-means clustering was performed, yielding 3 profiles: (a) low scores on all strategies (indicating rather low overall levels of worry; 27%), (b) high scores on integration only (41%), and (c) high scores on suppression and dysregulation (32%). Participants in the profiles scoring high on suppression and dysregulation displayed a less favorable pattern of outcomes (high ill-being, low life satisfaction, and poorer sleep quality) compared to the other two groups. Between-cluster differences remained significant even when taking into account the corona-related worries experienced by people. Overall, the findings underscore the important role of emotion regulation in individuals' mental health during mentally challenging periods such as the COVID-19 crisis. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Emotion Regulation as a Transdiagnostic Risk Factor for (Non)Clinical Adolescents' Internalizing and Externalizing Psychopathology: Investigating the Intervening Role of Psychological Need Experiences.

This study investigated emotion regulation (i.e., emotional integration, suppression and dysregulation) as a transdiagnostic process underlying adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Basic psychological need experiences were investigated as a possible underlying mechanism explaining this association. A heterogeneous sample of non-clinical and clinically-referred adolescents reported upon emotion regulation, basic psychological needs (i.e., need satisfaction and frustration), and both internalizing and externalizing problems. Results indicated that dysfunctional emotion regulation was positively linked to internalizing as well as externalizing problems. Need frustration was a partial mediator in this relation between emotion regulation and psychopathology. The findings suggest that both emotion regulation and basic psychological needs may play a transdiagnostic role in adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Parental identity as a resource for parental adaptation during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The lockdown measures that were taken to contain the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 caused many parents to stay at home with their children. This unusual situation created both risks and opportunities for families. In the present study, we examined the role of parental identity as a resource for parental adaptation during this challenging period, thereby considering both parenthood experiences and parents' general mental health while also taking into account the cumulative risk to which parents were exposed (e.g., single parenthood). Furthermore, to shed light on the mechanisms behind the effects of parental identity, this study addressed the mediating role of parental satisfaction of their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. During the lockdown period in Belgium, 492 parents (88% mothers, Mage = 44 years, 63.7% in intact family, 31.2% with a university degree) completed online questionnaires on parental identity, need-based experiences, positive and negative parenthood experiences, and mental health. Several weeks earlier, these participants also rated their mental health and a variety of risks they were exposed to as part of a larger study. Results showed that a clear and self-endorsed parental identity was related to better parental adaptation, with parental need satisfaction playing a mediating role in these associations. Moreover, these associations remained significant after controlling for the prior levels of parental mental health and for cumulative risk. Overall, findings suggest that parental identity serves as a source of resilience in an uncertain period such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Unraveling Prospective Reciprocal Effects between Parental Invalidation and Pre-Adolescents' Borderline Traits: Between- and Within-Family Associations and Differences with Common Psychopathology-Parenting Transactions.

The etiology of borderline personality pathology has consistently been framed as an interactional process between child vulnerability (i.e. emotional sensitivity and reactivity; Linehan, 1993) and invalidating parenting strategies, which evolves into increased emotion dysregulation and disinhibited behavior of the child and in turn activates more parental invalidation. Despite the strong theoretical base in support of these high-risk parent-child transactions, invalidating parenting behaviors have mostly been explored as a cause of child dysregulation and disinhibition, rather than as a result of child-driven effects. Also, most transactional research in this regard focused at differences between families, thereby not addressing potential changes within families across time. The current study therefore examines bidirectional between- and within-family effects of childhood borderline-related traits and maternal invalidation in the sensitive developmental phase of pre-adolescence (n = 574; 54.4% girls) along three assessment points. Cross-Lagged Panel Models and Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models indicated detrimental parenting effects of invalidation on subsequent development in borderline-related traits of the child both between and within families, and additional child-driven effects for subsequent invalidating parenting strategies within families. Beyond these transactions between borderline-related traits and parenting, the current study also indicates significant differences in the direction of effects when exploring transactions between more common dimensions of child internalizing/externalizing symptomatology and parental invalidation, suggesting a more substantial parenting etiology in the developmental process of borderline traits throughout pre-adolescence. Future longitudinal research may explore to what extent the transactional nature of borderline personality traits during important developmental stages indeed holds unique aspects compared to more common manifestations of symptomatology at young age.

Adolescents as active managers of their own psychological needs: The role of psychological need crafting in adolescents' mental health.

INTRODUCTION: Satisfaction of adolescents' basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness contributes to their well-being. Socialization figures (e.g., parents) can assist adolescents in getting these needs met. In addition, adolescents can engage in need crafting, thereby proactively managing their behavior towards improved need satisfaction. This research aimed to develop a need crafting measure and to examine the role of need crafting in adolescents' need-based experiences and mental health. METHOD: A cross-sectional study in 233 Flemish students (Study 1; Mage = 16.6, 58.4% female) addressed the psychometric properties of a need crafting measure and its associations with relevant constructs. Using a three-wave longitudinal study in 436 Flemish students (Study 2; Mage = 16.33, 66,0% female), we investigated the role of need crafting in adolescents' mental health and the intervening role of need-based experiences. RESULTS: In Study 1, a CFA yielded evidence for the psychometric quality of the need crafting measure. Need crafting was related in meaningful ways with different validation constructs and with adolescents' need-based experiences. Study 2 showed that need crafting was related to adolescents' mental health, both at the level of inter-individual differences and at the level of intra-individual change. Need-based experiences accounted partly for the mental health benefits associated with need crafting, with the effects remaining significant after controlling for perceived maternal need-support. CONCLUSION: The findings provide initial evidence for the importance of adolescents' need crafting in mental health. Future research needs to further examine factors that determine adolescents' ability to manage their own psychological needs.

A longitudinal examination of the interplay between personality vulnerability and need-based experiences in adolescents' depressive symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the interplay between the personality vulnerability dimensions of self-criticism and dependency and experienced satisfaction or frustration of the basic psychological needs in relation to adolescents' depressive symptoms. In doing so, we investigated both indirect associations between personality and depressive symptoms (through need-based experiences) and interactions between personality and need-based experiences (i.e., moderation). METHOD: A total of 149 adolescents (52% female, Mage  = 15.20 years at initial assessment, SD = 3.09) participated in this three-wave longitudinal study with 6-month intervals. At each wave, adolescents reported on their personality, need-based experiences, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Multilevel analyses showed that dependency and self-criticism related to experiences of need frustration and depressive symptoms at both the between-person level (i.e., the level of interindividual differences) and the within-person level (i.e., the level of intraindividual change). In turn, need frustration was related to adolescents' depressive symptoms at both levels of analysis. Personality did not significantly moderate the associations between the psychological needs and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that self-criticism and dependency are related to experiences of psychological need frustration and depressive symptoms at the level of both interindividual differences and within person-change.

When is Parental Monitoring Effective? A Person-centered Analysis of the Role of Autonomy-supportive and Psychologically Controlling Parenting in Referred and Non-referred Adolescents.

Over the last few years, the protective role of parental monitoring on adolescent adjustment (i.e., active parental efforts aimed at setting limits and tracking adolescents' activities and whereabouts) has been challenged. Recent research has shifted attention to the conditions under which monitoring may be more or less effective. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, this study investigated the role of parents' autonomy-supportive and psychologically controlling parenting in effects of parental monitoring on adolescents' adjustment. It also considered the role of adolescents' clinical status (i.e., clinically referred vs non-referred). Adopting a person-centered approach, we aimed to identify naturally occurring profiles of monitoring, autonomy-support, and psychological control and to examine differences between these profiles in terms of life satisfaction, positive affect, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Participants included 218 referred (Mage = 14.44, 56% girls) and 218 matched adolescents from a larger sample of 1056 community (Mage = 14.83, 52.9% girls). Multigroup Latent Profile Analyses revealed five parenting profiles which were structurally equivalent in both samples: high monitoring with either high autonomy support or high psychological control, low monitoring with either high autonomy-support or high psychological control, and an average profile. Referred youth were significantly more present in the average profile and in the profiles characterized by high levels of psychological control. As hypothesized, profiles showed a differential association with adolescents' self-reported adjustment, with the high monitoring-high autonomy support profile yielding the most optimal and the low monitoring-high psychological control profile yielding the worst outcomes. Associations between profiles and outcomes were similar for referred and non-referred adolescents. These findings highlight the importance of considering the parenting climate (i.e., autonomy-supportive versus psychologically controlling) to understand effects of parental monitoring during adolescence.

The moderating role of adolescent personality in associations between psychologically controlling parenting and problem behaviors: A longitudinal examination at the level of within-person change.

Although abundant research has demonstrated associations between psychologically controlling parenting and adolescent problem behavior, little is known about the moderating role of adolescent personality herein. This study examined whether adolescent personality moderates the associations between parental psychological control and internalizing and externalizing problems at the level of within-person change. A 3-wave longitudinal design (N = 198 families, Mage adolescent = 14.89 years, Mage mother = 45.14 years, Mage father = 46.79 years), with 1-year intervals between waves, and using multi-informant assessment was conducted. Multilevel analyses demonstrated that changes in parental psychological control related positively to changes in multi-informant scores of both internalizing and externalizing problems. Evidence for the moderating role of personality was found for only 1 out of 25 interactions in a variable-centered approach and for 2 out of 8 interactions in a person-centered approach. The interactions obtained indicated that a mature personality (i.e., higher scores on emotional stability or membership in a resilient profile in comparison to an overcontrolled profile) buffered against the detrimental effects of psychologically controlling parenting on problem behaviors. Overall, the number of interactions was limited, suggesting only a modest moderating effect of adolescent personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

I won't obey!: Psychologically Controlling Parenting and (Non)-Clinical Adolescents' Responses to Rule-setting.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined associations between maternal psychologically controlling parenting and adolescents' responses to rule-setting as well as the link between both study variables and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems. METHOD: Both clinical and nonclinical adolescents reported upon maternal psychological control, responses to rule-setting (i.e., oppositional defiance, submissive compliance, negotiation, and accommodation) and both adolescents and mothers reported upon adolescents' problems. RESULTS: Perceived psychological control related positively to adolescents' oppositional defiance and submissive compliance and negatively to negotiation and accommodation. Further, an integrated path model indicated that psychological control related to externalizing problems via oppositional defiance and internalizing problems via submissive compliance. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological control relates to different types of problem behaviors via diverse responses to maternal rule-setting. The discussion emphasizes the importance of future prevention and intervention programs to focus on both parenting and on adolescents' active contribution to their socialization process.

The Effects of Partners' Helping Motivation on Chronic Pain Patients' Functioning Over Time.

To understand when and why the provision of help by a partner of an individual with chronic pain (ICP) yields benefits, it is critical, according to self-determination theory, to consider the extent to which partners' helping responses are supportive of the basic psychological needs of the ICP, as well as the motivations underlying these helping responses. The present study (N = 141 couples), spanning 3 measurement moments over 6 months, investigated temporal associations between partners' helping motivation, ICPs' psychological needs, and ICPs' functioning across time (ie, well-being, psychological distress, and disability). Results showed that partners' autonomous or volitional helping motivation (time 1) predicted decreases in ICPs' need frustration (time 2) and ICPs' need frustration (time 2) predicted increases in ICPs' psychological distress (time 3). Further, ICPs' need satisfaction (time 2) predicted increases in well-being (time 3) and decreases in psychological distress (time 3). The link between need frustration and ICPs' well-being (time 1-time 2) was bidirectional, with both relating reciprocally to one another over time. Finally, the associations between ICPs' disability and both partners' helping motivation and ICPs' need-based experiences were nonsignificant. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed. Perspective: Partners' helping motivations and ICPs' psychological needs seem to be important to consider when investigating the role of spousal responses, because they could (indirectly) predict changes in the well-being and psychological distress of ICPs over time.

The Moderating Role of Vertical Collectivism in South-Korean Adolescents' Perceptions of and Responses to Autonomy-Supportive and Controlling Parenting.

Research increasingly demonstrates that associations between autonomy-relevant parenting and adolescent adjustment generalize across cultures. Yet, there is still an ongoing debate about the role of culture in these effects of autonomy-relevant parenting. The current study aimed to contribute to a more nuanced perspective on this debate by addressing cultural variability in micro-processes involved in autonomy-relevant parenting and, more specifically, in adolescents' appraisals of and responses to parental behavior. In this vignette-based experimental study, involving 137 South-Korean adolescents (54% female, mean age = 16 years), we examined whether individual differences in vertical collectivism affect the association between descriptions of potentially autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting practices and (a) appraisals of these practices (in terms of perceived autonomy support and control and experiences of autonomy need satisfaction and frustration), and (b) anticipated responses to these practices (i.e., negotiation, submissive compliance, and oppositional defiance). Participants in the autonomy-supportive condition reported more perceived autonomy support and autonomy satisfaction and lower perceived control and autonomy need frustration than participants in the controlling condition. Collectivism moderated between-vignette effects on perceived control and autonomy need frustration such that the differences between the autonomy-supportive and controlling vignettes were less pronounced (yet still significant) among adolescents scoring higher on collectivism. Collectivism did not moderate effects of the vignettes on the responses to parenting, but yielded a main effect, with collectivism relating to more submissive compliance and less oppositional defiance. Overall, the results suggest that both universal and culture-specific processes are involved in autonomy-relevant socialization.

Intimacy development in late adolescence: Longitudinal associations with perceived parental autonomy support and adolescents' self-worth.

The present longitudinal study tested for the role of perceived parental autonomy-support and late adolescents' self-worth in their intimacy development. A sample of 497 Belgian late adolescents (Mage = 17.9, 43.5% girls) participated in this two-wave study. Results indicated that perceived autonomy-supportive parenting did not relate significantly to change in adolescents' experienced intimacy (in terms of closeness and mutuality), but was associated with a decrease in unmitigated agency (an excessive focus on the self) and unmitigated communion (an excessive focus on the other) across time. Adolescents' self-worth predicted an increase in experienced intimacy and a decrease in unmitigated agency and communion, and the initial level of experienced intimacy predicted an increase in self-worth. Finally, results suggested that adolescents' self-worth may mediate some of the longitudinal relations between perceived parental autonomy-support and adolescents' intimate functioning. No evidence was found for moderation by romantic involvement, gender or age.

A Self-Determination Theory Perspective on Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Early Parenting Behaviors.

OBJECTIVE: On the basis of self-determination theory, this study investigates longitudinal associations between satisfaction and frustration mothers' basic psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, relatedness, competence) and mothers' postnatal depressive symptoms and early parenting behaviors. METHOD: Participants were 214 women assessed during their pregnancy (Time 1), 4 months after delivery (Time 2), and when the child was 2 years old (Time 3). RESULTS: Results demonstrate effects of prenatal basic psychological needs (needs frustration more specifically) on postnatal depressive symptoms. In addition, general prenatal needs satisfaction and frustration predicted more relationship-specific needs satisfaction and frustration, respectively (in the mother-child relationship). In turn, postnatal relationship-specific needs satisfaction predicted more high-quality parenting when the child is 2 years old. More specifically, needs satisfaction was related to more maternal responsiveness and autonomy support. CONCLUSION: Overall, these findings underscore the importance of psychological needs experiences for both mothers' personal adjustment after birth and for the early mother-child relationship.

What's your motivation to be pregnant? Relations between motives for parenthood and women's prenatal functioning.

Prenatal psychological adjustment is a critical predictor of postnatal maternal adjustment, which, in turn, relates to a child's psychological development. As such, it is important to examine possible correlates of women's psychological functioning during pregnancy. Grounded in self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), the present research investigated the link between women's motives for having a child and prenatal maternal psychological adjustment. Specifically, in a sample of 208 pregnant women, we examined the relation between women's intensity (i.e., quantity) and quality of motivation for having a child and both women's social adjustment (i.e., relationship satisfaction) and personal well-being (i.e., vitality and depressive symptoms). Further, we examined psychological need satisfaction as an explanatory mechanism underlying these associations. Results showed that both intensity and quality of motivation related, either directly or indirectly via psychological need satisfaction, to women's personal well-being and relationship satisfaction during pregnancy.

Raising trophy kids: The role of mothers' contingent self-esteem in maternal promotion of extrinsic goals.

This study examined the role of mothers' child-invested contingent self-esteem, that is, their tendency to hinge their self-worth on their child's achievements, in maternal promotion of extrinsic goals, as perceived by adolescents. It was also examined whether maternal promotion of extrinsic goals would, in turn, relate to adolescents' Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Participants were 184 mothers and their adolescent children (66% female). Maternal child-invested contingent self-esteem predicted adolescent-perceived maternal promotion of extrinsic goals, even when taking into account the variance shared between the promotion of extrinsic goals and mothers' use of a controlling parenting style. Maternal child-invested contingent self-esteem also moderated associations between mothers' personal pursuit of extrinsic goals and their promotion of those goals, such that the association between mothers' own extrinsic goals and their promotion of those goals was significant only among mothers high on child-invested contingent self-esteem. Maternal promotion of extrinsic goals was, in turn, related to adolescent SDO, suggesting that the dynamics examined in this study ultimately relate to adolescents' social and ideological development.

Longitudinal dynamics of depressogenic personality and attachment dimensions in adolescence: an examination of associations with changes in depressive symptoms.

Depressogenic personality and attachment are two major factors related to the development of adolescents' depressive symptoms. However, no previous longitudinal studies have examined simultaneously both vulnerability factors in relationship to depressive symptoms. The present study examined associations between intra-individual change in adolescents' depressogenic personality orientations (i.e., sociotropy and autonomy), dimensions of mother-adolescent attachment (i.e., anxiety and avoidance), and depressive symptoms. The sample of the present research consisted of 289 high school students (mean age = 12.51 years at Time 1, 66% female) participating in a 3-wave cohort-sequential design. Latent growth curve modeling revealed no significant intra-individual change in depressogenic personality orientations but significant changes in dimensions of attachment and symptoms of depression. Initial levels of sociotropy were not related significantly to changes in attachment dimensions and depressive symptoms. High initial levels of autonomy were associated with increases in attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and depressive symptoms. In addition, results suggested that the association between initial levels of autonomy and increases in depressive symptoms was mediated by increases in attachment anxiety and avoidance. The discussion focuses on the status of depressogenic personality and attachment as risk factors for depression.

Exploring the association between insecure attachment styles and adolescent autonomy in family decision making: a differentiated approach.

The present investigation focuses on the associations between adolescents' insecure attachment styles (i.e., anxiety and avoidance) and their autonomous functioning in family decision making. In line with recent insights in the construct of adolescent autonomy, we combined two perspectives on autonomy, differentiating between the degree of independent versus dependent functioning and the self-endorsed and pressuring motives underlying (in)dependent functioning. A longitudinal sample of 327 adolescents (age range = 13-20 years; 64 % girls) completed questionnaires on attachment to the mother and father and on both autonomy operationalisations on two measurement moments spanning a 1-year interval. Structural equation modeling showed that attachment avoidance generally was unrelated to the degree of independent decision making and the motives underlying independent decision making, but related to more pressuring motives for dependent decision making. Anxiety, on the other hand, was associated with a lower degree of independent decision making as well as with more pressuring motives for both independent and dependent decision making. Cross-lagged paths were generally in line with these findings. Theoretical implications are outlined in the discussion.