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Updated: Aug 31, 2025
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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
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Emotion Regulation, Parasympathetic Function, and Psychological Well-Being
Ryan L Brown1, Michelle A Chen1, Jensine Paoletti1
1Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, United States.
Frontiers in Psychology
|August 22, 2022
Summary
Higher heart rate variability (HRV) may protect against negative emotions linked to stress. Specifically, greater vagally mediated HRV buffered the adverse effects of expressive suppression on depressive symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychophysiology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Stressful life events can trigger negative emotions, increasing the risk of depressive symptoms and perceived stress.
- Emotion regulation strategies play a crucial role in psychological health, with adaptive and maladaptive approaches impacting outcomes.
- Heart rate variability (HRV), particularly vagally mediated HRV, is an indicator of self-regulation and the ability to adapt to environmental demands.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether individual differences in resting vagally mediated HRV moderate the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and psychological health outcomes.
- To examine the moderating role of HRV in the association between expressive suppression, cognitive reappraisal, and depressive symptoms/perceived stress.
Main Methods:
- A sample of 267 adults completed assessments of emotion regulation strategies and psychological health.
- Resting vagally mediated heart rate variability was measured as an index of self-regulation.
- Statistical analyses were used to test for moderation effects of HRV on the emotion regulation-health outcome relationship.
Main Results:
- Higher vagally mediated HRV significantly buffered the negative impact of expressive suppression on depressive symptoms.
- A weaker buffering effect was observed for perceived stress when using expressive suppression.
- Cognitive reappraisal was negatively associated with both depressive symptoms and perceived stress, but no interaction with HRV was found.
Conclusions:
- Vagally mediated HRV may serve as a protective factor against the detrimental effects of certain emotion regulation strategies, particularly expressive suppression, on mental health.
- Cognitive reappraisal appears to be a consistently adaptive emotion regulation strategy, directly reducing depressive symptoms and perceived stress.
- Future research should explore interventions targeting emotion regulation or HRV to improve psychological well-being over time.
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