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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Alexithymia and emotion regulation.
David A Preece1, Ashish Mehta2, Kate Petrova2
1Curtin University, School of Population Health, Perth, Australia; Curtin University, Curtin enAble Institute, Perth, Australia; University of Western Australia, School of Psychological Science, Perth, Australia.
People with high alexithymia (difficulty identifying emotions) use fewer adaptive emotion regulation strategies, like seeking social support, and more maladaptive ones, such as expressive suppression. This finding highlights a key difference in how individuals manage emotions based on alexithymia levels.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychopathology
Background:
- Alexithymia is a significant risk factor for psychopathologies.
- It is theorized to impair emotion regulation, but this is underexplored.
- This study investigates emotion regulation strategy differences across alexithymia levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine if individuals with high, average, or low alexithymia levels differ in their typical emotion regulation strategy use.
- To clarify the relationship between alexithymia and specific emotion regulation tactics.
Main Methods:
- Surveyed 501 US adults on alexithymia and emotion regulation.
- Grouped participants into high, average, and low alexithymia quantiles.
- Controlled for demographics and current distress levels.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in emotion regulation strategy use were found between alexithymia groups.
- High alexithymia group used less adaptive strategies (cognitive reappraisal, problem-approach, social support).
- High alexithymia group used more maladaptive strategies (expressive suppression, behavioral withdrawal, ignoring).
Conclusions:
- Results support the link between alexithymia and impaired emotion regulation.
- Individuals with high alexithymia exhibit a less adaptive emotion regulation profile.
- Targeting these specific emotion regulation patterns in psychotherapy may benefit those with high alexithymia.

