This study clarified contradictory findings regarding whether depression and somatic symptoms are associated more strongly with each other in non‐Western countries than in Western countries, by ...examining the relationships of the two variables with negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE). NMRE are beliefs about one's ability to improve one's negative moods. Participants were 155 Japanese and 176 American undergraduates. They completed self‐report measures of NMRE, coping, depression and somatic symptoms. Results showed that depression significantly correlated with somatic symptoms for both men and women in both countries, and there was no cultural difference in the relationship between depression and somatic symptoms. The relationships of depression and somatic symptoms with NMRE did not differ between cultures. NMRE explained variance in depression in both countries but variance in somatic symptoms only for women in both countries. The relationship of NMRE with depression and somatic symptoms paralleled that between depression and somatic symptoms for both cultures. These results were consistent with the previous literature that found no difference between cultures. Results support the cross‐cultural validity of measuring NMRE in the context of coping and distress.
This study investigated interrelationships of negative mood regulation expectancies (NMREs), stressors, and affective symptoms among Chinese international students in Japan. NMREs represent one's ...confidence that one can reduce the intensity of the unpleasant moods one experiences. Data were collected from 527 participants using self‐report measures of NMREs, university stress, acculturative stress, depression, and anxiety. Results showed that NMREs buffered the effects on distress of acculturative stress but not of university stress: stronger NMREs protected international students from the negative consequences of acculturative stress. This suggests that being more confident in their emotion regulation made Chinese international students less vulnerable to the negative affective consequences of acculturative stress but not university stress. This difference may be because, for international students, acculturative stress is less personally controllable than university stress. Consequently, when active coping attempts fail to ameliorate one's stress, simply believing that one can make oneself feel better—stronger NMREs—may mitigate the effects of an uncontrollable stressor on one's well‐being. One implication of this research is that raising the NMREs of international students may reduce their risk of distress.
Prior research has stated that successful emotion regulation (ER) contributes to psychological health and favorable interpersonal relationships. However, few studies have explored adaptive ER ...strategies in a school setting. The present study targeted Japanese female adolescents and examined the relationship between two specific ER strategies (reappraisal and suppression) and school adjustment, with social support as a mediating variable. Two hundred and seventy Japanese middle school girls completed measures of ER, perceived social support, and subjective school adjustment. The results showed that school adjustment was highest among reappraisers, followed by a balanced group who used both strategies with equal frequency, then suppressors. In addition, reappraisal showed both direct and indirect effects on school adjustment, while suppression showed only a negative indirect effect on school adjustment. Our findings suggest that reappraisal is an effective strategy that promotes receiving social support and consequently enhances school adjustment. Suppression, on the other hand, has neither favorable nor harmful impacts on school adjustment, but may, in the long run, result in poorer adjustment by impairing social relationships among adolescent girls.
Self‐injurious behavior is increasing among college students, and is common in both psychiatric and nonclinical populations. People's engaging in self‐injury is associated with childhood ...maltreatment, poor negative mood regulation expectancies, and depression. During times of distress, maltreated children without healthy coping strategies tend to have impairment in mood regulation, which contributes to engaging in self‐injury. This study investigated differences between nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) and non‐self‐injury groups in history of childhood maltreatment, negative mood regulation expectancies, and depression in a sample of Japanese college students. We also assessed risk factors for self‐injurious behavior, including mood regulation expectancies as a moderator of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and NSSI. Participants were 313 undergraduate students, who completed anonymous self‐report questionnaires—Deliberate Self‐Harm Inventory, Child Abuse and Trauma Scale, Negative Mood Regulation Scale, and short version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale. Ten percent (n = 31) of all participants had injured themselves. Consistent with past literature, participants with self‐injury history reported more severe childhood maltreatment, poorer mood regulation expectancies, and more depression, compared to non‐self‐injurers. Frequency of NSSI positively correlated with childhood maltreatment and depression, and negatively correlated with negative mood regulation expectancies. Regression analysis revealed that stronger expectancies for negative mood regulation interacted with maltreatment to predict self‐injury: More maltreatment was associated with more self‐injury, particularly among those with weaker expectancies. Results suggested childhood maltreatment, low expectancies for negative mood regulation, and depression predicted self‐injury. Consistent with our moderation hypothesis, strong expectancies for negative mood regulation buffered the effects of childhood maltreatment, reducing the risk for self‐injury.
Research that investigates standalone effects of a mobile phone-based cognitive behavioral therapy without any human contact for reducing both psychological distress and risky drinking has been ...advancing; however, the number of studies is still limited. A mobile phone app called Self Record that facilitates cognitive restructuring through self-monitoring of daily thoughts and activities was developed in Japan.
This study conducted a nonrandomized controlled pilot trial of the Self Record app to investigate standalone effects of the intervention on psychological distress and alcohol consumption among Japanese workers. Additionally, we examined moderating effects of negative mood regulation expectancies, which are beliefs about one's ability to control one's negative mood.
A quasi-experimental design with a 1-month follow-up was conducted online in Japan from February 2016 to March 2016. A research marketing company recruited participants. The selection criteria were being a Japanese full-time worker (age 20-59 years), experiencing mild to moderate psychological distress, and having some interest in self-record apps. Assignment to group was based on participants' willingness to use the app in the study. All participants completed outcome measures of negative mood regulation expectancies, positive well-being, general distress, depression, anxiety, and typical/most weekly alcohol consumption.
From the recruitment, 15.65% (1083/6921) of participants met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 51.43% (557/1083) enrolled in the study: 54.9% (306/557) in the intervention group and 45.1% (251/557) in the control group. At the 1-month follow-up, 15.3% (85/557) of participants had dropped out. Intention-to-treat analyses revealed that participants in the intervention group reported increased typical drinking (η2=.009) and heavy drinking (η2=.001). Adherence to using the app was low; 64.8% (199/306) of participants in the intervention group discontinued using the app on the first day. Additionally, 65.7% (366/557) of the total sample did not correctly answer the validity checks in the outcome measures (eg, "Please select 'mildly agree' for this item"). Therefore, per-protocol analyses were conducted after removing these participants. Results showed that continuing app users (42/127) in the intervention group reported increases in anxiety (η2=.006), typical drinking (η2=.005), and heavy drinking (η2=.007) compared to those in the control group (85/127). Negative mood regulation expectancies moderated the effects of the intervention for general distress (beta=.39).
Results were contrary to our hypotheses. Self-recording methods of standalone mobile phone interventions may heighten individuals' awareness of their pathological thought and drinking behavior, but may be insufficient to decrease them unless combined with a more intense or face-to-face intervention. Limitations include high attrition in this study; measures to improve the response rate are discussed.
Objective
Two studies investigated childhood maltreatment, alexithymia—the inability to identify one's mood—and negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE)—confidence that one can alleviate one's ...negative moods—as predictors of compulsive buying (CB).
Method
Participants were recruited from internet CB forums and undergraduate psychology classes. Online, they completed questionnaires and a behavioral task that assessed impulsive spending.
Results
In Study 1 (N = 646), analyses indicated that NMRE, alexithymia, and childhood maltreatment were significant independent predictors of CB. For Study 2, a subset of participants from the Study 1 pool (N = 295) who met the criterion for clinical levels of CB were selected, based on their self‐report. Analyses revealed that NMRE buffered the effect of maltreatment: among participants with high NMRE—higher levels of maltreatment were associated with minimal increases in CB and impulsive spending behavior.
Conclusion
Being confident that one can control one's unpleasant moods was a protective factor from the maladaptive consequences of childhood maltreatment. Increasing NMRE early in psychotherapy for CB may result in clients' using more adaptive coping strategies.
Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is common among young people. A majority of individuals who injure themselves do so to alleviate negative affect, as most self-injurers report difficulties with mood ...regulation. Trauma in childhood is an important risk factor that may cause individuals to develop poor interpersonal relations and impaired emotion-regulation, leading to the use of non-adaptive coping strategies such as NSSI. This study examined factors contributing to self-injury, focusing on the link from childhood maltreatment, through mood regulation expectancies and expectancies for social support (father, mother, and friends), to self-injury. Understanding how these variables relate to NSSI is crucial for early identification of individuals at risk of NSSI. Participants were 377 Japanese university students. Lifetime prevalence of self-injury was 20% among the sample. Results showed childhood maltreatment is a strong predictor that increases the risk for NSSI. However, expectancies for social support and mood regulation seem to be potential protective factors. Mood regulation expectancies mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and self-injury. In addition, expectancies for social support were indirectly linked with NSSI through negative mood regulation expectancies. It appears that perceived support from father and friends increases one's confidence in regulating difficult emotions, which in turn reduces risk for NSSI. Results suggest that strong expectancies for social support, especially from friends, increase one's confidence in regulating emotion, which contributes as a protective factor against self-injury.
Parents caring for a child with an intellectual disability (ID) face many challenges. Few studies in Japan have focused on parents of children with an ID. We investigated the psychological factors ...that might help these parents maintain well‐being, in particular negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE). NMRE are beliefs about one's ability to diminish one's negative moods. Research has shown NMRE to buffer the effects of stress: stronger NMRE are associated with less symptoms of distress, including depression and anxiety. We examined the associations of NMRE, coping, and severity of the child's ID with parental distress (somatization, depression, and anxiety) among 106 Japanese parents (mean age = 56.7 years) caring for at least one child with an ID. The age of the parent was negatively associated with parental distress, particularly anxiety. NMRE were also negatively related to distress, independent of the age of the parent and coping. The severity of the child's ID was not related to coping or parental distress. Stronger beliefs that they could control their negative moods and being older seemed to protect parents of an ID child from symptoms of distress.
Studies have shown that interpersonal factors moderate the association between emotion regulation strategies and mental health. Although, there are limited studies on the effect of receiving social ...support for emotion regulation on mental health. We conducted three studies to examine the effects of assistance from others with emotion regulation on mental health. In Studies 1 and 2, we developed the Received Assistance in Regulating Emotions Questionnaire (RAREQ), a measure of assistance that individuals received when in distress, and reported preliminary validity data. Factor analysis confirmed attentional assistance and cognitive assistance as independent dimensions. In Study 3, we examined the RAREQ's concurrent and predictive validity for mental health. Concurrently, RAREQ scores moderated the relationship between maladaptive regulation strategies and happiness: the relationship was weaker for participants who received high levels of attentional assistance. Prospectively, RAREQ cognitive assistance significantly predicted happiness at Time 2. Results support the differential effects of receiving emotion regulatory assistance for improving emotion regulation and mental health. The RAREQ appears useful for examining of the role of social support in the emotion regulation process. Future research should examine how social context influences the effects of emotion regulatory assistance.
•We developed the Received Assistance in Regulating Emotions Questionnaire (RAREQ).•RAREQ consists of two sub-scales: Attentional Assistance and Cognitive Assistance.•The scale showed adequate reliability and validity.•The two sub-scales showed differential associations between mental health.•This scale may aid future examination of the role of support in emotion regulation.
A multitrait–multimethod matrix tested the validity of the Negative Mood Regulation (NMR) Scale. Participants were 74 first-semester freshmen and transfer college students who completed the NMR Scale ...and measures of adaptation to college, depression and loneliness. A parent, roommate or friend also rated each participant on these four variables. Thus, all four constructs were assessed by self-report and other-ratings. The NMR Scale satisfied three of four criteria of validity. Its monotrait–heteromethod correlation was significant, and this value was higher than its heterotrait–heteromethod and total heterotrait values. Additionally, regressions that controlled shared method variance yielded significant heteromethod associations between the NMR Scale and its corresponding other-rating. These results add to the nomological net for the NMR construct.
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