Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Psychology

Selecting interpersonal behavior that is best suited to a situation relies on identifying and incorporating cues. Among these cues may be the emotion of interaction partners or the intimacy of the relationship. One situation in which it may be particularly important to use information from interpersonal cues may be in the case of interpersonal emotion regulation. Emotion regulation allows us to motivate and organize behavior. Some emotion regulation strategies rely on interactions with others; these are referred to as Interpersonal Emotion Regulation strategies (IER). Use of IER when environmental cues suggest such strategies may be unwelcome or inappropriate may result in unsuccessful attempts at regulation, increased dissatisfaction in relationships, or both. One aim of the current investigation was to understand whether BPD symptoms were related to impaired use of interpersonal cues. In this study, participants (N= 174) were asked to indicate the likelihood of using IER in vignette scenarios which varied by cues of emotion (i.e., anger or neutral emotion) and relationship intimacy (i.e., high intimacy or low intimacy relationship). There was no significant difference in participant ratings of the likelihood of using interpersonal emotional regulations strategies when and anger cue was presented versus when it was not, t(172) = -.88, p = .38. Participants reported that the mean likelihood for using interpersonal emotion regulation strategies was higher when a cue of intimacy was present, when it was not, such that individuals were more likely to use F-IER when intimacy cue was present, t(172) = -2.82, p = .01. There was also a significant difference between groups presented with intimacy cue and not presented with intimacy cue on interpersonal factors like “How good a time is this to talk to this person about how you feel?” t(172) = -4.02, p<.01. This result might mean that cues of intimacy are particularly relevant in the likelihood of engaging function (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Cheavens Ph.D. (Advisor); Daniel Strunk Ph.D (Committee Member); Steven Beck Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Psychology

One way individuals can create social connections is through providing and receiving social support (i.e., enacted support). Although both social support and emotion regulation (ER) have been linked to mental health outcomes, the application of an ER framework to the construct of enacted support is relatively unexplored. The current study advances our understanding by examining dyadic reports of the use of ER strategies on symptoms of psychopathology, relationship closeness, and relationship influence in female friend pairs. 121 pairs of undergraduate female friends (Mage = 19 years, SD = 1.32) completed questionnaires assessing their perception of the habitual use of ER strategies with their friend and their friend's habitual use of ER strategies with them (Gross & John, 2003; Treynor et al., 2003), symptoms of psychopathology (Fairburn & Beglin, 1994; Radloff, 1977; Mattick & Clarke, 1998; Spitzer et al., 2006), relationship closeness (Aron, Aron,& Smollan, 1992), and relationship influence (Berscheid et al., 1989). Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIM; Cook & Kenny, 2005) were conducted, entering provision and receipt of brooding rumination, expressive suppression, and reappraisal as predictors, and a composite psychopathology score, relationship closeness, and relationship influence as outcomes. I found that an individual's perceptions of providing and receiving brooding rumination and suppression were positively associated with her symptoms of psychopathology (β = .14-.39, all ps < .03). Furthermore, an individual providing brooding rumination to her friend was positively associated with her friend's level of psychopathology (β = .14, p =.02). An individual providing (β = -.17, p = .01) and receiving (β = -.21, p <.01) reappraisal was negatively associated with her friend's level of psychopathology. There were significant positive actor and partner effects for receiving reappraisal when predicting relationship closeness (β = .16, p = .01; β =.14, p =.03). (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Michael Vasey Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jennifer Cheavens Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dylan Wagner Ph.D. (Committee Member); Katie Maguire-Jack Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2020, Psychology - Clinical

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) are independently and concurrently associated with emotional and interpersonal problems. Though current PTSD-SUD treatments primarily target individual factors, there is growing support for the involvement of interpersonal relationships in treatment for PTSD-SUD. It remains unclear how PTSD symptom severity combined with intrapersonal and interpersonal factors may increase risk for craving, particularly in the context of romantic conflict. The present study recruited trauma-exposed individuals (n = 82) in current or recent romantic relationships in treatment for a SUD. Additionally, we examined the relations of PTSD symptom severity to intrapersonal emotion regulation (ER), interpersonal emotion regulation (IER), communication patterns, and craving following conflict. There was a significant indirect relation of PTSD symptom severity to the desire and intention to use drugs following conflict through intrapersonal ER difficulties. Further, there was a significant negative association between PTSD symptom severity and constructive communication and significant positive associations between PTSD symptom severity and intrapersonal ER difficulties, efficacy in regulating negative emotions with others, tendency to regulate positive emotions with others, demand/withdraw communication patterns, and craving following conflict when controlling for age, gender, relationship satisfaction, and past-year substance use frequency. Results suggest the potential utility of targeting ER and interpersonal communication styles to reduce substance use among individuals with PTSD-SUD in romantic relationships.

Committee: Matthew Tull Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Kim Gratz Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jason Rose Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2019, Psychology-Adult Development and Aging

Older adults often report better well-being than young adults, despite physical and cognitive declines that accompany aging. This paradox may be explained by older adults' better emotion regulation abilities and social support. Together, Selection, Optimization, and Compensation with Emotion Regulation Theory and Interdependence Theory offer a potential mechanism for how older adults are able to maintain emotion regulation success and suggest older adults might be more likely to shift their emotion regulation strategies to rely on and help manage the emotions of a romantic partner by using interpersonal emotion regulation strategies. However, extant emotion regulation research has mainly focused on individual regulation strategies even though the majority of situations requiring regulation involve a close social partner. The main goal of the present study was to understand what personal and social characteristics influence the use of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) in general and throughout an interaction. Data were collected using an online survey and an in-person, videotaped session. Emotion regulation preferences, frequency of emotion regulation use, relationship quality, and interpersonal skills were assessed. Researchers coded and participants self-identified their IER strategy use by viewing their videotaped interaction with their partner. Young adults, compared to middle-aged and older adults, preferred all emotion regulation strategies and those with better interpersonal skills and longer relationship durations, on average, used interpersonal strategies more frequently on a weekly basis. Participants expressed negative affect and withdrawal, and females expressed conflict as cues for intrinsic IER. Participants expressed positive affect, problem solving, support/validation, effective communication, and physical touch of the female partner as extrinsic IER. Couples interdependently helped each other regulate their emotions; specifically, older couples (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Stanley PhD (Advisor); Toni Bisconti PhD (Committee Member); Eric Allard PhD (Committee Member); Ingrid Weigold PhD (Committee Member); Shannon Zentall PhD (Committee Member); Christiane Hoppman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Aging; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Psychology

Emotion regulation is a process that involves attempts to modify or sustain emotional experiences and often involves utilizing other people in attempts to effectively do so. Interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) has been defined as seeking out other individuals to regulate one's own emotional experience (Zaki & Williams, 2013). While emotion regulation has been extensively examined in psychopathology, the social context and interpersonal nature of emotion regulation have largely been ignored, with the focus of most emotion regulation research being on intrapersonal emotion regulation strategies (e.g., suppression or reappraisal). Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is particularly relevant to the study of emotion regulation and is likely to be an important model to aid in understanding IER in light of the extensive emotional and interpersonal difficulties associated with the disorder. There were two primary aims to the current study: 1) to better characterize IER in the context of current relationships and 2) to characterize the relations among BPD features, IER partner characteristics, and IER effectiveness. Participants, 149 MTurk workers, completed a social network assessment of important relationships in their lives. They also indicated which, if any, of those partners they utilize for IER. IER partners were characterized by greater closeness and centrality in the network compared to partners who do not serve an IER function. Closeness and centrality were positively related to the frequency of going to a partner for IER. Partners with whom participants had greater relationship quality and who were perceived as being more willing to assist in IER were rated as more effective in helping to regulate participants' emotions. Furthermore, BPD features were unrelated to the frequency of using IER but were negatively related to the perceived efficacy of IER and willingness of partners to assist in IER. There was also evidence that those higher in BPD features may mak (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Cheavens PhD (Advisor); Daniel Strunk PhD (Committee Member); Baldwin Way PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

MA, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

I examined how people's sleep quality is associated with how they regulate their partner's emotions, and how sleep quality and interpersonal emotion regulation are linked to relationship satisfaction. Using samples from two studies and data from intake measures, I found evidence of an association between sleep quality over the past month and relationship satisfaction. I also found evidence of an association between sleep quality and concealing emotions, inauthentic displays of emotion, and mood worsening strategies. Further, there was a link between the use of interpersonal emotion regulation strategies and how satisfied people are with their relationships. These results demonstrate that sleep quality is implicated in how partners interact with each other and may have downstream effects for relationship quality.

Committee: Judith Gere Ph.D. (Advisor); Jeffrey Ciesla Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jennifer Taber Ph.D. (Committee Member); John Updegraff Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Psychology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2015, Psychology

Recent research suggests that people frequently rely on others in order to regulate their affective states (e.g., Zaki & Williams, 2013). Although such interpersonal regulation may help enhance psychological and physical well-being, there is growing evidence suggesting there may also be negative consequences. First, there is some evidence that the use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies may be contagious. For example, when one member of a dyad uses rumination, the other increasingly adopts this strategy as well (e.g., Haeffel & Hames, 2014; Stone & Gibb, 2015). Second, the joint use of rumination has been linked with the presence of symptoms of mental disorders (e.g., Rose, Schwartz-Mette, Glick, Smith, & Luebbe, 2014). Despite these advances, much remains to be understood about the joint utilization of other ER strategies, such as worry (putatively maladaptive) and acceptance (putatively adaptive). Doing so is particularly important because such strategies play a central role in mental health and well-being (e.g., Aldao et al., 2010). Because maladaptive strategies have a stronger link with mental health than putatively adaptive strategies, I expected an asymmetric contagion effect, such that worry would “spread” more than acceptance. I induced 74 female undergraduates to use worry or acceptance (within-subjects) before interacting with a female confederate who was engaging in either worry or acceptance (between-subjects). Then I examined two effects while watching disgust-eliciting videos: 1) use of emotion regulation strategies, and 2) affective ratings. I found that participants who interacted with a worrying confederate reported more use of worry than those who interacted with an accepting confederate. When participants were induced to accept their emotions, they had greater anxiety and disgust when they interacted with a worrying confederate as compared to an accepting confederate. However, when participants were induced to worry about their emotions, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Amelia Aldao (Advisor); Jennifer Crocker (Committee Member); Michael Vasey (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2011, Psychology

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by intense and difficult to regulate emotional experiences (DSM-IV-TR, 2000; Linehan, 1993). Identifying the types of emotion regulation that are particularly disrupted for individuals with high BPD symptoms may allow researchers and clinicians to create and implement more specific and targeted interventions. The relationship instability associated with BPD (Hill et al., 2008) suggests that interpersonal emotion regulation may be particularly affected by the disorder. In order to test the hypothesis that BPD features would moderate the relation between perceived social support and interpersonal emotion regulation, 300 undergraduate students completed a number of self-report questionnaires. Results suggested that more positive perceptions of the quality and availability of social support were associated with increased likelihood of using interpersonal emotion regulation strategies (r = .38). Furthermore, BPD features and social support, when entered together in the same step of a regression model, were both related to interpersonal emotion regulation strategy use. Additionally, in the second step of the regression, there was a significant interaction between BPD symptoms and the perception of social support, which accounted for additional unique variance in interpersonal emotion regulation. Thus, although interpersonal emotion regulation strategy use was positively associated with the perception of available, good quality social support, this relationship was weaker for individuals with higher BPD symptoms. Follow-up analyses suggested that this interaction was present for the use of functional interpersonal emotion regulation strategies but not for dysfunctional interpersonal emotion regulation strategies, which were only predicted by BPD symptoms. These relationships were significant even in a non-selected, non-clinical sample, and may be even more pronounced in a sample of individuals with clinically significa (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Cheavens PhD (Advisor); Thomas Nygren PhD (Committee Member); Steven Beck PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology; Psychotherapy