Nadia Garnefski

Negative life events, cognitive emotion regulation and emotional problems

Abstract A new questionnaire, named the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, has been constructed, measuring nine cognitive coping strategies people tend to use after having experienced negative life events. A test–retest design was used to study the psychometric properties and relationships with measures of depression and anxiety among 547 high school youngsters. Principal component analyses supported the allocation of items to subscales, while alphas of most subscales exceeded 0.80. Cognitive coping strategies were found to play an important role in the relationship between the experience of negative life events and the reporting of symptoms of depression and anxiety. The results suggest that cognitive coping strategies may be a valuable context of prevention and intervention

The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire Psychometric Features and Prospective Relationships with Depression and Anxiety in Adults

Abstract. The psychometric properties of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) as well as its prospective relationships with symptoms of depression and anxiety were studied in an adult general population sample. The results showed that the CERQ had good factorial validity and high reliabilities, with Cronbachs αs ranging between .75 and .87. In addition, the cognitive emotion regulation strategies accounted for considerable amounts of variance in emotional problems and strong relationships were found between the cognitive strategies self-blame, rumination, catastrophizing and positive reappraisal (inversely) and symptoms of depression and anxiety, both at first measurement and at follow-up. The CERQ might therefore be considered a valuable and reliable tool in the study of individual risk and protective factors associated with emotional problems, while providing us with important targets for intervention.

Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms: differences between males and females

The present study focuses on comparability of men and women in (a) the extent to which they use specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies in response to the experience of life stress and (b) the extent to which the use of these strategies is related to the reporting of depressive symptoms. In a general population sample of 251 males and 379 females, data were obtained on symptoms of depression and the use of nine cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Significant differences were found in the strategies Rumination, Catastrophizing and Positive refocusing: women reported to use these strategies more often than men. However, no differences were found in the extent to which specific cognitive strategies were related to the reporting of depressive symptomatology. In both groups, higher extents of reporting self-blame, rumination and/or catastrophizing as strategies were strongly related to higher depression scores, whereas higher extents of using positive reappraisal were related to lower depression scores.

Negative life events and depressive symptoms in late adolescence: Bonding and cognitive coping as vulnerability factors?

The objective of the present study was to examine the effects of parental bonding and cognitive coping in the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms in adolescence. A sample of 1310 adolescents attending an intermediate vocational education school filled out a questionnaire. Adolescents with a poor parental bonding relationship seemed to be more vulnerable to depressive symptoms in the face of adverse life events than adolescents with more optimal bonding styles. Cognitive coping strategies seemed to play an even more important role. The use of self-blame, rumination, catastrophizing, positive refocusing, and positive reappraisal appeared to be related to depressive symptoms. In addition, self-blame, rumination, and positive reappraisal seemed to have a moderating role in the relationship between the amount of stress experienced and depressive symptoms. Developing prevention and intervention programs aimed at the formation of optimal bonding relationships and teaching adolescents adaptive cognitive coping strategies seems advisable.

The relationship between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and emotional problems: comparison between a clinical and a non-clinical sample

This study focuses on the relationship between the use of specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies and emotional problems. Two samples were included: 99 adults from a clinical population and 99 matched non‐clinical adults. Data was obtained in both groups on the use of nine cognitive emotion regulation strategies: self‐blame, other‐blame, rumination, catastrophizing, putting into perspective, positive refocusing, positive reappraisal, acceptance, and refocus on planning. Logistic regression analyses show that self‐blame, catastrophizing, and positive reappraisal were, relative to the other strategies, the most important variables for distinguishing between the two samples. While the first two strategies were reported significantly more often by the clinical than by the non‐clinical sample, positive reappraisal was reported significantly more often by the non‐clinical sample. The results suggest that cognitive emotion regulation strategies may be a useful target for prevention and intervention. Copyright

Child Sexual Abuse and Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Adolescence: Gender Differences

OBJECTIVE To compare sexually abused boys with sexually abused girls and with their non-sexually abused counterparts with regard to (1) the type of mental health problems they experience; and (2) the number and patterns of such problems. METHOD The sample comprised 745 secondary school students, aged 12 to 19 years, with a self-reported history of sexual abuse (151 boys and 594 girls) and 745 matched students without such a history. Sexually abused and non-sexually abused boys and girls were compared with regard to four problem categories: emotional problems, aggressive/criminal behaviors, addiction-risk behaviors, and suicidality. RESULTS A larger proportion of sexually abused adolescents than nonabused adolescents reported problems in the separate categories and in a combination of problem categories. Sexually abused boys had considerably more emotional and behavioral problems, including suicidality, than their female counterparts. There were differences between the specific combinations of problem categories reported by sexually abused girls and boys. These differences could not be attributed to the finding that sexually abused boys were more often the victim of concurrent physical abuse than sexually abused girls. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that although there was a strong association between being sexually abused and the existence of a multiple problem pattern in both sexes, the aftermath for boys might be even worse or more complex than for girls.

Perceived Social Support from Family, School, and Peers : Relationship with Emotional and Behavioral Problems among Adolescents

OBJECTIVE To examine (1) the extent to which negative perceptions of support from family, school, and peers differ with regard to their impact on emotional and behavioral problems and (2) the extent to which negative perceptions of multiple social support systems are related to the presence of multiple emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence. METHOD The sample comprised 476 high school students, aged 16 to 18 years: 119 without any emotional and behavioral problems, 119 with emotional problems only, 119 with behavioral problems only, and 119 with emotional and behavioral problems. Possible differences between the subgroups were tested with regard to the perceived social support from family, school, and peers, and with regard to the number of negatively perceived support systems. RESULTS Whereas a negative perception of school was shown to be specifically related to behavioral problems and a negative perception of peers specifically to emotional problems, a negative perception of the family appeared to be strongly related both to emotional and behavioral dysfunction. A strong accumulating effect was found for multiple negatively perceived social environments. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest a dominant role of negatively perceived family support. Therefore, to prevent emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence it is of paramount importance to identify families at risk at the earliest possible stage and to provide training and support for the parents involved.

Cognitive–behavioural intervention for self-harm: randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND Self-harm by young people is occurring with increasing frequency. Conventional in-patient and out-patient treatment has yet to be proved efficacious. AIMS To investigate the efficacy of a short cognitive-behavioural therapy intervention with 90 adolescents and adults who had recently engaged in self-harm. METHOD Participants (aged 15-35 years) were randomly assigned to treatment as usual plus the intervention, or treatment as usual only. Assessments were completed at baseline and at 3 months, 6 months and 9 months follow-up. RESULTS Patients who received cognitive-behavioural therapy in addition to treatment as usual were found to have significantly greater reductions in self-harm, suicidal cognitions and symptoms of depression and anxiety, and significantly greater improvements in self-esteem and problem-solving ability, compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS These findings extend the evidence that a time-limited cognitive-behavioural intervention is effective for patients with recurrent and chronic self-harm.

Relationships between cognitive strategies of adolescents and depressive symptomatology across different types of life event

The objective of the present study was to examine relationships between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptomatology across different types of life event. A sample of 138 secondary school students filled out a questionnaire. They were asked to indicate their most negative life event ever. On the basis of their answers, 3 types of negative life event were distinguished: loss, health threat, and relational stress experience. No relationship was found between type of negative life event and depressive symptomatology. Significant relationships were found between type of negative life event and the cognitive strategies self-blame and other-blame. Adolescents with a health threat experience scored higher on self-blame, while adolescents with a relational stress event scored higher on other-blame than the other groups. Significant relationships were also found between depressive symptomatology and the cognitive strategies self-blame, rumination, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, and catastrophizing. No interaction effects were found between type of negative life event and cognitive strategies, suggesting that relationships between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptomatology are consistent across different types of life event.

Emotion regulation as mediator of treatment outcome in therapy for deliberate self-harm

This study presents the outcomes of mediator analyses as part of a randomized controlled trial of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for young people who engage in deliberate self-harm (DSH). The study involved 90 people, aged 15-35 years, who were randomly assigned to CBT in addition to treatment as usual or to treatment as usual only. The findings showed that changes in DSH were partially mediated by changes in emotion-regulation difficulties, particularly difficulties with impulse control and goal-directed behaviours. In addition, the potential mediating role of symptoms of depression, anxiety and suicidal cognitions was examined. Although the CBT intervention significantly reduced depression, anxiety and suicidal cognitions, these measures of symptom severity did not play a mediating role. These findings suggest that interventions for DSH should not primarily focus on mental disorders associated with DSH, but should be DSH-specific and should target specific emotion-regulation difficulties.