Vivian Kraaij

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

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.

Traumatic life events and suicide risk among jail inmates: the influence of types of events, time period and significant others.

Relationships between traumatic life events and suicide risk were studied in two samples of jail inmates with a low (N = 216) and a high (N = 51) suicide risk. Although nonsuicidal inmates reported a high prevalence of traumatic life events, suicidal inmates reported even higher prevalence rates. Suicidal inmates reported more episodes of sexual abuse, physical maltreatment, emotional maltreatment, abandonment, and suicide attempts by significant others. They also had experienced more traumatic life events during childhood, later life, and detention. It is concluded that traumatic life events are associated with suicide risk and that such an association remains in a population with a high prevalence of traumatic life events. It is also concluded that suicide risk is dependent of the type of life event, the timing of the event, and the type of persons involved in the event.

Negative life events and depressive symptoms in the elderly: A life span perspective

This study suggests that negative life events may have long-term consequences for peoples well-being. A community sample of 194 elderly people was interviewed by means of the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Negative Life Events Questionnaire. Depressed mood at old age was related to the reporting of negative socio-economic circumstances as well as emotional abuse and neglect during childhood, and to the reporting of negative socio-economic circumstances, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect, relational stress and problem behaviour of significant others during (late) adulthood. Depression scores were especially high when subjects reported the experience of many events during adulthood and late adulthood. On top of this, the interaction effect between the number of negative life events experienced in childhood and adulthood indicated that there was a much stronger association between the number of negative life events experienced in adulthood and depressive symptoms in late life, for those who experienced more negative life events in childhood, than for those who did not. It is suggested that incorporating life histories into the diagnostic interview is advisable.

The Job Demand-Control-Social Support Model and Wellness/Health Outcomes: A European Study

The EUROTEACH study which is reported here, comprised 2796 secondary school teachers from 13 European countries. The study firstly aimed at testing an extended Job Demand-Control-Social support (JDCS) model and checking its gender specificity. While this study failed to provide evidence for the buffer hypothesis derived from the JDCS-model, the strain hypothesis was mostly supported. Additional job conditions tested in this study proved to be important predictors of the outcome variables (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, personal accomplishment, somatic complaints and job satisfaction) and standard of living indicators also added explained variance in these outcomes. The study proved that the JDCS model cannot be called a male model. Secondly the study looked at the comparability of 3 European regions (South, West, East). Apart from important regional differences in job conditions, standard of living indicators and outcomes, the most important finding is that the JDCS model explains most variance in outcome variables in Western Europe, and the least in Eastern Europe, and thus seems to suffer from a Western bias.

Coping, Goal Adjustment, and Psychological Well-Being in HIV-Infected Men Who Have Sex with Men

The relationships between coping strategies, goal adjustment, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were studied in 104 HIV-positive men who have sex with men, in December 2006. The mean age of the respondents was 50 years, and almost were of Dutch nationality. On average people had known about their HIV-positive status for 10 years and the majority was on HIV-medication. The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, COPE, the Goal Obstruction Questionnaire, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were filled out at home. Pearson correlations and Hierarchical Regression Analyses were performed. The findings suggested that cognitive coping strategies had a stronger influence on well-being than the behavioral coping strategies: positive refocusing, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, catastrophizing, and other-blame were all significantly related to symptoms of depression and anxiety. In addition, withdrawing effort and commitment from unattainable goals, and reengaging in alternative meaningful goals, in case that preexisting goals can no longer be reached, seemed to be a fruitful way to cope with being HIV positive. These findings suggest that intervention programs for people with HIV should pay attention to both cognitive coping strategies and goal adjustment.