ABSTRACT

Despite strong evidence of the influence of implicit theories of emotion (ITE) on mental health symptoms among adult samples, scant attention has been paid to this important relation during adolescence. Moreover, it remains unclear which proximal processes may help to explain the link between ITE and mental health. As such, the current study had two objectives: (1) to assess the association of ITE and later anxiety and depressive symptoms within an adolescent sample, and (2) evaluate the mediating role of real-world emotion regulation strategies on the association between ITE and mental health. A sample of 13–15-year-old adolescents (n = 183, mean age = 13.9, SD = 0.91, 50% female) completed a measure of ITE (Time 1), and subsequently reported on their emotion regulation strategy use via an ESM smart-phone app for two weeks (Time 2). Youth then reported on their anxiety and depressive symptoms six months later (Time 3). Mediational analyses revealed that the proportion to which adolescents used reappraisal and suppression mediated the association between ITE and depressive symptoms: higher levels of incremental theories of emotion were associated with more reappraisal, and less suppression, use, which in turn predicted fewer depressive symptoms six months later. None of the strategies measured, however, mediated the association between ITE and anxiety symptoms.

摘要

尽管有强有力的证据表明内隐情绪理论 (ITE) 对成人样本中的心理健康症状有影响，但在青春期对这种重要关系的关注很少。此外，尚不清楚哪些近端过程可能有助于解释 ITE 与心理健康之间的联系。因此，目前的研究有两个目标：（1）评估青少年样本中 ITE 与后来的焦虑和抑郁症状的关联，以及（2）评估现实世界情绪调节策略对 ITE 之间关联的中介作用和心理健康。13-15 岁青少年样本（n = 183，平均年龄 = 13.9，SD = 0.91，50% 女性）完成了 ITE 的测量（时间 1），随后通过 ESM 智能手机应用程序报告了他们使用情绪调节策略两周（时间 2）。六个月后，青少年报告了他们的焦虑和抑郁症状（时间 3）。中介分析显示，青少年使用重新评估和抑制的比例介导了 ITE 和抑郁症状之间的关联：更高水平的情绪增量理论与更多的重新评估和更少的抑制、使用相关，这反过来又预测了六个月的抑郁症状更少稍后。然而，所测量的策略都没有介导 ITE 与焦虑症状之间的关联。