title: Emotion Regulation Strategies in Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Youth: A Meta-Analytic Review.
abstract: The role of emotion regulation in subclinical symptoms of mental disorders in adolescence is not yet well understood. This meta-analytic review examines the relationship between the habitual use of prominent adaptive emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, problem solving, and acceptance) and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (avoidance, suppression, and rumination) with depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescence. Analyzing 68 effect sizes from 35 studies, we calculated overall outcomes across depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as psychopathology-specific outcomes. Age was examined as a continuous moderator via meta-regression models. The results from random effects analyses revealed that the habitual use of all emotion regulation strategies was significantly related to depressive and anxiety symptoms overall, with the adaptive emotion regulation strategies showing negative associations (i.e., less symptoms) with depressive and anxiety symptoms whereas the maladaptive emotion regulation strategies showed positive associations (i.e., more symptoms). A less frequent use of adaptive and a more frequent use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies were associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms comparably in the respective directions. Regarding the psychopathology-specific outcomes, depressive and anxiety symptoms displayed similar patterns across emotion regulation strategies showing the strongest negative associations with acceptance, and strongest positive associations with avoidance and rumination. The findings underscore the relevance of adaptive and also maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in depressive and anxiety symptoms in youth, and highlight the need to further investigate the patterns of emotion regulation as a potential transdiagnostic factor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg, Engelbergerstrasse 41, 79106 Freiburg, Germany. johanna.schaefer@psychologie.uni-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Johanna Özlem
authors.initials: JÖ
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Schleichstraße 4, Room 4231, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Naumann
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Science Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge, CB2 7EF,, UK.|Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Emily Alexandra
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg, Engelbergerstrasse 41, 79106 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Brunna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tuschen-Caffier
authors.affiliation: Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, Campus Biotech, University of Geneva, Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.|Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea Christiane
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Samson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D019959:Feeding and Eating Disorders of Childhood / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving; D011599:Psychopathology; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D055500:Resilience, Psychological
keywords: Adaptive; Emotion regulation strategies; Maladaptive; Meta-analysis; Psychopathologies; Youth