Southward Matthew W, Cheavens Jennifer S
The Ohio State University.
J Soc Clin Psychol. 2017 Feb;36(2):142-157. doi: 10.1521/jscp.2017.36.2.142.
Expressive flexibility (EF), the ability to enhance and suppress emotional expressions, predicts decreases in anxiety and depression symptoms years later (Bonanno, Papa, Lalande, Westphal, & Coifman, 2004). Bonanno and Burton (2013) proposed that knowing the most appropriate strategy for a situation (context sensitivity; CS), and awareness of how well strategies are working (feedback sensitivity; FS), partially explain this effect. We conducted a conditional process analysis to test this theory. One hundred thirty-eight undergraduates completed a behavioral measure of EF and self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, CS, and FS over one month. CS moderated the effect of EF on one-month changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression ( = .03): EF only predicted decreased anxiety and depression symptoms among people low in CS. FS mediated the effect of EF ( -.10, -.01) on changes in anxiety and depression symptoms: higher baseline EF was associated with higher two-week FS, which predicted decreased one-month anxiety and depression symptoms. Results suggest EF and CS may be compensatory skills and FS may be necessary to experience the adaptive effects of emotion regulation flexibility.
表达灵活性（EF），即增强和抑制情绪表达的能力，能预测数年后焦虑和抑郁症状的减轻（博南诺、帕帕、拉朗德、韦斯特法尔和科伊夫曼，2004年）。博南诺和伯顿（2013年）提出，了解适合某一情境的最佳策略（情境敏感性；CS）以及对策略效果的认知（反馈敏感性；FS）能部分解释这一效应。我们进行了一项条件过程分析来验证这一理论。138名本科生完成了一项关于EF的行为测量，并在一个月内自我报告了焦虑、抑郁症状、CS和FS。CS调节了EF对焦虑和抑郁症状一个月变化的影响（β = 0.03）：EF仅能预测CS较低者的焦虑和抑郁症状减轻。FS介导了EF（β = -0.10，p = -0.01）对焦虑和抑郁症状变化的影响：基线EF较高与两周后较高的FS相关，而较高的FS又能预测一个月后焦虑和抑郁症状的减轻。结果表明，EF和CS可能是补偿技能，而FS可能是体验情绪调节灵活性的适应性效果所必需的。
