Seah T H Stanley, Sidney Pooja G, Taber Jennifer M, Thompson Clarissa A, Coifman Karin G
Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University.
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky.
Emotion. 2023 Apr;23(3):879-885. doi: 10.1037/emo0001133. Epub 2022 Aug 8.
Risk behaviors like substance use and binge eating are often used to cope with negative emotions. Engagement in these behaviors has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Past research suggests that complex emotion conceptualizations captured as emotion differentiation (ability to discriminate between emotional states) and polarity (ability to integrate positive and negative features of emotional experience) may be protective. We examined associations of mean affect intensity, emotion differentiation, and emotion polarity with frequency of daily substance use and binge eating across 10 days in a demographically diverse sample of U.S. adults ( = 353) recruited between March 24 and April 9, 2020, when stay-at-home orders were initiated. Owing to the nested data structure and excessive zero values, analyses were conducted using multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial regression. Consistent with past research, negative affect was positively associated with frequency of substance use and binge eating. Importantly, results indicated that negative emotion differentiation was protective, predicting greater likelihood of not using substances and binge eating at all across the sampling period. These effects remained even after controlling for mean affect intensity, emotion polarity, and positive emotion differentiation. Neither positive emotion differentiation nor emotion polarity were significantly associated with either behavior. Our results suggest that greater complexity in conceptualization of negative emotions facilitates some protection against risk behaviors such as substance use and binge eating, even during periods of high environmental stress. These findings have important implications for optimizing interventions to reduce engagement in risk behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
诸如物质使用和暴饮暴食等风险行为常常被用来应对负面情绪。新冠疫情加剧了人们对这些行为的参与。过去的研究表明，复杂的情绪概念化，即情绪分化（区分情绪状态的能力）和极性（整合情绪体验的积极和消极特征的能力）可能具有保护作用。我们在美国成年人（N = 353）的一个人口统计学特征多样的样本中，研究了平均情感强度、情绪分化和情绪极性与2020年3月24日至4月9日期间10天内每日物质使用和暴饮暴食频率之间的关联，这段时间居家令刚刚开始实施。由于数据结构嵌套和过多的零值，我们使用多层零膨胀负二项回归进行分析。与过去的研究一致，负面情绪与物质使用和暴饮暴食的频率呈正相关。重要的是，结果表明负面情绪分化具有保护作用，预示着在整个采样期间完全不使用物质和暴饮暴食的可能性更大。即使在控制了平均情感强度、情绪极性和积极情绪分化之后，这些影响仍然存在。积极情绪分化和情绪极性与这两种行为均无显著关联。我们的研究结果表明，负面情绪概念化的更高复杂性有助于在一定程度上抵御诸如物质使用和暴饮暴食等风险行为，即使在环境压力较大的时期也是如此。这些发现对于优化减少风险行为参与度的干预措施具有重要意义。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2023美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
