Panteli Maria, Constantinou Thekla, Vrachimi-Souroulla Andry, Fanti Kostas, Panayiotou Georgia
Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus.
Center for Applied Neuroscience, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus.
Brain Sci. 2024 Jan 16;14(1):84. doi: 10.3390/brainsci14010084.
Children and adolescents with externalizing problems show physiological hypo-reactivity toward affective stimuli, which may relate to their disruptive, antisocial, and thrill-seeking behaviors. This study examines differences in explicit and implicit emotion regulation between preadolescents with and without externalizing problems as well as the role of emotion regulation in subjective and autonomic responses to emotional stimuli. Preadolescents showing self- and other-reported externalizing psychopathology, and a control sample, without such difficulties, participated in a passive affective picture-viewing task with neutral, fearful, joyful, and sad images, while their heart rate and heart rate variability were measured. Participants also reported on their emotion regulation difficulties using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Compared to controls, youths scoring high on externalizing problems (1) reported greater emotion regulation difficulties, especially a lack of emotional clarity and difficulty in controlling impulsive actions, (2) showed higher resting heart rate variability and a lower resting heart rate, suggestive of higher emotion/autonomic regulation ability, and (3) showed both subjective and physiological hypo-arousal to emotional pictures. Heart rate variability and, to a lesser degree difficulties in emotional clarity, modulated the effects of emotional pictures on subjective and physiological arousal. Findings suggest that interventions to improve emotion regulation and awareness may help to prevent externalizing problems.
有外化问题的儿童和青少年对情感刺激表现出生理低反应性，这可能与他们的破坏性行为、反社会行为和寻求刺激行为有关。本研究考察了有和没有外化问题的青春期前儿童在显性和隐性情绪调节方面的差异，以及情绪调节在对情绪刺激的主观和自主反应中的作用。表现出自我和他人报告的外化精神病理学症状的青春期前儿童以及没有此类困难的对照样本参与了一项被动情感图片观看任务，观看中性、恐惧、快乐和悲伤的图像，同时测量他们的心率和心率变异性。参与者还使用情绪调节困难量表报告了他们的情绪调节困难情况。与对照组相比，外化问题得分高的青少年（1）报告了更大的情绪调节困难，尤其是缺乏情绪清晰度和控制冲动行为的困难，（2）表现出更高的静息心率变异性和更低的静息心率，表明更高的情绪/自主调节能力，（3）对情绪图片表现出主观和生理低唤醒。心率变异性以及在较小程度上的情绪清晰度困难调节了情绪图片对主观和生理唤醒的影响。研究结果表明，改善情绪调节和意识的干预措施可能有助于预防外化问题。
