The role of distress and fear transdiagnostic dimensions in emotion regulation choice.

Background: Most research in the area of psychopathology and emotion regulation has focused on specific disorder categories and maladaptive strategy implementation. This study aimed to extend previous research by examining emotion regulation choice in higher-order dimensions (i.e., the distress and fear transdiagnostic dimensions) predisposing individuals toward commonly co-occurring internalizing syndromes.

Methods: The sample consisted of 127 college students with varying levels of distress and fear proneness. They were randomly assigned to a short- or long-term goal condition and were asked to select between two strategies, distraction and reappraisal, in response to pictures of differing emotional intensity. The moderating effects of distress and fear dimensions were explored to assess whether they interact with emotional intensity and goal proximity to influence strategy selection.

Results: Fear proneness was positively, and distress proneness was negatively, associated with the odds of choosing distraction. Fear proneness was a significant moderator in our analysis, suggesting that increased fear magnifies the effect of emotional intensity on choosing distraction as a regulatory strategy.

Limitations: Although an effort was made to select individuals from the full range of the internalizing spectrum, this was a college student sample and thus results should be replicated in clinical samples. Additionally, the response rate in this study was low.

Conclusion: These findings expand our understanding of emotion regulation choice in internalizing psychopathology by identifying common tendencies of individuals who share dispositions toward fear and distress.