Examination of the Dynamic Multi-Level Model of Emotion Regulation

This dissertation sought to align theoretical accounts of emotion regulation as a process-oriented system with quantitative approaches consistent with this perspective. Accordingly, the present study tested aspects of the Dynamic Multilevel Model of Emotion Regulation, which characterizes regulation processes as an emergent feature of the relational interaction between the individual and their surrounding environment (Martinez, Bergeman, Payne & Yoon, invited revision). Mindfulness and Religion/Spirituality (R/S) cognitive reappraisal variants were compared to test assumptions of the explicit-internal strategy categorization of the model. Data were drawn from an affect regulation task comprised of negative images. Participants (N = 83, Mage = 21.73 ± 4.36) were randomly assigned to the R/S (n = 28), Mindfulness (n = 26), or no-intervention control (n = 28) groups and instructed to decrease or maintain their affective response to the images. Heart rate (HR) was measured throughout the affect task and interpreted as a physiological index of emotion regulation. Repeated measures ANOVA examined whether changes in HR were present across the affect regulation task. Results, however, were not significant and suggested that no differences in HR emerged between regulation and non-regulation trials or when the intervention groups were compared to controls. Multilevel Models were then employed to explore within- and between-person differences in HR change. Although HR did not vary across the regulation task and was not significantly different between regulation and non-regulation trials, within-person variation in HR was observed but could not be attributable to the study interventions. Despite the null effects of the interventions on HR, results of the manipulation check revealed that the interventions successfully attenuated self-reported measures of negative affect. In sum the R/S and mindfulness interventions comparably attenuated the emotional experience compared to no-intervention controls, but exerted no effects on HR. Limitations of the study are considered, and future directions are discussed.