Emotion (dys)regulation in adolescence

Adolescence is a critical period for acquiring adaptive emotion regulation strategies and difficulties is this acquisition have been associated with a wide range of mental health problems. The evolutionary perspective proposes the existence of three emotion regulation systems, aimed at survival and thrive: threat system, related with defense/protection; drive system, associated with acquisition of resources/pursuit of pleasure; and soothing system, linked to attachment/safeness. A recent trend in research establishes heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) as important biomarkers of emotional (dys)regulation and there is now evidence that they can grasp the activation of those different emotional regulations systems. When these systems are unbalanced, individuals are prone to develop different forms of psychopathology.

The main goal of this research project is to explore specific patterns of HR/HRV when each specific emotion regulation system is triggered, and to compare those patterns among samples of normative, behaviorally disordered and socially anxious youth. Additionally, an intervention study will test if a compassion based therapy is able to improve emotion regulation (assessed via self-report and psychophysiological measures), in a sample of severely behaviorally disordered youth. Three main studies will be carried out. The first includes the development and validation of audio scripts aimed to trigger each emotion regulation system. These scripts will be validated using expert and youth samples. One scenario for each system will be selected to be used as stimuli for following studies. The second study will test for HR/HRV patterns associated with the activation of different emotion regulation systems, contrasting three youth samples: with no psychiatric disorders, with internalizing problems (i.e., social anxiety disorder), and with externalizing problems (i.e., conduct disorder); gender will be taken as a covariate in these comparisons. The third study will apply a RCT design for testing the impact of a compassion-based psychotherapeutic intervention in promoting emotion regulation in youth with severe behavioral problems (i.e., male young offenders). Follow-up assessments will inform about change maintenance over time.

Findings from these concerted studies will add to knowledge on the relevance of HR/HRV as psychophysiological markers of emotion regulation in both disturbed and non-disturbed youth. They will add to the state-of-the-art research because HR/HRV will be linked to the triggering of different emotion regulation systems. Contrasting different clinical groups will also shed light on the different psychophysiological vulnerabilities underlying diverse manifestations of psychiatric disorders in adolescents. Finally, outcomes from the RCT study will help to establish compassion focused therapy as an appropriate treatment modality in a group of severely disturbed male youth.