Emotion Regulation Strategies for Emotional Development

Age: < 18

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: Miami University

Disqualifiers: Developmental disability, chronic health condition

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: 1

What You Need to Know Before You Apply

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial aims to understand how emotion regulation in toddlers affects their emotional development as they grow into early adolescence. Researchers are particularly interested in whether toddlers who use self-soothing or distraction techniques develop specific emotional management strategies, such as avoiding or engaging with their emotions, as they age. Participants will engage in laboratory tasks to evaluate these emotional strategies. Families who participated in earlier phases of this study and have children aged 10 to 15 years may be eligible to join. Children with developmental disabilities or health conditions affecting emotional growth are not eligible. As an unphased trial, this study offers families a unique opportunity to contribute to understanding emotional development from childhood to adolescence.

Will I have to stop taking my current medications?

The trial information does not specify whether participants need to stop taking their current medications.

Is emotion regulation generally safe for humans?

Research suggests that integrative emotion regulation, which involves understanding and accepting negative emotions, is linked to better emotional and cognitive functioning compared to suppressing emotions. This indicates that it is generally safe and may even be beneficial for emotional development. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Why are researchers excited about this trial?

Researchers are excited about the Emotion Regulation Strategies for Emotional Development trial because it explores how structured laboratory tasks can help us understand emotion regulation in early adolescence. Unlike traditional therapies or medications that focus on treating symptoms of emotional disorders, this approach aims to dive deep into the underlying mechanisms of emotional development. By observing children in controlled settings, researchers hope to identify new strategies that can be integrated into interventions, potentially leading to more effective ways to support emotional growth and resilience in young people.

What data supports the effectiveness of the treatment Laboratory tasks for emotion regulation strategies?

Research shows that emotion regulation methods, including affect-focused and structured skill training, have a large positive effect on improving emotion regulation, with an effect size of 0.82 from pre- to post-treatment. This suggests that similar strategies used in laboratory tasks could be effective in enhancing emotional development. ^{6 7 8 9 10}

Who Is on the Research Team?

Elizabeth J Kiel Luebbe, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Miami University

Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?

This trial is for children who were part of a previous study on emotion regulation at age 3 and are now between the ages of 10-14. They must have data from the initial study when they were toddlers to participate.

Inclusion Criteria

Mothers were able to complete study procedures in English

Family participated in previous phases of this ongoing longitudinal study

My child is between 8 and 14 years old.

Exclusion Criteria

Informed consent/assent is declined

My child has a developmental disability or chronic health issue affecting their emotional growth.

Timeline for a Trial Participant

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

Laboratory Assessment

Children and parents participate in a 1.5-hour laboratory assessment involving standardized tasks and interviews to assess emotion regulation strategies.

1.5 hours

1 visit (in-person)

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for the development of cognitive emotion regulation strategies from age 10 to 14.

4 years

What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?

Interventions

• Laboratory tasks

Trial Overview The trial is studying how early childhood strategies for handling emotions relate to those used in early adolescence. It involves interviews, self-reports, parent-reports, and lab tasks that introduce mild stress.

How Is the Trial Designed?

Group I: Emotion regulation observation in early adolescence Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

All children will experience brief standardized laboratory tasks according to the same protocol.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Miami University

Lead Sponsor

Trials

16

Recruited

3,000+

University of California, Riverside

Collaborator

Trials

33

Recruited

14,400+

Published Research Related to This Trial

A systematic review of 10 studies and a meta-analysis of 26 studies involving 84 clients showed that therapist methods for emotion regulation (ER) significantly improve patients' ability to manage their emotions, with a large effect size of 0.82 from pre- to post-treatment.

Both affect-focused methods and structured skills training are effective in enhancing emotion regulation, highlighting the importance of considering cultural backgrounds in therapy to tailor approaches for individual patients.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Enhancing emotion regulation. Iwakabe, S., Nakamura, K., Thoma, NC.[2023]

Citations

1. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Enhancing emotion regulation. [2023]

2. Netherlands pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Recent Advances in Laboratory Assessment of Emotion Regulation. [2019]

3. Pakistan pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Emotional regulation strategies (ER) used by trainees to overcome negative emotions. [2023]

4. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Some like it hot: medical student views on choosing the emotional level of a simulation. [2016]

5. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Emotion regulation related to children's future externalizing and internalizing behaviors. [2015]

6. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Modeling heterogeneity in social interaction processes using multilevel survival analysis. [2007]

7. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Integration of negative emotional experience versus suppression: addressing the question of adaptive functioning. [2018]

8. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Why Do People Regulate Their Emotions? A Taxonomy of Motives in Emotion Regulation. [2018]

9. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Influences of witnessed affect on information processing in children. [2007]

10. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

From Basic Processes to Real-World Problems: How Research on Emotion and Emotion Regulation Can Inform Understanding of Psychopathology, and Vice Versa. [2021]