BACKGROUND Emotion regulation (ER) is considered central in adolescent psychopathology, and ER strategies may change during challenging times, such as a global pandemic. Despite this, there remains a limited understanding of individual differences in ER mechanisms and their associations with psychopathology. This study examined whether and how cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and self-compassion changed over COVID-19 and how these changes uniquely predicted adolescents' depressive symptoms. METHODS A total of 2,411 adolescents (58.6% females; Mage = 18.51, SD = 0.80) completed the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire, the Self-compassion Scale, and the Symptom Checklist-90 before COVID-19 (in 2019) and during COVID-19 (in 2020). The predictive associations between each ER strategy and depressive symptoms were tested with latent change score models. RESULTS Adolescents' use of expressive suppression and self-compassion strategies both increased during COVID-19. More increases in expressive suppression predicted more depressive symptoms, whereas more increases in self-compassion predicted fewer depressive symptoms. Although, on average, cognitive reappraisal did not change, it did show significant variations within the sample - increases (vs. decreases) in cognitive appraisal predicted fewer depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS The study indicates how adolescents' ER strategies changed during the unprecedented global pandemic. It underscores protective roles of increased cognitive reappraisal and self-compassion, as well as the adverse consequence of heightened expressive suppression on adolescents' depressive symptoms. Findings offer insights for targeted interventions aimed at addressing specific ER strategies.

中文翻译：

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大流行期间情绪调节策略的变化：青少年抑郁症状的前瞻性途径。


背景情绪调节（ER）被认为是青少年精神病理学的核心，并且 ER 策略可能在充满挑战的时期（例如全球大流行）发生变化。尽管如此，人们对 ER 机制的个体差异及其与精神病理学的关系的了解仍然有限。这项研究探讨了认知重评、表达抑制和自我慈悲在 COVID-19 期间是否以及如何发生变化，以及这些变化如何独特地预测青少年的抑郁症状。方法 总共 2,411 名青少年（58.6% 女性；Mage = 18.51，SD = 0.80）在 COVID-19 之前（2019 年）和 COVID-19 期间完成了情绪调节问卷、自我慈悲量表和症状检查表 90 （2020 年）。使用潜在变化评分模型测试了每种 ER 策略与抑郁症状之间的预测关联。结果 在 COVID-19 期间，青少年对表达抑制和自我同情策略的使用均有所增加。表达抑制的增加预示着更多的抑郁症状，而自我慈悲的增加则预示着更少的抑郁症状。虽然平均而言，认知重新评估没有改变，但它确实显示出样本内的显着变化——认知评估的增加（相对于减少）预示着抑郁症状的减少。结论 这项研究表明，在史无前例的全球大流行期间，青少年的急诊策略发生了怎样的变化。它强调了认知重评和自我同情增加的保护作用，以及表达抑制加剧对青少年抑郁症状的不利后果。研究结果为旨在解决特定急诊室策略的有针对性的干预措施提供了见解。