Neuroticism and Emotion Regulation Success

2nd place in the Psychology Division at the 13th annual Denman Undergraduate Research ForumResearch indicates that individuals high in Neuroticism tend to use ineffective ways of regulating their emotions and have stronger negative reactions to stress than low Neuroticism individuals (Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995) but there has been little research to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for these differences. Emotion regulation deficits and use of specific emotion regulation strategies are potential mechanisms that could account for negative and variable mood in individuals with high Neuroticism. The present study compared both the total number of emotion regulation attempts made and the number of successful emotion regulation attempts across 10-days for individuals high (N = 33) and low (N = 31) in Neuroticism. Results indicated that although there were no significant differences in the total number of emotion regulation attempts made, individuals with high Neuroticism made significantly more unsuccessful emotion regulation attempts and engaged in more maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (e.g., cutting self, smoking) than individuals with low Neuroticism. One potential implication of this research is that individuals with high Neuroticism should be encouraged to use different, as opposed to more, emotion regulation strategies when distressed. Future research should examine the contingencies that maintain maladaptive strategy use in high Neuroticism individuals.The Social and Behavioral Sciences GrantThe Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research ScholarshipThe Billingslea ScholarshipThe Undergraduate Student Government GrantNo embarg