Emotion regulation variability and chronic pain: An ecological momentary assessment study

IF 4.3 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL

Behaviour Research and Therapy Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-12 DOI:10.1016/j.brat.2026.104977

Andrew H. Rogers , Michael J. Zvolensky , Rachel V. Aaron , Jeffrey M. Lackner , Tanya Smit , Jafar Bakhshaie , James I. Gerhart

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Abstract

Chronic pain is a significant public health problem associated with increased healthcare utilization and decreased quality of life. Mechanistic research focused on identifying vulnerabilities for the experience and impact of chronic pain is of critical importance to understanding and managing this public health burden. Emotion regulation, a cognitive-affective process involving attempts to influence the type, timing, and intensity of emotions has been linked to pain experience across multiple studies. Yet, conceptualizations have often focused on “adaptive” vs. “maladaptive” regulatory strategies. Variability in the type, number, and frequency of emotion regulation strategies across situations and over time has been associated with positive adjustment, is a critical component of emotion regulation flexibility, and may more comprehensively capture the way emotion regulation operates in the context of chronic pain. Therefore, the current study of 48 (77.1% female; Mage = 29.92 years, SD = 5.20 years) college students with self-reported chronic pain examined the impact of pain intensity, interference, and negative affect on emotion regulation variability. Participants completed 5 surveys a day for 7 days. Mixed-effects location scale models found that higher average levels of pain intensity, interference, and negative affect were associated with a greater number of strategies used to regulate pain experience, but in an invariable manner over time. Similarly, momentary increases in pain were associated with decreased intraindividual variation in emotion regulation strategy use. Overall, the results provide empirical evidence for the importance of emotion regulation variability in understanding both the variability and underlying mechanisms of evidence-based behavioral treatments for pain, informing broader models of flexibility in pain.

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情绪调节变异性与慢性疼痛：一项生态瞬时评估研究。

慢性疼痛是一个重要的公共卫生问题，与医疗保健利用率增加和生活质量下降有关。侧重于确定慢性疼痛经验和影响的脆弱性的机制研究对于理解和管理这一公共卫生负担至关重要。情绪调节是一种认知情感过程，涉及试图影响情绪的类型、时间和强度。多项研究表明，情绪调节与疼痛体验有关。然而，概念化通常集中在“适应性”vs上。“不适应”的监管策略。情绪调节策略的类型、数量和频率随时间的变化与积极调节有关，是情绪调节灵活性的关键组成部分，可能更全面地捕捉慢性疼痛背景下情绪调节的运作方式。因此，本研究以48名自我报告慢性疼痛的大学生为研究对象（女性77.1%，年龄29.92岁，SD 5.20岁），考察疼痛强度、干扰和负面情绪对情绪调节变异性的影响。参与者每天完成5份调查，持续7天。混合效应位置尺度模型发现，较高的疼痛强度、干扰和负面影响的平均水平与更多用于调节疼痛体验的策略有关，但随着时间的推移，其方式是不变的。同样，疼痛的瞬间增加与情绪调节策略使用的个体差异减少有关。总的来说，这些结果为情绪调节变异性在理解基于证据的疼痛行为治疗的变异性和潜在机制方面的重要性提供了经验证据，为更广泛的疼痛灵活性模型提供了信息。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Behaviour Research and Therapy PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL-

CiteScore

7.50

自引率

7.30%

发文量

148

期刊介绍： The major focus of Behaviour Research and Therapy is an experimental psychopathology approach to understanding emotional and behavioral disorders and their prevention and treatment, using cognitive, behavioral, and psychophysiological (including neural) methods and models. This includes laboratory-based experimental studies with healthy, at risk and subclinical individuals that inform clinical application as well as studies with clinically severe samples. The following types of submissions are encouraged: theoretical reviews of mechanisms that contribute to psychopathology and that offer new treatment targets; tests of novel, mechanistically focused psychological interventions, especially ones that include theory-driven or experimentally-derived predictors, moderators and mediators; and innovations in dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices into clinical practice in psychology and associated fields, especially those that target underlying mechanisms or focus on novel approaches to treatment delivery. In addition to traditional psychological disorders, the scope of the journal includes behavioural medicine (e.g., chronic pain). The journal will not consider manuscripts dealing primarily with measurement, psychometric analyses, and personality assessment.