The influence of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on cardiovascular recovery from stress
Abstract
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in the United States. A number of biomedical and psychosocial factors may contribute to its development and progression. Evidence suggests that one such psychological factor, cognitive emotion regulation (CER), may be associated with different cardiovascular responses to stress. This study hypothesized that (a) the general tendency to use trait maladaptive CER strategies would be associated with poorer cardiovascular recovery from stress and (b) the general tendency to use trait adaptive CER strategies would be associated with better cardiovascular recovery from stress. Results did not support these hypotheses; however, trait maladaptive and adaptive CER strategies were related to emotional reactivity to and recovery from the stress and to positive and negative affective traits. The present findings, combined with an analysis of previous literature, highlight the importance of assessing a wide variety of CER strategies, experimentally manipulating CER strategies, and assessing cardiovascular recovery using precise measures. Although unrelated to cardiovascular measures in the present study, CER strategies could still be associated with CAD by virtue of their relationship with negative affective traits.
Degree
M.S.
Advisors
Stewart, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Health sciences|Clinical psychology|Physiological psychology
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