(PS2-D98) Examining Differences in Emotional States Preceding and Following Acts Dysregulated Behaviors

Adolescence and emerging adulthood are marked by rapid increases in dysregulated behaviors (DBs; Steinberg, 2011), or potentially harmful and difficult-to-control behaviors used to regulate emotions in the absence of more adaptive strategies (Hasking & Claes, 2018). Though these behaviors (i.e., substance use [SU], disordered eating [DE], aggression, and non-suicidal self-injury [NSSI]) often provide short-term relief, they typically lead to greater distress and impairment. DBs are also often comorbid with one another, leading researchers to hypothesize that heightened sensitivity to emotion (especially negative affect [NA]) may increase the likelihood that an individual engages in DBs (Crowell et al., 2009). However, few studies have examined the temporal relationship between state affect and multiple DBs concurrently. The present study employed ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to collect real-time data on both positive and negative affective states before and after four forms DBs (SU, DE, aggression, NSSI).

Undergraduate participants (N=168) completed a ten-day EMA period during which they received four daily pseudo-randomized alerts assessing affect intensity (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) and DB engagement (4653 observations). Multilevel models controlling for time effects and gender showed that greater acute positive affect (PA) predicted greater likelihood of SU at the next alert (b=.32, SE=.10), whereas greater NA predicted greater likelihood of aggression (b=.79, SE=.24) at the next alert. Neither NA nor PA predicted greater likelihood of NSSI at the next alert. Engagement in aggression (b=.36, SE=.06) and NSSI (b=.11, SE=.02) predicted greater NA at the following alert, while no affective differences were observed following SU or DE. Exploratory analyses examining the moderating effect of trait emotion dysregulation (measured by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, at baseline) revealed no significant results, suggesting that one’s general predisposition of emotion dysregulation does not influence the relationship between NA or PA and DBs. This study is among the first to show that affective antecedents and consequences are not uniform across different DBs, such that SU may be uniquely prompted by the presence of PA, relative to other DBs. Additionally, the intensity of NA following acts of other- and self-directed (i.e., NSSI) forms of aggression counter hypotheses that DBs aid in diminishing distress. Further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms (i.e.., moderation, mediation) through which transdiagnostic traits like emotion dysregulation may influence the relationship between momentary changes in affect and engagement in DBs to understand these differences.