Examining the association between habitual emotion regulation strategies and cardiovascular stress reactivity across three studies.

Abstract

Poor emotion regulation is associated with cardiovascular disease risk, with altered cardiovascular responses to psychological stress a possible underlying mechanism. However, prior research has predominantly focused on instructed (laboratory-based) emotion regulation; there is limited conclusive research on the relationship between every-day (habitual) emotion regulation and cardiovascular responses to active psychological stress. As such, this study aimed to examine the associations between two common habitual emotion regulation strategies-cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression-and cardiovascular stress responses across three independent laboratory studies, each involving a different active acute psychological stress task. Participants (Study 1: N = 239, 64.9% female; Study 2: N = 289, 51.9% female, Study 3: N = 169, 50.9% female) underwent cardiovascular monitoring during a 10-minute baseline and subsequent stress task (Study 1: mental arithmetic task; Study 2: speech task; Study 3: Multisource Interference/Stroop tasks). Participants also completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and ratings of perceived task stressfulness. Cardiovascular reactivity (stress mean - baseline mean) was calculated for systolic/diastolic blood pressure and heart rate for each study. Across all three studies, regression analyses demonstrated no statistically significant linear associations between habitual emotion regulation and cardiovascular reactivity (ps ≥.10) or self-reported perceived stress (ps ≥.06), both before and after controlling for demographic covariates. This investigation furthers our understanding of how habitual emotion regulation strategies may-or may not-impact cardiovascular stress responses, thus providing valuable insights into the complex relationship between emotion regulation and long-term cardiovascular health.