Emotion regulation and disordered eating behaviour in youths: Two daily-diary studies.

OBJECTIVE: Disordered eating cognitions and behaviours in childhood and adolescence have been identified as precursors for the development of eating disorders. Another important contributor to eating disorder risk is maladaptive emotion regulation. However, while the regulation of negative affect has been the focus of much research, the literature on the role of positive emotion regulation in eating pathology is extremely limited. The present study extends previous research by examining the regulation of both positive and negative affect in disordered eating using two waves of a daily diary design. METHOD: Every evening for 21 days, 139 youths (8-15 years) reported their use of rumination, dampening, and disordered eating cognitions and behaviours. 1 year later, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, 115 of these youths were followed-up. RESULTS: As predicted, higher levels of rumination and dampening were found to be associated with a higher frequency of weight concerns and restrictive eating on person-level (both Waves) and day-level (Wave 2). Further, a higher frequency of rumination at Wave 1 predicted increases in the frequency of restrictive eating 1 year later. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underline the importance of examining regulation of both positive and negative emotion in order to understand eating disorder risk.

Connections during crisis: Adolescents' social dynamics and mental health during COVID-19.

Adolescence is a critical period for social development, which COVID-19 has dramatically altered. Quarantined youths had limited in-person interactions with peers. The present study used an intensive longitudinal design to investigate changes in interpersonal dynamics and mental health during COVID-19. Specifically, we investigated whether the associations between different social contexts-that is, "spillover"-changed during COVID-19 and whether changes in social interactions during COVID-19 was associated with changes in depressive symptoms. Approximately 1 year prior to the onset of COVID-19, 139 youths reported depressive symptoms and daily interactions with parents, siblings, and friends, every day for 21 days via online questionnaires. Shortly after schools closed due to COVID-19, 115 of these youths completed a similar 28-day diary. Analyses included 112 youths (62 girls; 73% Caucasian; Mage = 11.77, range = 8 to 15 in Wave 1) who completed at least 13 diary days in each data wave. Our results show that younger adolescents experienced significant decreases in negative and positive interactions with friends, whereas older adolescents showed significant decreases in negative interactions with friends and significant increases in positive interactions with siblings. As predicted, within-day spillover of positive interactions and person-level association of negative interactions increased within the family during COVID-19, whereas within-day spillover of positive interactions between family and friends decreased. We also found a dramatic increase in depressive symptoms. More negative interactions and fewer positive interactions with family members were associated with changes in depressive symptoms. Our study sheds light on how youths' social development may be impacted by COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Predicting Negative and Positive Affect During COVID-19: A Daily Diary Study in Youths.

The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to profoundly affect youths' mental health. Understanding predictors of affective responding to the pandemic is critical for prevention and intervention efforts. This study examines emotion regulation as an important predictor of youth's changes in positive and negative affect. The present study of 115 participants (62 girls, Mage  = 11.77) explores the relation between pre-existing emotion regulation strategies, as measured by multi-week daily diaries pre-COVID, and youths' mean positive and negative affect levels and variability during a 28-day period amidst the pandemic, while including COVID-related worries and isolation as important moderators. The findings provide important insight into interactions between pre-existing vulnerabilities and COVID-related stressors in predicting affective adjustment in youth.