Kate Petrova

All Publications

• The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (ERQ-S): A 6-item measure of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Petrova, K., Mehta, A., Gross, J. J. 2023

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in affective functioning. One of the most commonly used measures of emotion regulation is the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), a 10-item self-report measure assessing frequency of use of two common emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In this study, we aimed to optimize the utility of the ERQ for time-pressured settings by introducing and validating a 6-item short form called the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (ERQ-S).General community (N = 508) and college student (N = 245) samples from the United States completed online surveys containing a range of psychometric self-report measures. For each sample, we examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of the ERQ-S.Our confirmatory factor analyses supported the intended 2-factor structure of the ERQ-S (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression factors), with all items loading well on their intended factor in both samples. As expected, the ERQ-S correlated highly with the ERQ. A profile of low cognitive reappraisal use and high expressive suppression use on the ERQ-S was significantly associated with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties, alexithymia, and affective symptoms.We did not examine psychometric performance in a clinical sample, or other cultural groups outside the US. All concurrent validity markers were self-report questionnaires.Our data suggest that the ERQ-S successfully retains the psychometric strengths of the ERQ. The shorter format of the ERQ-S should therefore help to optimize the measurement of emotion regulation in time-pressured settings.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2023.08.076

  View details for PubMedID 37597776

• The Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire-Short Form (PAQ-S): A 6-item measure of alexithymia. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Mehta, A., Petrova, K., Sikka, P., Bjureberg, J., Chen, W., Becerra, R., Allan, A., Robinson, K., Gross, J. J. 2023

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Alexithymia is a trait characterized by difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking. It is widely regarded as an important transdiagnostic risk factor for a range of psychopathologies, including depressive and anxiety disorders. Whilst several well-validated psychometric measures of alexithymia exist, these are relatively lengthy, thus limiting their utility in time-pressured settings. In this paper, we address this gap by introducing and validating a brief 6-item version of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire, called the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire-Short Form (PAQ-S).METHOD: Across two studies with adult samples (Study 1 N = 508 United States community; Study 2378 Australian college students), we examined the psychometric properties of the PAQ-S in terms of its factor structure, reliability, and concurrent/criterion validity.RESULTS: In exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, all PAQ-S items loaded well on a single general alexithymia factor. The PAQ-S total score had high reliability, and correlated as expected with the long-form of the PAQ, as well as other established markers of alexithymia, emotion regulation, and affective disorder symptoms.LIMITATIONS: Our samples were general community or college student samples from two Western countries; future validation work in clinical samples and more diverse cultural groups is thus needed.CONCLUSIONS: The PAQ-S retains the psychometric strengths of the PAQ. As such, the PAQ-S can be used as a quick, robust measure of overall alexithymia levels. The introduction of the PAQ-S hence enables valid assessments of alexithymia in a more diverse range of settings and research designs.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2023.01.036

  View details for PubMedID 36642314

• Alexithymia and emotion regulation. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Mehta, A., Petrova, K., Sikka, P., Bjureberg, J., Becerra, R., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  Alexithymia is a key transdiagnostic risk factor for emotion-based psychopathologies. Conceptual models specify that this is because alexithymia impairs emotion regulation. However, the extent of these putative emotion regulation impairments remains underexplored. Our aim in this study was to begin to address this gap by examining whether people with high, average, or low levels of alexithymia differ in the types of emotion regulation strategies they typically use.General community adults from the United States (N = 501) completed a battery of alexithymia and emotion regulation measures. Participants were grouped into high, average, and low alexithymia quantiles.After controlling for demographics and current levels of distress, the high, average, and low alexithymia groups differed in their use of cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation strategies. Compared to the other groups, the high alexithymia group reported lesser use of generally adaptive regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, approaching problems, and seeking social support) and greater use of generally maladaptive regulation strategies (expressive suppression, behavioral withdrawal, ignoring).Our data were cross-sectional and from self-report questionnaires. Future work in other cultural groups would be beneficial.Our results support the view that alexithymia is associated with impaired emotion regulation. In particular, people with high alexithymia seem to exhibit a less adaptive profile of emotion regulation strategies. Direct targeting of these emotion regulation patterns in psychotherapy may therefore be a useful pathway for the treatment of emotional disorder symptoms in people with high alexithymia.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.065

  View details for PubMedID 36566943

• Emotional experiences in technology-mediated and in-person interactions: an experience-sampling study. Cognition & emotion Petrova, K., Schulz, M. S. 2022: 1-8

  Abstract

  As the ubiquity of technology-mediated communication grows, so does the number of questions about the costs and benefits of replacing in-person interactions with technology-mediated ones. In the present study, we used a daily diary design to examine how people's emotional experiences vary across in-person, video-, phone-, and text-mediated interactions in day-to-day life. We hypothesised that individuals would report less positive affect and more negative affect after less life-like interactions (where in-person is defined as the most life-like and text-mediated as the least life-like). In line with this hypothesis, the analysis of 527 unique interactions reported by 102 individuals (mean age=19.3; 85.6% female) over the course of 7 days reveals that people feel lonelier, sadder, less affectionate, less supported, and less happy following less life-like interactions. Additional analyses show that the links between life-like communication and momentary experiences are independent of properties of individual interactions such as interaction length and participants' overall evaluations of interaction quality. These findings provide initial evidence that there may be inherent properties of common technology-mediated communication tools that may lead to momentary changes in affective experiences and make social connection more challenging.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2022.2043244

  View details for PubMedID 35200113

• Coherence Between Feelings and Heart Rate: Links to Early Adversity and Responses to Stress. Affective science Petrova, K., Nevarez, M. D., Rice, J., Waldinger, R. J., Preacher, K. J., Schulz, M. S. 2021; 2 (1): 1-13

  Abstract

  Past research suggests that higher coherence between feelings and physiology under stress may confer regulatory advantages. Research and theory also suggest that higher resting vagal tone (rVT) may promote more adaptive responses to stress. The present study examines the roles of response system coherence (RSC; defined as the within-individual covariation between feelings and heart rate over time) and rVT in mediating the links between childhood adversity and later-life responses to acute stressors. Using data from 279 adults from the Second Generation Study of the Harvard Study of Adult Development who completed stressful public speaking and mental arithmetic tasks, we find that individuals who report more childhood adversity have lower RSC, but not lower rVT. We further find that lower RSC mediates the association between adversity and slower cardiovascular recovery. Higher rVT in the present study is linked to less intense cardiovascular reactivity to stress, but not to quicker recovery or to the subjective experience of negative affect after the stressful tasks. Additional analyses indicate links between RSC and mindfulness and replicate previous findings connecting RSC to emotion regulation and well-being outcomes. Taken together, these findings are consistent with the idea that uncoupling between physiological and emotional streams of affective experiences may be one of the mechanisms connecting early adversity to later-life affective responses. These findings also provide evidence that RSC and rVT are associated with distinct aspects of self-regulation under stress.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-020-00027-5.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-020-00027-5

  View details for PubMedID 36042915

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9382966

• Self-Distancing and Avoidance Mediate the Links Between Trait Mindfulness and Responses to Emotional Challenges MINDFULNESS Petrova, K., Nevarez, M. D., Waldinger, R. J., Preacher, K. J., Schulz, M. S. 2021; 12 (4): 947-958

  Abstract

  Mindfulness has been linked to better emotion regulation and more adaptive responses to stress across a number of studies, but the mechanisms underlying these links remain to be fully understood. The present study examines links between trait mindfulness (Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire; FFMQ) and participants' responses to common emotional challenges, focusing specifically on the roles of reduced avoidance and more self-distanced engagement as key potential mechanisms driving the adaptive benefits of trait mindfulness.Adults (n = 305, age range: 40-72) from the Second Generation Study of the Harvard Study of Adult Development completed two laboratory-based challenges - public speaking combined with difficult math tasks (the Trier Social Stress Test) and writing about a memory of a difficult moment. State anxiety and sadness were assessed immediately before and after the two stressors. To capture different ways of engaging, measures of self-distancing, avoidance, and persistent worry were collected during the lab session.As predicted, individuals who scored higher on the FFMQ experienced less anxiety and persistent worry in response to the social stressors. The FFMQ was also linked to less anxiety and sadness when writing about a difficult moment. The links between mindfulness and negative emotions after the writing task were independently mediated by self-distanced engagement and lower avoidance.Affective benefits of trait mindfulness under stress are associated with both the degree and the nature of emotional engagement. Specifically, reduced avoidance and self-distanced engagement may facilitate reflection on negative experiences that is less affectively aversive.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s12671-020-01559-4

  View details for Web of Science ID 000606410800001

  View details for PubMedID 34149956

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8210843

• Coherence Between Feelings and Heart Rate: Links to Early Adversity and Responses to Stress Affective Science Petrova, K., Nevarez, M. D., Rice, J., Waldinger, R. J., Preacher, K. J., Schulz, M. S. 2021; 2 (1): 1–13

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-020-00027-5