Behavioral inhibition: relation to negative emotion regulation and reactivity

• Published in: Personality and individual differences Vol. 36; no. 6; pp. 1235 - 1247
• Main Authors: Leen-Feldner, Ellen W, Zvolensky, Michael J, Feldner, Matthew T, Lejuez, C.W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Behavioral inhibition sensitivity; Biological and medical sciences; Emotion regulation; Emotional reactivity; Emotions; Inhibited behaviour; Laboratory task; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reactivity; Regulation; Rumination; USA; Young adults; Behavioral inhibition sensitivity; Emotional reactivity; Laboratory task; Emotion regulation; Human; Prediction; Cognition; Emotion emotionality; Personality; Descriptive statistics; Temperament; Stress; Theoretical model; Young adult; Interindividual comparison; Mental disorder; Self regulation; Cognitive style; Social identity
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00113-7

The present experimental psychopathology study sought to address two interrelated theoretical predictions from behavioral inhibition theory and research among young adults. The first was whether individual differences in behavioral inhibition, as indexed by the Behavioral Inhibition Sensitivity (Carver & White, 1994) would relate to negative emotional reactivity elicited by a cognitive stressor. The second aim was to examine how individual differences in behavioral inhibition relate to rumination, a response style associated with prolonged periods of negative affect, particularly depression. Consistent with our hypotheses, behavioral inhibition, relative to other theoretically relevant variables (e.g. basal levels of negative affect), predicted cognitive-affective reactivity as well as a rumination response style. These findings are discussed in relation to understanding how behavioral inhibition is associated with prototypical indices of emotional distress, with implications for forwarding future work with specific types of emotional disorders.