Emotion Regulation Repertoires in Trauma-Exposed College Students: Associations With PTSD Symptoms, Emotional Awareness, and Emotional Clarity

Objective: Emotion regulation (ER) plays a prominent role in the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although links between ER strategies and PTSD symptoms are well documented, recent advancements in ER research emphasize the need to move beyond examining ER strategies as isolated processes. Instead, there is a growing movement to understand ER repertoires, or the patterns in which individuals report habitually using the multiple ER strategies available to them. Additionally, awareness and clarity of one's emotional experiences might play a key role in the effective use of ER strategies. Method: The current study examined person-centered repertoires of the habitual use of eleven ER strategies among 372 undergraduates exposed to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) Criterion A trauma-and their relations to PTSD symptoms, emotional awareness, and emotional clarity. Results: Latent profile analysis yielded a three-profile solution (Adaptive, Average, and Maladaptive Regulators) and profiles differed on mean levels PTSD symptoms. Emotional clarity, but not emotional awareness, emerged as a significant predictor of profile classification, even after adjusting for negative affect. Conclusions: Findings suggest that emotional clarity might help foster healthy repertoires of ER strategy use and buffer against the development of PTSD among trauma-exposed individuals. Clinical Impact Statement Trauma-exposed individuals report using different kinds of strategies to regulate emotions. These strategies are typically studied in isolation and have been individually and differentially linked to PTSD symptom severity. Results from the present study suggest that trauma-exposed individuals can be meaningfully grouped into profiles based on their use of multiple emotion regulation strategies. Profiles differ in their associations with PTSD symptoms and the extent to which people experience emotions clearly, but not necessarily whether they attend to emotions. Helping individuals gain emotional clarity and select strategies that promote emotional engagement and decrease avoidance may be important for mitigating PTSD symptoms.