Emotion regulation strategies in relation to personality characteristics indicating low and high self-control of emotions

The study was part of the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and S ocial Development, in which children's (196 boys, 173 girls) behavioral cha racteristics indicating the self-control of emotions were studied at age 8 using teacher ratings. At age 36, 140 men and 128 women filled in several i nventories, including the Meta-Regulation Scale [Mayer, J. D., & Stevens, A . A. (1994). An emerging understanding of the reflective (meta-)experience of mood. Journal of Research in Personality, 28, 351-373] and the Karolinsk a Scales of Personality [Af Klinteberg, B., Schalling, D., & Magnusson, D. (1986). Childhood behavior and adult personality in male and female subject s. European Journal of Personality, 4, 57-71]. The study examined the relat ionships between the adults' emotion regulation strategies (ERS) of Repair, Maintenance and Dampening and concurrent personality characteristics. The question of the heterotypic continuity of the self-control of emotions, and of how the use of ERS might account for this was also examined. Correlatio nal analysis, multivariate analysis of variance and path analysis showed, f or men only, that low use of ERS relates to low self-control of emotions, w hereas high use relates to high self-control. Moreover, the self-control of emotions showed heterotypic continuity over a period of 28 years, which ca n partly be explained by the mediating role of ERS. Individuals with low Re pair had characteristics indicating low self-control of emotions at both ag es. Conversely, individuals with high Repair showed high self-control of em otions at both ages. The somewhat different findings for women are discusse d in relation to the literature on gender differences in emotionality and e motion regulation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.