Apr 20th, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Title
The Effects of Trauma, Dissociation and Gender on Emotion Regulation
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. M. Rose Barlow
Information
Individuals faced with traumatic experiences may develop strategies to minimize or avoid powerful negative emotions. Such strategies might involve more focus on control and monitoring, or detaching from emotional events. Psychology 101 students completed a variety of self-report measures of emotion regulation, as well as measures of trauma and dissociation. The first hypothesis was that trauma would be correlated with increased use of thought control, while dissociation would be correlated with strategies emphasizing emotional control, emotional avoidance, and distraction. The second hypothesis was that men would rely more on these emotional avoidance strategies than women, which could imply gender differences in coping with trauma.