Meaning-making in the context of divorce: Links with emotion regulation

描述(申请人提供)：建议的研究申请旨在检查个人在九个月的过程中如何适应生活中的主要关系转变-离婚。心理和生理变化过程都将与个体能够以连贯的方式将关系损失与其对其生活史的理解相适应的程度相关联地进行检查。叙事连贯性的概念，即一个人对生活事件影响他/她的方式表现出平衡、开放和可信的理解的程度，最初是在成人依恋文献中发展起来的，将被应用于离婚研究，并被评估为在与离婚相关的情绪诱导任务中生理功能增强的预测因子。此外，考虑到早期创伤和失恋经历之间的已知联系以及对后来失恋经历的适应，本研究将评估早期失恋/创伤与婚姻解体的心理和生理适应之间的关系。在9个月的三个不同场合测量的90个样本(N=90)中，本项目的具体目标是(1)开发一个编码系统来评估在4分钟的意识流语音样本中明显的关于离婚的叙事一致性；(B)当个体在实验室思考他们的分手经历时，评估叙事一致性的变化是否与随着时间的推移生理反应模式的变化有关；以及(C)检验早期的损失/创伤经历与离婚的心理和生理适应之间的联系。潜在成长曲线模型将被用来检验叙事连贯性的变化如何与生理变化同步发生，以及早期的损失/创伤历史如何与随着时间的推移而适应离婚有关。这项研究的首要目标是更好地了解认知组织与婚姻解体的关系如何与生理情绪调节有关。了解离婚后恢复的变化机制有可能为干预工作提供信息。与公共健康相关：离婚是一个人可能经历的最有压力的生活事件之一，相当一部分成年人在婚姻破裂后会患上可诊断的严重抑郁症。这项研究考察了离婚后适应的预测因素，以及与这些情绪障碍如何负面影响身体健康结果相关的因素。更好地理解这些主题对于阐明复原力过程和制定有效的治疗和预防计划至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research application aims to examine the processes through which individuals adjust to a major relational transition in life, divorce, over the course of nine months. Both psychological and physiological change processes will be examined in relation to the degree to which the individual is able to fit the relational loss into his understanding of his life history in a coherent manner. The concept of narrative coherence, or the degree to which an individual demonstrates a balanced, open, and believable understanding of the ways in which life events affect him/her, originally developed in the adult attachment literature, will be applied to the study of divorce and evaluated as a predictor of increased physiological functioning during a divorce-related mood induction task. In addition, given the known links between early traumatic and loss experiences and adjustment to later loss experiences, this study will evaluate associations between early loss/trauma and psychological and physiological adjustment to marital dissolution. In a sample of 90 (N=90) measured at three separate occasions across 9-months, the specific aims of this project are to (1) develop an implement a coding system to evaluate narrative coherence with respect to divorce as evident during a four minute stream-of-consciousness speech sample; (b) evaluate whether changes in narrative coherence are related to changes in physiological response patterns over time when individuals think about their separation experience in the laboratory; and, (c) examine the association between early loss/trauma experiences and psychological and physiological adjustment to divorce. Latent growth curve modeling will be used to examine how changes in narrative coherence occur in tandem with changes in physiology, and how early histories of loss/trauma are related to adjustment to divorce over time. The overarching goal of this investigation is to better understand how cognitive organization related to marital dissolution is related to physiological emotion regulation. Understanding mechanisms of change in recovery from divorce has the potential to inform intervention efforts. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Divorce is among the most stressful life events a person can experience, and a significant proportion of adults develop diagnosable Major Depression following marital dissolution. This research examines the predictors of post-divorce adjustment and the factors that are associated with how these mood disturbances negatively impact physical health outcomes. A better understanding of these topics is critical for elucidating resiliency process and for developing effective treatment and prevention programs.