Why do I feel the way I do? Emotional dysregulation and the need to understand the causes of emotions

Attribution theory seeks to explain why an individual experiences a given emotion in a certain situation. This process occurs intrapersonally, with individuals seeking to identify the factors that led them to experience a given emotional state, with difficulties in this process potentially constituting a component of emotional dysregulation. It was hypothesised that when individuals with poor emotion regulation experienced emotions within a context that did not provide clear antecedents for their emotional state, they would respond by seeking to establish a context that would better explain their current emotional state. A sample of 112 undergraduate students (78 females, 34 males; mean age of 20.54 years, SD = 5.66) were provided with the opportunity to alter their situational context so that it better explained their current emotional state, under conditions where the contextual antecedents for their emotion varied in salience. Findings were mixed. However, for some emotions, individuals with emotional dysregulation and related difficulties who encountered a context where clear antecedents for their emotional state were absent responded by attempting to adjust their social context so that it better explained their emotional state. The clinical implications of these findings as well as potential methodological improvements to the study design are outlined.