Divergent Associations of Antecedent- and Response-Focused Emotion Regulation Strategies with Midlife Cardiovascular Disease Risk

It is not known whether various forms of emotion regulation are differentially related to cardiovascular disease risk. The purpose of this study is to assess whether antecedent and response-focused emotion regulation would have divergent associations with likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease. Two emotion regulation strategies were examined: reappraisal (antecedent-focused) and suppression (response-focused). Cardiovascular disease risk was assessed with a validated Framingham algorithm that estimates the likelihood of developing CVD in 10 years. Associations were assessed among 373 adults via multiple linear regression. Pathways and gender-specific associations were also considered. One standard deviation increases in reappraisal and suppression were associated with 5.9 % lower and 10.0 % higher 10-year cardiovascular disease risk, respectively, in adjusted analyses. Divergent associations of antecedent and response-focused emotion regulation with cardiovascular disease risk were observed. Effective emotion regulation may promote cardiovascular health.