Divergent associations of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies with cardiovascular disease risk

While emotions and cardiovascular health have been long recognized to be intertwined, the nature of the relationship is not well understood. Investigators are increasingly hypothesizing that beyond effects of any specific emotion, the capacity to regulate emotions may be critical. Moreover, as emotion regulation is not fixed and instead reflects the use of learned behaviors and cognitions, identifying whether and how emotion regulation is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk may inform novel avenues for intervention. We examined two emotion regulation strategies (one adaptive, one maladaptive): reappraisal (adaptive) and suppression (maladaptive). CVD risk was assessed with a validated Framingham algorithm that estimates the likelihood of developing CVD in the next ten years. Associations of emotion regulation and 10-year CVD risk were assessed among 379 healthy adults via multiple linear regression analyses. CVD risk behaviors were examined as pathway variables. One standard deviation (SD) increases in reappraisal and suppression were associated with 6.8% lower and 11.6% higher 10-year CVD risk respectively. Given the average 10-year CVD risk in the sample was 4.9%, our models suggest that a one SD increase in reappraisal lowers this risk to 4.6% whereas a one SD increase in suppression would increase this risk to 5.5%. Body mass index, diet and alcohol consumption partially explained the associations. Divergent associations of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation with 10-year CVD risk were observed. This study suggests that interventions targeted at effectively managing emotions may not only improve psychological functioning, but may also promote cardiovascular health as well.