Brett Marroquín|Johanna Czamanski-Cohen|Karen L. Weihs|Annette L. Stanton
Implicit loneliness, emotion regulation, and depressive symptoms in breast cancer survivors
University of California, Los Angeles|University of Arizona|University of Arizona|University of California, Los Angeles
among individuals coping cancer emotional approach copingexpressing processing emotions following negative eventshas identified potentially adaptive form emotion regulation however mental health benefits may depend socialcognitive factors implemented study examined loneliness determinant emotion regulation associations depressive symptoms women breast cancer loneliness examined implicit socialcognitive phenomenon ie automatic views oneself lonely emotional expression processing examined explicit implicit processes approximately 11 months diagnosis 390 women completed explicit measures coping cancerrelated emotional expression processing implicit measure expression processing essaywriting task submitted linguistic analysis implicit association test measuring loneliness depressive symptoms assessed 3 months later regardless implicit loneliness selfreported emotional expression emotional processing predicted fewer depressive symptoms whereas implicit expression negative emotion essaywriting predicted symptoms among women high implicit loneliness less positive emotional expression causal processing writing task predicted depressive symptoms results suggest explicit implicit breast cancerrelated emotion regulation distinct relations depressive symptoms implicit loneliness moderates effects implicit emotional approach findings support implicit processes influential mechanisms emotion regulation suggest targets intervention among breast cancer survivors