Distractive emotion regulation, which relieves arousal through attention shift, protects individuals from strong stress. Distractive emotion regulation is widely used in everyday life and although it has great implications in the context of adaptation such as to addiction, it is generally not considered separately from avoidant regulation, it has neither been clearly defined nor measured.

Through a literature review and qualitative analysis, we selected adults’ distractive emotion regulation behaviors. We explored the construct by developing measurement on the distractive behaviors that adults use to regulate emotion.

Factor analysis revealed that distractive emotion regulation consisted of four factors: “consumption distraction” concerned with activities such as shopping, internet use, and TV viewing; “arousal control distraction” related to activities such as exercise, bathing, and deep breathing; “reserving distraction” pertaining to activities such as eating, sleeping, and listening to music; and “aggressive distraction” involving behaviors such as bullying, physical destructiveness, or cursing. Each factor had a different correlation with stress coping dimensions and subjective well-being.

Distractive emotion regulation is a multidimensional concept composed of sub-factors with different functions and clinical implications in daily life.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of experiential avoidance in the relationship between borderline personality traits and reactive aggression.

In total, 160 participants (male N=57, female N=103, mean age 25.3 years) completed the questionnaires measuring levels of borderline personality traits, experiential avoidance, and reactive aggression.

First, borderline personality traits had a significantly positive effect on experiential avoidance and reactive aggression. Experiential avoidance also had a positive effect on reactive aggression. Second, experiential avoidance had mediating effect between borderline personality traits and reactive aggression.

Based on the results of this study, it was confirmed that borderline personality traits could activate experiential avoidance, which leads to an increase in reactive aggression. Furthermore, current results suggested that in the treatment of reactive aggression in borderline personality traits, it was important to deal with experiential avoidance.

This study sought to analyze the structural relationships between optimism, distress tolerance, grief avoidance, intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, and psychological well-being among undergraduates who have experienced a loss.

Subjects comprised 435 university students (258 females and 177 males), with their duration of grief experience and the elapsed period from when the loss occurred having been taken into consideration.

Distress tolerance, grief avoidance, intrusive rumination, and deliberate rumination mediated the relationship between optimism and psychological well-being sequentially. Additionally, there were significant differences between the “less than 6 months” and “more than 6 months” groups in the structural relationships between optimism, distress tolerance, grief avoidance, intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, and psychological well-being.

The direct path of grief avoidance to psychological well-being was not significant, but it was found to have a significant effect through the sequential mediations of intrusive rumination and deliberate rumination. This result suggests the need for active intervention to allow people to face and cope with life after a loss, without avoiding the loss experience.

According to the fear-avoidance model, pain becomes chronic when it is related to fear and avoidance behavior. When a pain-related threat occurs, humans instinctively use avoidance behavior strategies. However, the support of significant others is likely to inhibit avoidance behavior even with the same pain-related threat stimulus. Thus, in this study, we examined the effects of pain-related threats and social support of romantic partner on avoidance behavior inhibition.

Participants consisted of 80 pairs of healthy undergraduate couples, and were randomly assigned to one of four group conditions in a 2×2 factorial design, with threat level (high/low) and social support (presence/absence) as factors.

The results of the experiment indicated a significant interaction between threat level and social support. Specifically, in the high-threat condition, when social support was provided, task delay time was significantly shorter than when no social support was provided. On the other hand, in the low-threat condition, the time delay difference between high- and low- social support group was not significant. Moreover, social support did not affect fear reduction.

These results indicate that avoidance behaviors, which are instinctive responses to pain, can be inhibited by social support. This result would enhance understanding of the factors that have not been described in the fear-avoidance model in the pain-chronicization process, and will help expand and improve the model. We also discuss possible limitations of the study and scope for further studies.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of monetary motivation on the relationship between pain-related fear and avoidance behavior.

Eighty healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to one of four groups in accordance with task conditions of pain-related fear (high or low) and monetary motivation (high or low).

The autonomic nervous system was more active in the high pain-related fear group than in the low pain-related fear group as the participants watched a video and performed a task. Also, pain-related fear and monetary motivation had a significant interaction effect on avoidance behavior. High monetary motivation was associated with a shorter delay time during task performance in the high pain-related fear group. No significant difference was observed in the delay time in the low pain-related fear group.

This study provides empirical evidence supporting the modified fear-avoidance model and experimentally proves the activation of the goal shielding mechanism.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the relational need scale. Based on previous studies, we presumed that relational need is comprised of the two independent concepts of approch and avoidance.

The preliminary items were selected through a series of processes and they were analyzed in terms of item content, response distribution and correlations with other measures. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed that approach and avoidance concepts were independent from each other.

As a result, the relational need scale was developed, consisting of 6 approach-type items for the relational need subscale and 11 items for the avoidance-type subscale. The two subscales are each subsumed by a one-factor model and a three-factor model, respectively. Specifically, the approach- type subscale has subfactors of ‘Intimate relationship tendency,’ whereas the avoidance-type subscale has the subfactors of ‘sensitivity to others evaluations,’ ‘sensitive to negative evaluations,’ and ‘awareness for others.’

The internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and criterion-related validity of the scales were found to be adequate. This study revealed that the Korean version of relational need scale is reliable and valid. Finally, implications and limitations of this study and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

This study examined the mediating effects of experiential avoidance on the relationship between stress and internet/smartphone addiction in adolescents.

448 middle school students completed the self-report questionnaires on school stress, home stress, multidimensional experiential avoidance, and internet/smartphone addiction.

Regression analyses and tests of indirect effects using bootstrapping showed that ‘procrastination’ and ‘distress aversion’ factors of experiential avoidance mediated the relationship between stress (school, home) and internet/smartphone addiction.

Stress increases internet/smartphone addiction through procrastination or distress aversion in adolescents. Interventions should focus not only on stress but also on experiential avoidance.

This study was performed to identify the mediating effect of alcohol expectancy and moderating effect of coping response on the relation between university students’ stress and drinking problem.

Data collected from 264 university students’ self-report questionnaire, including life daily stress, alcohol expectancy, coping response, drinking problem were analyzed.

The mediating effect of alcohol expectancy was significant (β=.26, p<.001). Although, the moderating effect of approach coping response was not significant, the moderating effect of avoidance coping response was significant (β=.12, p<.01).

These results suggest that treatment and intervention for drinking problems of university students’ must pay attention on alcohol expectancy and try to decrease the preference of avoidance coping response.