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Hair-Pulling Does Not Necessarily Serve an Emotion Regulation Function in Adults With Trichotillomania

Background: Trichotillomania (TTM) has been associated with childhood trauma and perceived stress. While it has been hypothesized that hair-pulling regulate negative emotions, the relationship between childhood trauma, perceived stress, emotion regulation, and hair-pulling has not been well-studied....

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Autores principales: Lochner, Christine, Demetriou, Salome, Kidd, Martin, Coetzee, Bronwynè, Stein, Dan J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8287019/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34290651
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675468
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author Lochner, Christine
Demetriou, Salome
Kidd, Martin
Coetzee, Bronwynè
Stein, Dan J.
author_facet Lochner, Christine
Demetriou, Salome
Kidd, Martin
Coetzee, Bronwynè
Stein, Dan J.
author_sort Lochner, Christine
collection PubMed
description Background: Trichotillomania (TTM) has been associated with childhood trauma and perceived stress. While it has been hypothesized that hair-pulling regulate negative emotions, the relationship between childhood trauma, perceived stress, emotion regulation, and hair-pulling has not been well-studied. Methods: Fifty-six adults with TTM and 31 healthy controls completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Hair-pulling severity was measured with the Massachusetts General Hospital-Hair Pulling Scale. CTQ, PSS, and DERS total scores were compared across groups using ANCOVA and the correlation between hair-pulling severity and emotion dysregulation was determined. Regression analyses were used to estimate the association of CTQ and PSS totals with DERS, and to determine whether associations between predictors and dependent variable (DERS) differed across groups. Results: TTM patients reported higher rates of childhood trauma (p <= 0.01), perceived stress (p = 0.03), and emotion dysregulation (p <= 0.01). There was no association between emotion dysregulation and pulling severity (r = −0.02, p = 0.89). Perceived stress was associated with emotion dysregulation in both groups (p < 0.01), and no association between childhood trauma and emotion dysregulation in either group. Perceived stress was the only significant predictor of emotion dysregulation in both groups (F = 28.29, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The association between perceived stress and emotion dysregulation is not specific to TTM, and there is no association between emotion dysregulation and hair-pulling severity, suggesting that key factors other than emotion dysregulation contribute to hair-pulling. Alternative explanatory models are needed.
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spelling pubmed-82870192021-07-20 Hair-Pulling Does Not Necessarily Serve an Emotion Regulation Function in Adults With Trichotillomania Lochner, Christine Demetriou, Salome Kidd, Martin Coetzee, Bronwynè Stein, Dan J. Front Psychol Psychology Background: Trichotillomania (TTM) has been associated with childhood trauma and perceived stress. While it has been hypothesized that hair-pulling regulate negative emotions, the relationship between childhood trauma, perceived stress, emotion regulation, and hair-pulling has not been well-studied. Methods: Fifty-six adults with TTM and 31 healthy controls completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Hair-pulling severity was measured with the Massachusetts General Hospital-Hair Pulling Scale. CTQ, PSS, and DERS total scores were compared across groups using ANCOVA and the correlation between hair-pulling severity and emotion dysregulation was determined. Regression analyses were used to estimate the association of CTQ and PSS totals with DERS, and to determine whether associations between predictors and dependent variable (DERS) differed across groups. Results: TTM patients reported higher rates of childhood trauma (p <= 0.01), perceived stress (p = 0.03), and emotion dysregulation (p <= 0.01). There was no association between emotion dysregulation and pulling severity (r = −0.02, p = 0.89). Perceived stress was associated with emotion dysregulation in both groups (p < 0.01), and no association between childhood trauma and emotion dysregulation in either group. Perceived stress was the only significant predictor of emotion dysregulation in both groups (F = 28.29, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The association between perceived stress and emotion dysregulation is not specific to TTM, and there is no association between emotion dysregulation and hair-pulling severity, suggesting that key factors other than emotion dysregulation contribute to hair-pulling. Alternative explanatory models are needed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-05 /pmc/articles/PMC8287019/ /pubmed/34290651 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675468 Text en Copyright © 2021 Lochner, Demetriou, Kidd, Coetzee and Stein. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Lochner, Christine
Demetriou, Salome
Kidd, Martin
Coetzee, Bronwynè
Stein, Dan J.
Hair-Pulling Does Not Necessarily Serve an Emotion Regulation Function in Adults With Trichotillomania
title Hair-Pulling Does Not Necessarily Serve an Emotion Regulation Function in Adults With Trichotillomania
title_full Hair-Pulling Does Not Necessarily Serve an Emotion Regulation Function in Adults With Trichotillomania
title_fullStr Hair-Pulling Does Not Necessarily Serve an Emotion Regulation Function in Adults With Trichotillomania
title_full_unstemmed Hair-Pulling Does Not Necessarily Serve an Emotion Regulation Function in Adults With Trichotillomania
title_short Hair-Pulling Does Not Necessarily Serve an Emotion Regulation Function in Adults With Trichotillomania
title_sort hair-pulling does not necessarily serve an emotion regulation function in adults with trichotillomania
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8287019/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34290651
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675468
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