1. Difficulties in Emotion Regulation
MILLENNIAL COUPLES: TO WHAT EXTENT DOES PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS & EMOTION REGULATION PREDICT DYADIC COPING?
Marangelie Velez, Gilarys Garcia, Alexandra Bautista, and Dr. Dalena Dillman Taylor
Marriage and Family Research Institute, College of Education and Human Performance
METHODS CONT.
RESULTS CONT.
PURPOSE
Participants:
N = 382, low-income, diverse population, ages 25-34,
Participants that reported being in a relationship 
Project Harmony aims to improve relationship satisfaction, communication, and conflict resolution for individuals and couples through relationship education workshops.
Purpose:
Examine what percentage of dyadic coping is accounted for by total scores on instruments measuring psychological distress and emotion regulation in this given population
Research Question:
To what extent does psychological distress and emotion regulation predict dyadic coping for millennial couples (ages 25-34)?
Descriptive Statistics M SD
DCI
RAW SCORE
127.93
21.38
OQ-45
42.48
25.55
DERS
73.28
23.03
ABSTRACT
The UCF Marriage and Family Research Institute is home to Project Harmony, a government funded, randomized-control trial that examines the effectiveness of relationship education for individuals and couples. The presenters will examine the effectiveness of relationship education on individuals’ and couples’ psychological distress as measured by the Outcome Questionnaire-45, the effectiveness of emotion regulation as measured by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and dyadic coping as measured by the Dyadic Coping Inventory, particularly for millennial participants. Although there is extensive research conducted on dyadic coping, few studies explored these factors with millennials. The presenters will evaluate the extent to which psychological distress and emotion regulation predict dyadic coping in millennial couples.
Regression Table β
Significance
Confidence Intervals
TOTAL OQ-45
-.470
.000
(-.567, -.372)
TOTAL DERS
-.038
.492
(-.146, .070)
Psychological
Distress
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation
Dyadic Coping
METHODS
Instruments:
Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI):
Measures partner’s self-report of his/her own self and their partner’s behavior
Measures common dyadic coping during the experience of a common stressor
Outcome Questionnaire-45.2 (OQ-45):
Measures the psychological distress in 3 sub-scales: Social Role, Interpersonal Relations, and Symptoms Distress
Describes unpleasant emotions that interfere with normal functioning
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS):
Emotion regulation problems can impact functioning in several areas of life including social functioning, personal well-being, and interpersonal relationships.
It is used to assess abilities to identify, differentiate, and accept emotional experiences, engage in goal-directed behavior, inhibit impulsive behavior, and use effective emotional modulation strategies.
DISCUSSION
While emotion regulation may play a role in dyadic coping, our instrument measured only difficulties in emotion regulation; and this may be a reason why it did not account for a large portion of the variance.
Psychological distress influences multiple aspects of ones functioning (anxiety, depression, interpersonal relationships and social roles) which may have a significant impact on ones ability to cope effectively within a relationship.
The scales that measured psychological distress and emotional regulation may measure similar constructs, resulting in a commonality of measurement.
For example, both assessments questioned whether or not one has experienced overwhelming emotions (happiness, anger, fear, sadness)
Future research should explore the unaccounted constructs that make up the remaining 65% of dyadic coping mechanisms, such as relationship satisfaction. 
RESULTS
Results indicated that 35 percent of the variance in dyadic coping can be accounted for by psychological distress and difficulties in emotion regulation.
Results indicated that psychological distress (β= .47) was a significant predictor of dyadic coping compared to emotional regulation (β= .03)
Psychological distress hence accounted for the majority of dyadic coping in millennial couples
The clinical cutoff score for psychological distress is 63. Our sample indicated an average of 42.48, suggesting low levels of distress.
Average score for emotion regulation was 73.28, indicating lower levels of difficulties in emotional regulation (scores range from )
Results indicate millennials are not experiencing high levels of psychological distress or emotional regulation, but are within a normal range.
The clinical cutoff for dyadic coping is within 111 and 145. At , our population also exhibits normal levels of coping behaviors.
INTRODUCTION
Psychological Distress: describes unpleasant feelings or emotions that affect one’s level of functioning
Although commonly characterized by symptoms of depression and anxiety, other symptoms include: weight gain, anger management problems, obsessive thoughts or compulsions, decreased pleasure in sexual activities, hallucinations, delusions, and more1.
Dyadic Coping: is the act of couples being able to mitigate stress’ deleterious effects by dealing with hardships together2
Previous research suggests couples that are able to positively cope with stress together can alleviate negative effects of stress3
Emotion regulation: is the conscious or non-conscious control of emotion, mood, or affect4.
Millennials: make up almost a quarter of all Americans; defined as individuals born between , they face unique stressors that may influence psychological distress such as economic hardship, engaging in unhealthy behaviors, and lack of family support5.
Procedure:
Participants were randomly assigned to waitlist or intervention groups.
All participants in relationships were given the questionnaire assessments regardless of group assignment.
The researchers conducted a linear regression analysis to determine to what extent does psychological distress and emotion regulation predict dyadic coping for millennial couples.
All assumptions were met prior to conducting the regression analysis.
REFERENCES
Williams, Y. (2017). What is psychological distress? - definition & symptoms. Retrieved February , 2018, from
Randall, A. K., & Schoebi, D. (2015). Lean on me: susceptibility to partner affect attenuates psychological distress over a 12-month period. Emotion, 15(2), doi: /emo
Randall, A. K., Hilpert, P., Jimenez-Arista, L. E., Walsh, K. J., & Bodenmann, G. (2015). Dyadic coping in the U.S.: psychometric properties and validity for use of the English version of the Dyadic Coping Inventory. Current Psychology, 35(4), doi: /s
Kowalczyk, D. (n.d.). Emotion regulation: definition, theory & strategies. Retrieved March 02, 2018, from
Bland, Helen W., Bridget F. Melton, Paul D. Welle, Lauren E. Bigham Stress tolerance: new challenges for the millennial college students. College Student Journal, 46 (2):
Model Summaryᵇ
Model R
R Square
Adjusted R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate 1
.591ᵃ
.350
.346
Funding for this project was provided by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Grant: # 90FM0078. These services are available to all eligible persons, regardless of race, gender, age, disability, or religion. Project Harmony is classified as a research study at the University of Central Florida, UCF IRB SBE This study is under the direction of Dr. Sejal Barden, Principal Investigator, Dr. Dalena Dillman Taylor, Co-Principal Investigator and Dr. Mark Young, Co-Principal Investigator,