Behavioral inhibition: relation to negative emotion regulation and reactivity

The present experimental psychopathology study sought to address two interrelated theoretical predictions from behavioral inhibition theory and research among young adults. The first was whether individual differences in behavioral inhibition, as indexed by the Behavioral Inhibition Sensitivity (Carver & White, 1994) would relate to negative emotional reactivity elicited by a cognitive stressor. The second aim was to examine how individual differences in behavioral inhibition relate to rumination, a response style associated with prolonged periods of negative affect, particularly depression. Consistent with our hypotheses, behavioral inhibition, relative to other theoretically relevant variables (e.g. basal levels of negative affect), predicted cognitive-affective reactivity as well as a rumination response style. These findings are discussed in relation to understanding how behavioral inhibition is associated with prototypical indices of emotional distress, with implications for forwarding future work with specific types of emotional disorders.