Differential patterns of emotion regulation in sexual minority adolescents in residential treatment

Eleanor M Schuttenberg; Brianna Pastro; Caroline Kelberman; Julia E Cohen-Gilbert; Elena R Stein; Maya Rieselbach; Jennifer T Sneider; Jennifer B Blossom; Alex S Keuroghlian; Marisa M Silveri

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.11.028

Differential patterns of emotion regulation in sexual minority adolescents in residential treatment

J Affect Disord. 2025 Feb 1:370:511-518. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.11.028. Epub 2024 Nov 9.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA; Neurodevelopmental Laboratory on Addictions and Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
² Department of Psychology, Fordham University, New York, NY, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Neurodevelopmental Laboratory on Addictions and Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
⁵ Neurodevelopmental Laboratory on Addictions and Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; The Fenway Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Neurodevelopmental Laboratory on Addictions and Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA. Electronic address: msilveri@mclean.harvard.edu.

PMID: 39528148
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.11.028

Abstract

Objective: Sexual minority adolescents experience disproportionate mental health problems, including increased anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Minority Stress Theory posits that sexual minority people experience significantly more stress (e.g., via discrimination or prejudice) in their everyday lives, which can underlie these mental health disparities. Though group differences in mental health symptoms are well-documented, there has been less focus on symptom trajectories, which is critical for identifying effective mental health interventions.

Method: Seventy adolescents ages 13-19 years enrolled in a short-term, acute residential psychiatric treatment program provided self-report measures of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and emotion regulation difficulties at baseline, discharge (∼2 weeks), and one-month post-treatment follow-up. Adolescents self-reported sexual orientation and were stratified into sexual minority (SM, n = 37) or heterosexual (n = 33) groups.

Results: Depressive and anxiety symptoms and emotion dysregulation scores were significantly reduced at follow-up, compared to baseline. While there were no significant group x time interactions for depressive and anxiety symptoms, the SM group entered the program with worse emotion dysregulation scores, which improved more over time compared to the heterosexual group.

Conclusion: These findings show that although sexual minority individuals can make substantial gains during residential treatment, emotion regulation difficulties are a particularly relevant treatment target. Emotion regulation, a transdiagnostic construct that typically develops substantially during adolescence, might be of critical importance when identifying effective treatment interventions for sexual minority youth.

Limitations: Adolescents in this sample demonstrated limited racial diversity and likely displayed a higher degree of psychopathology than the general population.

Keywords: Acute residential treatment; Adolescence; Emotion dysregulation; Sexual minority; Treatment outcomes.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety* / psychology
Depression* / psychology
Emotional Regulation*
Female
Humans
Male
Residential Treatment*
Sexual and Gender Minorities* / psychology
Young Adult