The Impact of Validating and Invalidating Responses on Emotional Reactivity

Along with individual factors, such as emotional reactivity and regulatory skill, a biosocial perspective of emotion regulation incorporates social factors, such as parent-child or romantic partner interactions, as key determinants of psychological outcomes. Consistent with this perspective, the current study tested whether two social factors, validating and invalidating responses, influenced affective and physiological reactions to stress while accounting for individual skill in regulating emotions. Hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated that participants exposed to invalidating responses experienced significantly higher levels of negative affect, heart rate, and skin conductance over time when compared to participants exposed to validating responses. Results are discussed as support for models incorporating social factors as key determinants of individual emotional reactivity and regulation.