Recent advances in the genetics of emotion regulation: a review

• Twin studies of emotion regulation (ER) have yielded modest heritability estimates.
• Molecular studies of ER have been limited to candidate gene studies.
• Future research should include larger sample sizes and a more agnostic genotyping.

Recent attention has been given to the role of emotion regulation in the development and maintenance of psychopathology, and the psychosocial literature on emotion regulation has been growing rapidly over the past decade. However, knowledge about the genetic etiology of emotion regulation facets has been slower to develop. The present paper aims to briefly introduce the various constructs that fall under the umbrella of emotion regulation; provide an overview of behavioral genetic methods; summarize the empirical studies of emotion regulation twin studies; introduce molecular genetic methods; review the recent molecular genetic studies on emotion regulation; and provide future directions for research.