The role of emotion regulation in mental health during the COVID‐19 outbreak: A 10‐wave longitudinal study (original) (raw)
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Current Psychology
Although the COVID-19 crisis is a worldwide threat to individuals' physical health and psychological well-being, not all people are equally susceptible to increased ill-being. One potentially important factor in individuals' vulnerability (versus resilience) to ill-being in the face of stress is emotion regulation. On the basis of Self-Determination Theory, this study examined the role of three emotion regulation styles in individuals' mental health during the COVID-19 crisis, that is, integration, suppression, and dysregulation. Participants were 6584 adults (77% female, M age = 45.16 years) who filled out well-validated measures of emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and sleep quality. To examine naturally occurring combinations of emotion regulation strategies, hierarchical k-means clustering was performed, yielding 3 profiles: (a) low scores on all strategies (indicating rather low overall levels of worry; 27%), (b) high scores on integration only (41%), and (c) high scores on suppression and dysregulation (32%). Participants in the profiles scoring high on suppression and dysregulation displayed a less favorable pattern of outcomes (high ill-being, low life satisfaction, and poorer sleep quality) compared to the other two groups. Between-cluster differences remained significant even when taking into account the corona-related worries experienced by people. Overall, the findings underscore the important role of emotion regulation in individuals' mental health during mentally challenging periods such as the COVID-19 crisis. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2023
Background: Maintaining good mental health is important during a crisis. However, little attention has been given to how people achieve this, or how they evaluate emotions associated with stressors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to (1) investigate whether emotion regulation, in particular cognitive reappraisal and suppression, moderates the relationship between COVID-19 stress and general mental distress and (2) examine gender differences in the interrelations between COVID-19 stress, emotion regulation, and mental distress. Methods: Data from a population in Norway (n = 1.225) were collected using a cross-sectional survey during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emotion regulation was measured using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire Scale (ERQ), COVID-19 stress with the COVID-19 Stress Scale, and mental distress with the Patient Health Questionnaire 4 (PHQ-4). Moderation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results: There was a strong association between COVID-19 stress and general mental distress (r = 0.61). The moderation analyses showed substantial moderation effects of cognitive reappraisal and suppression on the relationship between COVID-19 stress and mental distress. Cognitive reappraisal served as a buffer (p = 0.001) and suppression (p = 0.002) exacerbated the relation between COVID-19 stress and mental distress. Men had higher scores of suppression (p < 0.001), and women had higher scores of cognitive reappraisal (p = 0.025). The buffering effect of cognitive reappraisal presented itself only in women (p < 0.001), while the exacerbation effect of suppression appeared only in men (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The current study suggests that COVID-19 pandemic-related stress is easier to deal with for those who have the tendency to cognitively reappraise. In contrast, suppression is associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Current Psychology
The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing negative consequences on mental health around the globe. To date, research on what psychological factors could influence individuals’ distress is still scarce. The current study aims to test a multiple mediation model to examine the role of Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) and emotional regulation (i.e., expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal) as joint factors, which can increase understanding of psychological distress due to the COVID-19 outbreak. An online survey measuring fear of COVID-19, IU, emotional regulation, and psychological distress was administered to 3863 Italian adults (females 73.3%; Mage = 36.44; SD = 14.74) during lockdown. Results showed that IU partially mediated the effect of fear of COVID-19 on depression, anxiety and stress. Moreover, individuals with difficulties in managing the uncertainties due to their fear of COVID-19 may be at risk for heightened use of expressive suppression and depression. However, individua...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
Objectives: To explore psychological problems (Anxiety, Depression and Stress) in general population during Covid-19 pandemic. To find predictive effects of cognitive emotion regulation on psychological problems. Methodology: Convenient sampling technique was used to obtain the sample of 500 participants (Male = 239, Female = 261). Research instrument consists of four parts. First part comprised of consent form, second part was about demographic profile, third part was Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale (DASS-21) while Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was the last part of the instrument. Results: SPSS 23.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version was used for study analysis. Descriptive statistics used to summarize the raw data. The inferential statistics such as regression, correlation and t-test were used to calculate the findings according to research objectives. Results indicated that 33%, 40% and 27% individuals were experiencing Depression, Anxiety and Stress respectively during Covid-19 pandemic. Among these participants, 48% (N = 242) were experiencing normal level of all these targeted psychological problems while remaining 52% (N = 258) respondents have mild to very severe level of all these disorders. Furthermore, findings of linear regression analysis illustrated that cognitive emotion regulation significantly predicts psychological problems [R 2 =.216; F = 51.223, p < .01] and 21% variation in psychological problems is due to cognitive emotion regulation. Conclusion: This study recommended that policy makers must develop and implement some necessary programmes to prevent and cure people from devastating psychological and mental health consequences of covid-19 on priority basis.
One wave or another in the pandemic: Psychological well-being during the third COVID-19 wave
2021
After a year from the emergence of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on February 2020, between March and May 2021 Italy faced its third wave of infections. Previous studies have shown that in the first phases of the pandemic certain factors had a protective role against distress. However, as the months in the pandemic went by, people’s feelings and experiences significantly changed and little is known regarding the role of possible protective variables after prolonged pandemic situations. In the present study we aimed to investigate the impact of several behavioral variables on individuals’ mental states and emotions experienced during the third COVID-19 wave in Italy. 454 Italian adults were asked questions regarding the intensity of mental states and emotions experienced, the perceived usefulness of lockdown, the feeling of living a normal life, and the coping strategies implemented to face the pandemic. Using a data driven approach, we calculated the best model on the participat...
Current Psychology
center of the country's agenda. Turkey has raised the alarm level after the announcement of COVID-19. Collective events have been canceled. Social connections are severely restricted. Social life has come to a standstill. Unprecedented measures, such as quarantine and lockdown have affected many aspects of the lives of the general population. This great epidemic that has swept the world, of course, will have negative effects. Researchers are concerned with the psychological aspects (Li et al., 2022; Pakpour & Griffiths, 2020; Satici vd., 2021; Waterschoot et al., 2022) as well as biological aspects of the virus. Psychology is an integral part of physiology. Whereas outbreaks not only negatively affect the physical health of individuals, but also affect the psychological health and well-being of uninfected individuals (Wang et al., 2020). Therefore, there is a need to identify risk and protective factors that have contributed to psychological distress. It is important to investigate the psychological impacts of COVID-19 to prevent, identify, and manage psychological disorders and to reduce psychological morbidity. Also, the course and results of pandemics, which pose a serious risk for mental health globally, remain uncertain in the long term. This situation poses a threat to the certainty, predictability, sense of control, emotion regulation.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2020
Both cognitive appraisals of risks associated with the specific disease and affective response to crisis situations have been shown to shape an individual response to pandemics. COVID-19 pandemic and measures introduced to contain it present an unparalleled challenge to mental well-being worldwide. Here, we examine the relationship between self-reported cognitive biases (CB) and emotion regulation skills (ER), COVID-19 risk perception and affective response, and mental well-being (MWB). Five Hundred and Eleven individuals completed General Health Questionnaire, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Davos Assessment of Cognitive Biases Scale (DACOBS) as well as scales measuring COVID-19 risk perception and affective response during the initial days of the epidemic in Poland. We used path and bootstrapping analyses to examine the hypothesis that CB may shape MWB during COVID-19 pandemic both directly and indirectly by (i) decreasing ER capacity and (ii) by increasing COVID-19 risk perception and affective response. Negative effect of CB and positive effect of ER via cognitive reappraisal on MWB were observed in participants. Furthermore, in line with our hypothesis, we observed indirect effects of CB via increased COVID-19 risk perception and affective response and decreased use of reappraisal strategy, which all, in turn, were related to MWB. Finally, we found an indirect effect of CB on MWB through double mediation of suppression strategies and COVID-19 affective response. Results of the current study suggest that CB, which have been shown to be linked to a variety of mental health symptoms in non-clinical populations, may exacerbate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health outcomes.
Psychological wellbeing during the global COVID-19 outbreak
PsyArXiv, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to wellbeing for people around the world. Here, we examine which individual and societal factors can predict the extent to which individuals suffer or thrive during the COVID-19 outbreak, with survey data collected from 26,684 participants in 51 countries from 17 April to 15 May 2020. We show that wellbeing is linked to an individual’s recent experiences of specific momentary positive and negative emotions, including love, calm, determination, and loneliness. Higher socioeconomic status was associated with better wellbeing. The present study provides a rich map of emotional experiences and wellbeing around the world during the COVID-19 outbreak, and points to calm, connection, and control as central to our wellbeing at this time of collective crisis.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 has largely impacted individuals' health and lifestyles. This study aimed to investigate people's psychological well-being during the second phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We selected six indicators of psychological well-being: fear of COVID-19, loneliness, social interaction anxiety, generalized anxiety, PTSD, and depression. A sample of 231 Italian participants (56.3% women), with a mean age of 32.7 (SD=12.