A correlational study on emotional regulation and psychiatric distress in a non-clinical sample

Abstract

This study investigates the relationships between emotion regulation strategies—cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression—and psychiatric distress among adults aged 18-40, utilizing a sample size of 100 participants (including both males and females). The research employed the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) to assess emotion regulation strategies and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) to measure psychiatric distress. Spearman’s rank-order correlation analysis revealed that cognitive reappraisal was negatively correlated with psychiatric distress (r = -0.35, p < 0.01), suggesting that individuals who frequently use cognitive reappraisal experience lower levels of distress. In contrast, expressive suppression was positively correlated with psychiatric distress (r = 0.42, p < 0.01), indicating that those who frequently engage in expressive suppression report higher levels of distress. These findings highlight the differential impacts of these emotion regulation strategies on mental health, underscoring the protective role of cognitive reappraisal and the potential risks associated with expressive suppression. The study's limitations include its correlational design and a sample size of 101, which may limit the generalizability of the results. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies, incorporate more diverse populations, and explore experimental interventions to further elucidate these relationships.