Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies Moderate the Effects of Acculturative Stress on Affective Symptoms Among Chinese International Students in Japan

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigated interrelationships of negative mood regulation expectancies (NMREs), stressors, and affective symptoms among Chinese international students in Japan. NMREs represent one's confidence that one can reduce the intensity of the unpleasant moods one experiences. Data were collected from 527 participants using self‐report measures of NMREs, university stress, acculturative stress, depression, and anxiety. Results showed that NMREs buffered the effects on distress of acculturative stress but not of university stress: stronger NMREs protected international students from the negative consequences of acculturative stress. This suggests that being more confident in their emotion regulation made Chinese international students less vulnerable to the negative affective consequences of acculturative stress but not university stress. This difference may be because, for international students, acculturative stress is less personally controllable than university stress. Consequently, when active coping attempts fail to ameliorate one's stress, simply believing that one can make oneself feel better—stronger NMREs—may mitigate the effects of an uncontrollable stressor on one's well‐being. One implication of this research is that raising the NMREs of international students may reduce their risk of distress.