The Effects of Emotional Awareness on the Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents: Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies as Mediators

Abstract

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional awareness and psychological well-being in adolescents with cognitive emotion regulation strategies as mediators. Methods A total of 375 middle and high school students in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do participated. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess their emotional awareness, adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and psychological well-being. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlations, and regression analyses in PROCESS macro. Results First, emotional awareness was related to both cognitive emotion regulation strategies and psychological well-being. Also, adaptive strategies for regulating emotions were strongly related to psychological well-being, while maladaptive strategies were inversely related to psychological well-being. Second, both adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies partially mediated the link between emotional awareness and psychological well-being in adolescents. Conclusions These findings indicate that emotional awareness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies are important factors in improving the psychological well-being of adolescents. Keywords: emotional awareness, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, psychological well-being, adolescents