Are individual differences linked to perceived stress? Does positive cognitive reappraisal, anxiety sensitivity, or sex matter?

Both secular and religious resources and coping strategies have been shown to alleviate distress post-bereavement, but few studies have directly compared their relative contributions to adjustment, which is the aim of the present study. Structural equation modeling examined direct and indirect pathways from resources through coping to outcomes in 168 recently bereaved individuals identifying as Christian. Mindfulness directly predicted lower depression and grief and higher Christian flourishing. Religious commitment directly predicted higher Christian flourishing and indirectly predicted Christian flourishing (through religious coping) and grief (through both positive reappraisal and religious coping). Coping strategies of seeking emotional social support, positive reappraisal, and religious coping were positively associated with grief symptoms, perhaps reflecting active grief processing. Considering secular and religious resources and coping together yields important information about bereavement adjustment. Findings suggest the importance of supporting both mindfulness-based interventions and religious coping practices for bereaved Christians while normalizing grief experiences.

BackgroundHealthcare personnel exhibit higher levels of anxiety and depression, with differences in the use of coping strategies to manage stressful situations.AimsTo assess which coping strategies, sociodemographic factors and job-related variables predict anxiety and/or depression among healthcare professionals.MethodA total of 744 participants, including physicians, nurses and nursing assistants were involved in a cross-sectional study.ResultsThe ordinary least squares estimator was used to estimate the parameters. The results identified negative self-focus (β = 0.42, β = 0.45, p < 0.001), positive reappraisal (β = −0.20, β = −0.30, p < 0.001) and open emotional expression (β = 0.12, p < 0.001; β = 0.08, p < 0.01), as coping strategies significantly associated with anxiety and depression. Additionally, seeking social support was related to depressive symptoms (β = −0.02, p < 0.01), but not of anxiety. Interestingly, avoidant coping was associated with lower levels of both anxiety and depression (β = −0.14, p < 0.001). The absence of family responsibilities was associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression (β = −0.11, β = −0.10, p < 0.001). Being male was linked to lower anxiety levels (β = −0.11, p < 0.001), while being female was associated with greater depressive symptoms (β = 0.09, p < 0.01). Holding the position of nursing assistant was identified as a variable associated with anxiety and depression (β = 0.08, p < 0.05; β = 0.06, p < 0.05).ConclusionsThese results are essential for tailoring interventions aimed at occupational health.

Depression and hopelessness during pregnancy may be intensified by public health crises, yet less is known about how pregnancy- and pandemic-related stressors differ across successive COVID-19 waves. This study examined depressive symptoms, hopelessness, self-efficacy, and COVID-19-related concerns among pregnant women in Hungary during two independent cross-sectional pandemic waves. A total of 692 pregnant women participated in Wave 1 and 459 in Wave 2. Participants completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the study-specific "Pregnancy during the coronavirus" questionnaire. EPDS categories did not differ significantly between waves; 11.8% of participants in Wave 1 and 10.5% in Wave 2 fell into the major depressive symptom range. Mild hopelessness was reported by 31.1% and 26.4%, and moderate/severe hopelessness by 3.2% and 3.3%, respectively. Confinement-related difficulties and daily disruption, as well as perceived support and positive reappraisal, were higher in Wave 1 than Wave 2, both p < 0.001. In Wave 2, unplanned or unwanted pregnancy was associated with higher depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and financial/housing concerns. Emotional distress and impaired coping was the strongest predictor of EPDS and BHS scores, while self-efficacy was a consistent negative predictor. These findings support pregnancy-sensitive mental health screening during public health crises.

Enhancing psychological resilience in cyberbullying victims through AI-guided cognitive reappraisal.

ABSTRACT Stress-related disorders like depression and anxiety highlight the need for prevention, prompting increased research into various risk and protective factors associated with psychological distress. This study aimed to identify key factors and their strongest associations with distress symptoms within a comprehensive network model of self-reported and behaviorally measured variables. We analyzed interactions between cognitive biases, emotion regulation strategies, emotions, beliefs, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in a cross-sectional sample of 489 participants (78% female) from the general Romanian population using network analysis. Findings indicate that negative emotions, stress, and positive reappraisal were the most highly connected variables to the rest of the network (based on expected influence centrality index). Bridge analyses suggest that stress statistically connects between functional and dysfunctional negative emotions and their associations with mental health factors. Additionally, positive emotions, interpretation bias, and rational beliefs are key in this interplay. These results highlight stress and negative emotions as highly connected nodes in the estimated psychological network, which may guide hypothesis generation for future longitudinal and intervention research.

Catastrophizing versus positive reappraisal: The cognitive depletion effects of workplace incivility.

Screens and strategies: Testing interventions for adolescents‘ digital self-regulation competence

Siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at increased risk of psychosocial difficulties due to altered family dynamics and parental stress. However, the mechanisms linking ASD severity, parental psychopathology, and sibling outcomes remain unclear. This study aimed to identify determinants of psychosocial problems among siblings of children with ASD using a family-systems framework and structural equation modeling (SEM). A case-control study was conducted with 67 siblings of children with ASD (ASD-Sibs) and 67 siblings of typically developing children (TD-Sibs), aged 6-18 years. ASD severity was rated using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Sibling depression, anxiety, and emotion regulation were assessed using the Child Depression Inventory (CDI), Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories (BDI, BAI), and Family Assessment Device (FAD). SEM was used to examine predictors of sibling psychosocial outcomes. ASD-Sibs reported significantly higher depressive and anxiety symptoms than TD-Sibs. SEM revealed that maternal depression and general family functioning were significant predictors of sibling depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems. ASD severity indirectly influenced sibling outcomes through maternal depression and anxiety. Positive reappraisal emerged as a protective factor against anxiety. Maternal psychological well-being and family functioning are key determinants of psychosocial adjustment among ASD-Sibs. Autism severity affects siblings indirectly via maternal psychopathology, underscoring the importance of holistic, family-centered interventions to promote resilience in families of children with ASD.

Depressive symptoms are typically associated with less successful emotion regulation (ER) in daily life but not when instructed to use specific ER strategies in controlled settings. Less is known about how depressive symptoms are associated with ER in standardized contexts when regulators can select their own strategy. Such contexts may be associated with less impairment in ER, as they control for qualitative differences in everyday life. The present study examines depressive symptoms, ER strategy use, and ER success in an age-diverse community sample (N = 124; age 25-83; data collected in 2018). Participants viewed emotional clips under prohedonic ER instructions (i.e., feel more positive and less negative) with no strategy provided. They rated their emotions and use of six ER strategies (savoring, distraction, positive reappraisal, detached reappraisal, bodily awareness, expressive suppression) after each clip. Depressive symptoms were only associated with lower use of savoring and bodily awareness and not associated with ER success (indexed by emotion experience). Use of bodily awareness predicted lower ER success among those higher in depressive symptoms, but no other effects of strategy use varied by depressive symptoms. Generally, use of savoring and positive reappraisal was associated with higher ER success, whereas distraction, detached reappraisal, and expressive suppression were associated with lower ER success. Findings suggest that in a controlled setting, depressive symptoms did not strongly predict selection (i.e., use) or effectiveness (i.e., success) of ER strategies, with the exceptions of less savoring as well as less use and effectiveness of bodily awareness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

A diagnosis of breast cancer is considered a highly psychologically distressing event, and coping with the disease constitutes a major challenge. Levels of psychological distress are often very high immediately after diagnosis. Cervical cancer is the most common malignant tumor in the global gynecological reproductive tract system among. The study was conducted among 155 females diagnosed with breast cancer and cervical cancer who underwent surgical treatment and took place between January 2024 and December 2025. The diagnostic survey method was employed, along with the following research tool: the Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (Mini-MAC), and self-administered questionnaire. Patients diagnosed with breast cancer achieved the highest scores in the fighting spirit domain (M = 22.1; SD = 3.0), whereas patients with cervical cancer obtained the highest scores in the anxious preoccupation strategy (M = 20.1; SD = 2.4). The domains of anxious preoccupation, fighting spirit, helplessness-hopelessness, and positive reappraisal, analyzed in relation to the type of total surgical procedure performed in breast cancer were most frequently differentiated by the sociodemographic factor of education level. Other sociodemographic variables influenced only individual coping strategies. The education level of the respondents in breast cancer also significantly affected the constructive and destructive coping styles as defined by the Mini-MAC. The Mini-MAC showed that women with breast cancer more often activated a constructive coping style, and the highest scores in this group were observed for positive strategies. In contrast, women with cervical cancer more frequently activated a destructive coping style and negative strategies.

Classic serotonergic psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin show promising antidepressant effects in controlled trials, but real-world data from routine clinical care remain limited. This study retrospectively analysed routine data from adults with treatment-resistant depressive and/or anxiety disorders who received a first standardized Psychedelic-assisted Psychotherapy (PAP) cycle with 100 µg LSD or 25 mg psilocybin at a Swiss university hospital (May 2024-October 2025). Self-reported depression (BDI) and trait anxiety (STAI-T) were assessed at screening, one month before treatment, and 1-3 months post-treatment. In a subset of participants, cognitive emotion regulation (CERQ) was assessed pre- and post-treatment. Subjective drug effects and adverse events were recorded on the treatment day. The sample consisted of 115 patients (56.5 % female; Mean age = 47.5 years). Depressive and anxiety symptoms significantly decreased over time (BDI: F(2178) = 63.50, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.42; STAI-T: F(1.74,145.9) = 16.97, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.17), with no main effect of substance. CERQ analyses indicated reduced self-blame, rumination and catastrophizing, and increased positive refocusing and reappraisal. Perceived intensity followed distinct temporal profiles for LSD and psilocybin, but comparable subjective drug effects and clinical outcomes. Adverse events were mostly mild and transient, with no serious complications or treatment discontinuations. In this compassionate-use real-world cohort, a first fully-active dose PAP session with LSD or psilocybin was well tolerated and associated with significant improvements in depressive and anxiety symptoms. These findings support the feasibility and effectiveness of PAP in specialised routine care.

The aim is to study the psychological content parameters regarding the relationships between coping strategies and occupational burnout among female IRC employees with different lengths of service. The sample consisted of randomly selected IRC employees, comprising a total of n = 105 individuals, aged 22 to 59, who held the positions of a director (n = 18; 17.14%) or specialist (n = 87; 82.86%). Moderate values of the parameters of coping strategies and occupational burnout were recorded. Significant differences were found between three clusters based on lengths of service: Cluster 1 – from three months to two years (n = 35); Cluster 2 – from three to five years (n = 35), and Cluster 3 – six years or more (n = 35). The superiority of Cluster 3 over the other two clusters was identified in the coping strategies “self-control” (p ≤ .050), “escape-avoidance” (p ≤ .050), and “positive reappraisal” (p ≤ .010), employing the Kruskal-Wallis Test (Н). Moreover, the superiority of Cluster 3 and Cluster 1 over Cluster 2 was recorded in the coping strategies “seeking social support” (p ≤ .050) and “planful problem-solving” (p ≤ .050). In occupational burnout, the only superiority of Cluster 3 over the other two clusters was identified for “emotional exhaustion” (p ≤ .050). Correlation matriх demonstrated sixteen direct correlations (p ≤ .050; p ≤ .010; p &lt; .001). “Emotional exhaustion” was found to be the most loaded parameter of occupational burnout, and “seeking social support” was found to be the most loaded coping strategy.

Background and purpose The aim is to study the role and function of junior athletes’ emotional intelligence in shaping productive strategies, including self-control, accepting responsibility, problem-solving planning, positive reappraisal, and social support. Material and methods The sample (n = 120) consisted of randomly selected junior male (n = 55; 45.83%) and female (n = 65; 54.17%) athletes with different qualifications, who were educated and trained at the academies of professional clubs and sports schools for children and youth, belonged to the country’s Olympic Reserve, had experience in participating in All-Ukrainian and international sports competitions, and were prize-winners in European and World championships. The respondents’ ages ranged from 15 to 19 years (М = 16.45; SD = ±2.97). Results It was substantiated that emotional intelligence, in shaping productive coping strategies, is a foundation for respondents’ emotional self-regulation. The profile of junior athletes’ emotional self-regulation was created. Psychological correlations between the studied parameters were established. The only inverse correlation between “accepting responsibility” and “self-motivation” was explained by respondents’ creative manifestations, which partially contradicts the coping strategy “accepting responsibility”. There was a caveat that empathy and social support are the most autonomous parameters that can pose a latent danger if their values are excessively high or low. The profile of emotional self-regulation was designed to control changes in these parameters. Based on the grouping variables of emotional intelligence, differences were found in two productive coping strategies: “self-control” – for the grouping variable “managing emotions” (t = -2.183; p = 0.031; d = -0.401) and “accepting responsibility” – for the grouping variable “self-motivation” (t = 2.382; p = 0.019; d = 0.436). It was substantiated that the parameters of emotional intelligence, “managing emotions” and “self-motivation”, are the most sensitive to shaping productive coping strategies. It was emphasised that the three factors resulting from dimensionality reduction, “self-motivational regulation”, “positive construction”, and “conscious control”, relevantly reflected the psychological content features of emotional self-regulation. Conclusions It was substantiated that research into junior athletes’ emotional intelligence in shaping productive coping strategies is a confirmatory empirical study, which allowed for establishing correlations, identifying significant advantages in productive coping strategies of self-control, accepting responsibility, problem-solving planning, positive reappraisal, and social support based on the grouping variables of emotional intelligence. It was summarised that the established scientific facts complement the theoretical knowledge of the formation of emotional self-regulation, the development of the emotional and volitional sphere, and the construction of worldviews in junior sports representatives.

Abstract This study examines the Turkish version of the Emotion Self-Regulation Questionnaire (ESQ) and its psychometric properties. In Study 1, validity and reliability analyses were conducted with a sample of 280 participants. Multidimensional multi-level Rasch analysis confirmed that the adapted ESQ maintained the original six-factor structure, resulting in 18-item scale assessing six emotion regulation strategies. The Cronbach's alpha and Expectation A Posteriori (EAP) reliability indicated sufficient internal consistency, while test-retest reliability showed a low to medium correlation. The ESQ demonstrated associations with mood regulation, perceived stress, well-being, and overall emotion regulation as expected. These findings establish the Turkish-adapted ESQ as a reliable and valid scale for assessing emotional regulation strategies. In Study 2, which included 275 participants, the moderating role of emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between perceived stress and depression was examined. Results revealed that positive reappraisal and controlled expression had an inhibitory effect on the perceived stress-depression relationship, while rumination and suppression showed an enhancing effect, consistent with expectations. The significance and limitations of the findings were discussed. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the psychometric properties of the Turkish ESQ and sheds light on the role of emotion regulation strategies in the context of perceived stress and depression.

Later-life transitions, such as retirement, present significant developmental milestones that challenge individuals to regulate shifting goals, identities, and resources. This longitudinal study examined the relationship between two forms of passion-harmonious passion and obsessive passion-and psychological functioning during the transition to retirement among 347 tenured university faculty members (Mage = 61.6). Guided by the dualistic model of passion and the motivational theory of lifespan development, the study tested whether adaptive primary and secondary control strategies mediate the relationship between passion and psychological functioning (well-being and ill-being) and whether these processes are moderated by perceived decline in professional expertise. Results from structural moderation and mediation analyses showed that harmonious passion facilitated greater use of secondary control strategies, particularly positive reappraisal, which was linked to enhanced well-being and reduced ill-being. These effects were magnified among individuals who perceived a decline in their expertise, suggesting that harmonious passion may foster adaptive flexibility in the face of normative losses. Obsessive passion was negatively related to self-regulation and unrelated to psychological outcomes. By integrating passion with lifespan models of control, this study highlights how motivational orientation influences self-regulatory processes and psychological functioning across key developmental transitions in adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Profound stressors such as the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of understanding resilience mechanisms and approaches for quantifying them in longitudinal studies. We used Bayesian mixed models to analyze resilience dynamics with ordinal dependent variables: subjective physical and mental health, and fear, sadness, and anger. The models included fixed effects for individual stressors and random intercepts for participants, applied to the Gutenberg-COVID-19 cohort study. There were 206,912 responses from 7386 participants (mean age 55.09years, 51.52% women) over one year (Oct 29, 2020 - Oct 25, 2021). Social stressors, such as loss of social contacts, had stronger negative associations with health and negative affects than work-related stress. Subjective health and emotions declined during lockdowns but quickly recovered afterward. Our longitudinal study design and mixed-model analysis highlight the role of social stress and encourage further research into protective factors like social support and positive reappraisal.

As young women in their 20s and 30s increasingly participate in stock investment despite generally conservative risk preferences, they face heightened emotional strain when encountering investment losses in volatile market environments. Existing research has tended to focus on the effects of emotional empathy messages on user experience, offering limited discussion of how users’ judgment experiences can be supported in goal-oriented decision-making contexts accompanied by negative emotions. Addressing this gap, the present study explores the effect of chatbot-based cognitive reappraisal messages on perceived decision quality among risk-averse female investors in their 20s and 30s under loss conditions. Using a scenario-based experiment with 48 participants, the study compares emotional empathy messages with three cognitive reappraisal messages—perspective taking, cognitive reinterpretation, and positive reappraisal—across dominant negative emotions of fear and anger. The results show that all three cognitive reappraisal messages yielded higher perceived decision quality compared to the emotional empathy message, and no significant interaction with emotional state was observed. These findings suggest that chatbot messages providing cognitive support may positively influence the subjective judgment experiences of young female investors in the investment loss context and may provide an initial basis for the design of financial chatbot messages and future research.

This study investigates the relationships among students’ socio-contextual ecosystems including interactions with parents, teachers, and society (i.e., participation in cocurricular activities), their dual-pathway self-regulatory strategies—emotional self-regulation (SR) and motivated learning strategies (MLS)—and their mathematics achievement emotions. Drawing on data from a sample of 1269 Chinese secondary school students, the findings indicate that all dimensions of parent–teacher–society interactions significantly predict students’ mathematics achievement emotions (i.e., enjoyment and anger) through the mediation of both emotional self-regulation strategies (i.e., positive reappraisal and rumination) and motivated learning strategies. Results in this study revealed a clear differential mediation pattern: teacher–student interactions exerted significant direct effects on students’ emotions alongside indirect effects through their self-regulation (partial mediation). In contrast, the impact of social cocurricular activities was fully mediated by students’ self-regulatory processes. Notably, parent–child interactions directly influenced enjoyment but only affected anger indirectly through self-regulation. These results unpack the “black box” of how socio-contextual ecosystems shape student well-being, highlighting the critical and distinct roles of dual self-regulation pathways. The study provides a novel theoretical framework for understanding achievement emotions and offers actionable insights for building supportive, sustainable learning environments that foster both emotional and academic resilience.

Organizing psychological support for athletes’ training, taking into account the personal qualities necessary for compatibility, is especially important in team sports, particularly volleyball, where teamwork is the key to success. In this regard, the development and implementation of recommendations for the formation of stress resistance and adaptive coping strategies in qualified volleyball players of different playing positions of particular importance. The aim of the study was to determine stress coping strategies in qualified female volleyball players of different game roles, taking into account the manifestation of their personal anxiety, stress level, self-regulation and adaptability. Methods. WCQ, “The Ways of Coping Questionnaire” by R. Lazarus and S. Folkman was used to determine stress coping strategies, and SCAT Scale was used to the pre-competition anxiety. The level of existing stress, the level of harmony and internal optimality of the neuromental state, the level of emotional stability, the ratio of sympathetic and parasympathetic dominance of activity in the autonomic nervous system in the examined female athletes were determined using the M. Luscher test. 44 qualified female volleyball players of different game roles aged 19 to 22 years (qualification – 6 masters of sports, 38 candidates for masters of sports) participated in the study. The results. The surveyed female athletes of different game roles did not differ in most coping strategies, however, among the obtained data, it is worth highlighting the differences between the selected groups of athletes on the “Distancing” scale: outside hitters and middle blockers demonstrated higher results on this scale than setters (p &lt; 0,05); a corresponding trend was established for opposite hitter and libero players compared to setters, however, these results did not reach the level of statistical significance. The prevalence of exclusively adaptive coping strategies was revealed, namely “Planning a problem solution”, “Accepting responsibility”, “Searching for social support”, “Positive reappraisal” and “Self-control”, in qualified female volleyball players. The obtained results may be useful for developing and implementing recommendations for the formation of stress resistance of female athletes in this sport in the process of psychological support of their training.