Emotion regulation moderates the impact of state anxiety on psychological well-being in Turkish population during the COVID-19 pandemic

KARABABA A.

Counselling Psychology Quarterly, vol.37, no.2, pp.316-332, 2024 (ESCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 37 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/09515070.2023.2217093
  • Journal Name: Counselling Psychology Quarterly
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, ASSIA, PASCAL, CINAHL, EBSCO Education Source, Educational research abstracts (ERA), Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, Psycinfo
  • Page Numbers: pp.316-332
  • Keywords: cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, psychological well-being, State anxiety, the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Uşak University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The current study aimed to examine the extent to which the relationship between state anxiety and psychological well-being was moderated by emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) during the COVID-19 outbreak. The data set included 520 participants from Turkish university students (282 females, 238 males) aged 18 to 25 (Mage = 21,04 years, SD = 1,59). The study was conducted utilizing a web-based cross-sectional research design. The self-reported questionnaires were administered to the participants via Google Forms with a socio-demographic information sheet. The snowball sampling strategy was employed. The findings showed significant relationships among state anxiety, emotion regulation strategies, and psychological well-being. More importantly, emotion regulation strategies moderated the relationship between state anxiety and psychological well-being. The negative relationship between state anxiety and psychological well-being appeared to increase if individuals utilized low levels of cognitive reappraisal and high levels of expressive suppression.