Emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use

Tylah E. Johnston; James J. Gross; Wai Chen; Peter McEvoy; Rodrigo Becerra; David A. Preece

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2025.113066

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Emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use

Tylah E. Johnston, James J. Gross, Wai Chen, Peter McEvoy, Rodrigo Becerra and David A. Preece

Personality and individual differences, Vol.240, 113066

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113066

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Abstract

Emotion regulation is essential for mental health, and it is thus important to understand the factors influencing emotion regulation. One such factor is thought to be beliefs about emotions; however, there is presently limited data testing this. The aim of this study was therefore to comprehensively examine the links between beliefs about emotions (specifically, the controllability and usefulness of emotions) and people's usage of a wide range of emotion regulation strategies. Participants (N = 579, Mage = 22.69 years, 75.10 % female) completed psychometric self-report measures of emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use. Correlation analyses revealed stronger beliefs about emotions being uncontrollable or useless were significantly associated with lesser use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and greater use of some maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Latent profile analysis revealed seven profiles, each varying in their levels of maladaptive emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use. Profiles with more maladaptive beliefs were generally associated with lower use of adaptive and higher use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Overall, our findings suggest associations between maladaptive emotion beliefs and maladaptive patterns in emotion regulation. This highlights the potential importance of considering emotion beliefs in the conceptualisation and treatment of emotion regulation problems and emotional disorders.

Details

Title: Emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use
Authors/Creators: Tylah E. Johnston - Curtin University
James J. Gross - Stanford University
Wai Chen - The University of Notre Dame Australia
Peter McEvoy - Curtin University
Rodrigo Becerra - The University of Western Australia, School of Psychological Science
David A. Preece - Curtin University
Publication Details: Personality and individual differences, Vol.240, 113066
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd.
Number of pages: 7
Grant note: Curtin School of Population Health Publication Award
The first author was the recipient of a Curtin School of Population Health Publication Award.
Identifiers: 991005751329407891
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Psychology
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 1 Clinical & Life Sciences; 1.7 Neuroscanning; 1.7.354 Emotion Perception
Web Of Science research areas: Psychology, Social
ESI research areas: Psychiatry/Psychology