Abstract
Objectives
Emotion regulation (ER) is important for psychological well-being. While previous research has focused on intrapersonal ER, few studies address intrapersonal and interpersonal ER concurrently. Using a person-centered approach, this study aimed to identify subgroups of college students based on different intra- and interpersonal ER profiles and examine how ER profiles related to psychological well-being.
Methods
This cross-sectional study included 548 Chinese college students. Self-reported questionnaires were used to collect levels of intra- and interpersonal ER, and psychological well-being (i.e., valued living, depressive and anxiety symptoms, positive and negative affect). Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify different intra- and interpersonal ER profiles. We used three-step multinomial regression analyses to explore how socio-demographic variables related to ER profiles, and applied the Bolck–Croon–Hagenaars approach to examine how the ER profiles related to psychological well-being.
Results
Five distinct profiles were identified: “low ER” (6.9%), “moderate intrapersonal ER” (14.4%), “average ER” (31.6%), “high ER with frequent expressive suppression use” (25.9%), and “adaptive high ER” (21.2%). Females and individuals in relationship were more likely to report “adaptive high ER” profile. People with an “adaptive high ER” profile reported best psychological well-being.
Conclusions
We identified five profiles with different combinations of six facets of intra- and interpersonal ER. People with distinct profiles differed in psychological well-being. An engagement in relationship may enhance adaptive emotion regulation. Future research should adopt a longitudinal design and explore factors predicting adaptive ER strategies.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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The current research was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Number: GK202401010). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation.
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Yanze Li and Lei Zhu conceived and designed the study together. YunLei Yu, Yaokun Duan, Yanze Li, and Yufei Shao collected and analysis data. Yanze Li and YunLei Yu discussed and cowrote the draft the manuscript. Lei Zhu revised this article for science accuracy and clarity. All authors approved the final version of this manuscript.
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Li, Y., Yu, Y., Duan, Y. et al. The Interplay of Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Emotion Regulation Strategies in College Students. Cogn Ther Res 49, 262–272 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-024-10527-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-024-10527-4