Association of Emotional Self-Regulation with Psychological Distress and Positive Functioning Dimensions in Brazilian University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Publisher: MDPI Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 101238455 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1660-4601 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 16604601 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Environ Res Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Basel : MDPI, c2004-

Emotional Regulation* ; COVID-19*/epidemiology ; Psychological Distress*; Humans ; Stress, Psychological/epidemiology ; Stress, Psychological/psychology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Universities ; Brazil/epidemiology ; Pandemics ; Prospective Studies ; Students/psychology

Emotional self-regulation is a relevant factor for human development capable of minimizing emotional difficulties in the face of adverse events, as was particularly useful during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study aimed to evaluate emotional self-regulation in Brazilian health science university students and its relationship with positive psychology constructs (subjective well-being, hope, optimism, spirituality, self-compassion, and self-efficacy) and psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress). This was a prospective, cross-sectional, observational, analytic study of 1062 Brazilian undergraduate students with data collected using self-administered online questionnaires. Students in the first years of their undergraduate degree programs had significantly higher dysregulation scores than those in the final years. Multiple linear regression yielded a model that explained 71.8% of the variation in emotion dysregulation. The correlations of emotion dysregulation were significant and strong, scoring negatively with self-compassion, optimism, and subjective well-being and positively with psychological distress.

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Keywords: COVID-19; emotional regulation; positive psychology; psychological distress; university students

Date Created: 20230729 Date Completed: 20230731 Latest Revision: 20230801

20240628

PMC10379342

10.3390/ijerph20146428

37510660