Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea.
Cogn Emot. 2024 Sep;38(6):841-856. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2334833. Epub 2024 Mar 28.
Individuals' beliefs about the malleability of emotions have been theorised to play a role in their psychological distress by influencing emotion regulation processes, such as the use of emotion regulation strategies. We conducted a meta-analysis to test this idea across studies with a focus on the relationships between emotion malleability beliefs and five distinct emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal, suppression, avoidance, rumination, and acceptance. Further, using two-stage meta-analytic structural equation modelling (TSSEM), we examined whether the emotion regulation strategies mediate the cross-sectional relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and psychological distress across studies. Thirty-seven studies were included in the meta-analyses and 55 cross-sectional studies were included in the TSSEM. Results demonstrated that, across studies, emotion malleability beliefs were significantly associated with greater use of putatively helpful strategies (particularly with cognitive reappraisal) and less use of putatively unhelpful strategies (particularly with avoidance). The use of cognitive reappraisal and avoidance partially mediated the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and psychological distress. These results highlight the importance of considering beliefs about the malleability of emotions in the context of emotion regulation. These findings suggest the potential role of emotion malleability beliefs in interventions for individuals with emotion regulation-related difficulties and psychological distress.
个体对情绪可塑的信念被认为通过影响情绪调节过程（如情绪调节策略的使用）在其心理困扰中发挥作用。我们进行了荟萃分析，以检验这一观点在研究中的一致性，重点关注情绪可塑信念与五种不同的情绪调节策略之间的关系：认知重评、抑制、回避、反刍和接纳。此外，我们使用两阶段元分析结构方程模型（TSSEM），检验了情绪可塑信念与心理困扰之间的横断面关系是否通过情绪调节策略在研究中发生中介作用。元分析包括 37 项研究，TSSEM 包括 55 项横断面研究。结果表明，在研究中，情绪可塑信念与更广泛地使用假定有益的策略（特别是认知重评）和较少使用假定无益的策略（特别是回避）显著相关。认知重评和回避的使用部分中介了情绪可塑信念和心理困扰之间的关系。这些结果强调了在情绪调节背景下考虑情绪可塑信念的重要性。这些发现表明，情绪可塑信念在针对情绪调节相关困难和心理困扰的个体干预中可能具有重要作用。
