Che Musa Ahmad Nabil Sufi, Sarjit Singh Amriit Kaur, Ishak Cut Nyak Siti Hajar, Shanmugam Sundaram Suhan Raj, Mohd Salleh Sahimi Hajar, Petrus Chiara Francine, Somasegaran Sirobinii, Nik Jaafar Nik Ruzyanei
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The National University of Malaysia, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The National University of Malaysia, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2025 Sep;259:105406. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105406. Epub 2025 Aug 27.
Emotional regulation (ER) is defined as the ability to manage emotions based on how they are experienced, evaluated, and expressed. ER involves cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) strategies which are postulated to contribute to depression, anxiety, and stress. This study aims to explore the association between emotional regulation with depression, anxiety and stress among Malaysian undergraduate students. 278 undergraduate students from four faculties of a university in the Klang Valley randomly chosen using an online randomizer participated in an online cross-sectional study using convenient sampling. Participants completed the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Descriptive analysis examined sociodemographic data distribution. Bivariate analyses and multiple linear regression explored associations between emotional regulation and depression, anxiety and stress. Respondents were mainly females (67.3 %), Malay (51.4 %) and from the B40 socio-economic status (39.6 %). Nearly 1 in 5 (19.8 %) respondents fell into the moderate to extremely severe severity category for depression. 1 in 4 (27 %) respondents reported moderate to extremely severe anxiety. About 1 in 7 (14.7 %) respondents experienced moderate to extremely severe levels of stress. Expressive suppression was a significant positive predictor for depression (β = 0.466, p < 0.001), anxiety (β = 0.340, p < 0.001) and stress (β = 0.309, p < 0.001) while cognitive reappraisal significantly negatively predicted depression (β = -0.221, p = 0.002) and anxiety (β = -0.160, p = 0.027). The findings of this study emphasized the importance of emotional regulation skills in regulating mental health among students. A repeat study with larger sample size and further research is needed to develop effective intervention strategies.
情绪调节（ER）被定义为根据情绪的体验、评估和表达方式来管理情绪的能力。情绪调节涉及认知重评（CR）和表达抑制（ES）策略，这些策略被认为与抑郁、焦虑和压力有关。本研究旨在探讨马来西亚本科生情绪调节与抑郁、焦虑和压力之间的关联。使用在线随机化工具从巴生谷一所大学的四个学院中随机选取了278名本科生，采用便利抽样法参与了一项在线横断面研究。参与者完成了情绪调节问卷（ERQ）和抑郁、焦虑和压力量表-21（DASS-21）。描述性分析考察了社会人口学数据分布。双变量分析和多元线性回归探讨了情绪调节与抑郁、焦虑和压力之间的关联。受访者主要为女性（67.3%）、马来人（51.4%），来自B40社会经济地位群体（39.6%）。近五分之一（19.8%）的受访者抑郁程度处于中度至极其严重的类别。四分之一（27%）的受访者报告有中度至极其严重的焦虑。约七分之一（14.7%）的受访者经历了中度至极其严重程度的压力。表达抑制是抑郁（β = 0.466，p < 0.001）、焦虑（β = 0.340，p < 0.001）和压力（β = 0.309，p < 0.001）的显著正向预测因子，而认知重评则显著负向预测抑郁（β = -0.221，p = 0.002）和焦虑（β = -0.160，p = 0.027）。本研究结果强调了情绪调节技能在调节学生心理健康方面的重要性。需要进行更大样本量的重复研究和进一步研究以制定有效的干预策略。
