INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN DAILY EMOTION REGULATION USE ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRANSDIAGNOSTIC COGNITIVE VULNERABILITIES AND INTERNALISING DISORDERS: PARALLEL MULTIPLE MEDIATION ANALYSES

Abstract

In everyday life situations, people regulate their emotions in varying ways to achieve certain goals. These include fluctuations in the extent of use and adaptiveness of emotion regulation (ER) strategies over time. We calculated them in two ways: within-strategy in model 1 (of each strategy across time) and between-strategy in model 2 (across strategies at one time-point). Using data from an experience-sampling study (N = 192) of an undergraduate sample, we proposed two parallel multiple mediation models. We seek to examine these individual differences in ER underlying transdiagnostic cognitive vulnerabilities that may elevate the risk for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress (internalising symptoms) under the context of academic stress. However, results did not support both parallel multiple mediation models as the specific indirect effects in both models were not significant. Nonetheless, the findings suggested the use of multiple ER strategies and that some strategies are used more than the others at any point in time in a situation. These strategies in turn make up a certain composition of various ER strategies, which can be adaptive in certain situations. The present findings also demonstrated the need to investigate alternative pathways to internalising symptoms in nonclinical populations and the importance of examining the interaction between ER strategies in a particular situation. Implications for clinical intervention are discussed.